(F)a(i)theist: How One Atheist Learned to Overcome the Religious-Secular Divide, and Why Atheists and the Religious Must Work Together

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

6 pm Doors, 7 pm Program

Intersections, 274 5th Ave

Btwn 29th and 30th Sts

With Chris Stedman,
Interfaith and Community Service Fellow
for the Humanist Chaplaincy at
Harvard University  

 

Co-Sponsored by the Center for Inquiry, NYC 

 

"Looking at the shouting match in our culture, between the forces of aggressive atheism (The End of Faith, God is not Great) and the armies of belligerent belief (James Dobson, Pat Robertson), it looks like the widest part of the faith divide is between religion and secularism." ~ Eboo Patel

 

Ten years into the 21^st century, there is still significant division between the religious and nonreligious in American civic life.  In this Living Room, Chris Stedman, a young "humanist interfaith activist" and accomplished author, speaker and organizer, will identify ways the religious and secular might better understand one another in order to work together.  Chris will share his passion to catalyze a movement in which religious and secular folks not only co-exist peacefully but collaborate around shared values - and engage us all in a small service project to put our words to work. 

 

Chris Stedman is the Interfaith and Community Service Fellow for the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard University and the Managing Director of State of Formation, a new initiative at the Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue. Chris received an MA in Religion from Meadville Lombard Theological School at the University of Chicago, for which he was awarded the Billings Prize for Most Outstanding Scholastic Achievement. A graduate of Augsburg College with a summa cum laude B.A. in Religion, Chris is the founder and author of the blog NonProphet Status. He is a popular writer for The Huffington Post Religion, the youngest panelist for The Washington Post On Faith, and his writing has also appeared in venues such as The Journal of College and Character, Tikkun Daily, The New Humanism, and more.  

 

Previously a Content Developer and Adjunct Trainer for the Interfaith Youth Core, Chris is a secular humanist working to foster positive and productive dialogue between faith communities and the nonreligious. In 2011, the University of Oregon Alliance of Happy Atheists recognized Chris' work with their first annual Happy Heathen! Award. He is currently writing a book on this work and on his experiences for Beacon Press and speaks on it regularly both by invitation and as a member of the Center for Inquiry Speakers Bureau and Secular Student Alliance Speakers Bureau. Chris also serves on the Leadership Team of the Common Ground Campaign, a coalition of young people standing up in response to the recent wave of anti-Muslim rhetoric and violence violence in the U.S., on the Board of Directors of World Faith, and as an advisor to the Foundation Beyond Belief's Challenge the Gap initiative. Portland, Oregon's GLBT newspaper Just Out called his work "brilliant" and labeled him an "emerging... vibrant and youthful queer voice for the secular humanist movement."

 

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This Living Room event is Co-Sponsored by the Center for Inquiry, NYC, whose mission is to "foster a secular society based on science, reason, freedom of inquiry, and humanist values."  

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