Dr David I Orenstein

Dr. David Orenstein is a tenured professor of anthropology, and the current Chairperson of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Department of Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York. He is also the author of three books to date, Godless Grace: How Nonbelievers are Making the World Safer, Richer and Kinder (2015); Darwin's Apostles: The Men who Fought to Have Evolution Accepted, their Times and How the Battle Continues, and A Tale of Many Trees: The Story of Humanity (2024). This latest book is a primer on human evolution written for children in grades one through five.

Professor Orenstein is a noted human and civil rights activist, previously representing the American Humanist Association at the United Nations through the NGO/DPI program. He has served on various local, national and international organizations focusing on humanist, atheist and non-believer rights protections. He currently serves on the Smithsonian Institute's Human Origins Broader Social Impacts Committee, and is a sought after speaker on human rights, science education, and evolution acceptance.

Professor Orenstein is a happy and optimistic freethinker who concludes that life is best lived when we are good to each other, see one and other as equals and work to live in harmony with each other and the planet.