Chris Stedman

Chris Stedman (born April 9, 1987) is an American writer who serves as the Executive Director of the Yale Humanist Community at Yale University.[1] Beginning in late 2017, he will assume the role of Director of the Humanist Center of Minnesota as well as Fellow at the Sabo Center for Democracy and Citizenship at Augsburg College.[2] He was formerly the Assistant Humanist Chaplain at Harvard University,[3] where he was the coordinator for the interfaith service program, Values in Action. He is the author of a memoir, Faitheist.[4][5][6] Stedman's writing advocates outreach to seek "common moral ground between theists and atheists," and proposes achieving that aim by expanding interfaith dialogue to include atheists.[7][8][9][10][11][12]

Christopher Stedman
Stedman in 2012
Born (1987-04-09) April 9, 1987
Robbinsdale, Minnesota
Known forAdvocacy of Humanism, Interfaith/atheist cooperation, LGBTQ rights

Biography

Stedman was born in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. He was raised in a secular household, but converted to Evangelical Christianity at the age of eleven, because he was attracted by its stability during his parents' divorce.[6][13][14]

Stedman struggled for years to reconcile his gay sexual orientation with his Christian faith and declared himself an atheist in college.[15] Stedman studied Religion at Augsburg College, Meadville Lombard Theological School and the University of Chicago, obtaining baccalaureate and master's degrees prior to joining Harvard at the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard.[16] Following his time at Harvard, he founded the Yale Humanist Community.[17]

Stedman currently serves as a fellow at the Center for Democracy and Citizenship at Augsburg College.[18]

Writing

In November 2012, Beacon Press published his memoir, Faitheist,[6] a call to atheists for civil dialogue with the religious.[11][12][14][19][20]

He is a columnist for The Huffington Post's religion section, where he writes about "finding and affirming shared values among religious and nonreligious people."[4]

He is a member of the Secular Student Alliance's and Center for Inquiry's speakers bureaus, where he talks on such topics as Interfaith work, dialogue tools, diversity, and LGBTQ issues.[21][22]

Awards

Stedman is a past awardee of the 2011 Billings Prize for Most Outstanding Scholastic Achievement.[23]

Reception

Stedman's advocacy for inclusive interfaith dialogue and tolerance has found support from other atheists and interfaith advocates in the Millennial generation,[9] as well as the LGBTQ[7] and pluralistic rationalist communities.[24]

Stedman has received some criticism for his open embrace of religion from the broader atheist community.[25][26]

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-08-26. Retrieved 2014-08-22.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. https://medium.com/@ChrisDStedman/moving-back-to-minnesota-6da3d79c001d#.wwxmn95sd/
  3. Humanist Community Project at Harvard: Meet the Staff. Retrieved November 02, 2012.
  4. The Huffington Post: Chris Stedman. Retrieved November 02, 2012.
  5. Religion News Service: Chris Stedman Archived February 14, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
  6. Faitheist: How an Atheist Found Common Ground with the Religious. Retrieved November 02, 2012.
  7. "Chris Stedman: Proud to be a 'Faitheist'", Edge on the Net, November 2, 2012. Retrieved November 04, 2012.
  8. "The Mediator: An Ex-Evangelical Atheist Trying to End Fights, Not Start Them", The Daily, July 8, 2012. Retrieved November 04, 2012.
  9. "Chris Stedman is a Faitheist: Atheists Involved in Interfaith Dialogue", The Huffington Post, November 24, 2012. Retrieved November 24, 2012.
  10. "None of the Above" (PBS Video Documentary, Transcript), PBS Television, Religion & Ethics Newsweekly, October 26, 2012. Retrieved November 28, 2012.
  11. "A call for civil discourse", Minneapolis Star Tribune, November 27, 2012. Retrieved November 28, 2012.
  12. "Twin Cities native seeks atheist/religious common ground", St. Paul Pioneer Press, November 28, 2012. Retrieved November 28, 2012.
  13. "Chris's Story". Interfaith Youth Core. Retrieved 2012-11-16.. Retrieved November 16, 2011.
  14. Quraishi, Amanda (2011-08-21). "(F)a(i)theist: We're All In This Together". Tikkun Daily. Retrieved 2011-10-02.
  15. Wheeler, Wendi (April 1, 2011). "Talking About Faith and Values". Augsburg NOW. Augsburg College. Retrieved 2012-11-16.
  16. "Meet Our New Interfaith and Community Service Fellow". The Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard. Retrieved 2011-10-01.
  17. https://yalehumanists.com/speakers-bureau/chris-stedman/
  18. "Interfaith activist Chris Stedman '08 returns to Augsburg". 2017-01-17.
  19. Stedman, Chris. "Faitheist". Retrieved 2011-10-02.
  20. Stedman, Chris (2011-09-07). "Dear Religious Americans: How Many Atheists Do You Know?". Beacon Broadside. Beacon Press. Retrieved 2011-10-02.
  21. "Christopher Stedman". Secular Student Alliance. 2010-09-28. Archived from the original on 2011-09-15. Retrieved 2011-10-02.
  22. "Chris Stedman". Center for Inquiry. 2011-04-27. Retrieved 2011-10-02.
  23. "Author Bio: Christopher Stedman". The New Humanism. The Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard. Retrieved 2011-10-02.
  24. Burton, Frank H. (2011-11-09). "Be Sane, Be VERY Sane", "NonProphet Status". Retrieved November 13, 2012.
  25. "Skepticblog ยป Thoughts on Chris Stedman's Faitheist".
  26. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-02-11. Retrieved 2017-02-08.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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