Barry W. Lynn (born 1948) has been the executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State since 1992. He is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and a prominent leader of the religious left in the United States. He is known to be a strong advocate of separation of church and state.
Barry Lynn was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, but his family moved to nearby Bethlehem when he was a child. He attended Bethlehem's Liberty High School, graduating in 1966.
In 1970 Lynn received his B.A. from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and his theology degree from Boston University School of Theology in 1973. After attending law school at night, he received his J.D. degree from Georgetown University Law Center.
After law school, Lynn continued to work with the United Church of Christ to gain amnesty for young men who chose desertion to protest the Vietnam War. Before going to Americans United, Lynn held positions related to religious liberties. In the mid-to-late 1980s he was legislative counsel for Washington's ACLU office, where he frequently worked on church–state issues. From 1974 to 1980, Lynn held positions within the national offices of the United Church of Christ, including two years for the Church's Office of Church in Society in Washington, D.C., as legislative counsel.