John Figdor

John Figdor is a former Humanist Chaplain at Stanford University[1][2] where he organizes events and programs for both students and community members of the San Francisco Bay Area. He is the first Humanist Chaplain on the West Coast serving a university community.[3] As a Humanist officiant he also oversees non-theistic weddings, funerals, and baby-naming ceremonies.[2][4]

Jonathan Figdor
Alma materVassar College, Harvard Divinity School
OccupationHumanist Chaplain at Stanford University
Websitewww.atheistmindhumanistheart.com

Early life and education

Figdor received his B.A. with honors in Philosophy from Vassar College[2] and he holds a master's degree (M.Div.) in Humanism and Interfaith Dialogue from Harvard Divinity School.[3][4]

Career

Humanism at Stanford University

The Humanist Community at Stanford includes humanists, atheists, and agnostics, who believe in values such as reason, science, pluralism, compassion, empathy, and altruism.[5][6] The organization holds a variety of different events, from dinners, to public lectures, to art gallery tours, to pub nights, to discussions and debates, and game nights.[5] Previous notable speakers have included Richard Dawkins.[7]

The Stanford Humanist Community played an essential role in the creation of Darwin Day. The first celebration of the event took place on April 22, 1995, and included a lecture given by famed anthropologist Dr. Donald Johanson to over 600 attendees.[8]

Humanism at Harvard

Figdor was an Organizing Fellow of the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard University[4] and former Assistant Humanist Chaplain at Harvard,[9] working with Greg Epstein.

In 2014, Figdor coauthored, together with Lex Bayer, the book Atheist Mind, Humanist Heart: Rewriting the Ten Commandments for the Twenty-First Century (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014)[10][11] and organized the Rethink Prize: a crowdsourcing competition to rethink the Ten Commandments. The contest drew more than 2,800 submissions from 18 countries and 27 U.S. states. Winners were selected by a panel of judges.[12][13]

Figdor is a former Board Member of the Secular Student Alliance.[4] Figdor and his work have been featured in the San Francisco Chronicle,[9] the Huffington Post,[1][14] the Washington Post.,[10][15] Salon,[16] CNN,[12] and TIME.[17]

References
  1. Jones, Alan (28 December 2012). "John Figdor Appointed as Atheist Chaplain at Stanford". Huffington Post. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
  2. "Chaplain John Figdor develops humanist community on campus". Stanford Daily. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
  3. "Stanford's New Humanist Chaplain: John Figdor". The Stanford Review. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
  4. "Secular Student Alliance John Figdor". Secular Student Alliance. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
  5. "Stanford Humanist Community Facebook Page". Stanford Humanist Community. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
  6. "Stanford Humanist Community". Stanford Humanist Community. Archived from the original on 3 January 2013. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
  7. "Richard Dawkins @ Stanford Humanist Community 2012 10 11". YouTube. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
  8. "About the International Darwin Day Foundation (IDDF)". International Darwin Day Foundation. Archived from the original on 30 June 2013. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
  9. Asimov, Nanette (22 December 2012). "Stanford gets a chaplain for atheists". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
  10. Kimberly Winston (November 20, 2014). "10 Commandments for atheists: a guide for nonbelievers who want to explore their values". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 15, 2015.
  11. "Atheist Mind, Humanist Heart". Retrieved February 15, 2015.
  12. Daniel Burke (December 20, 2014). "Behold, atheists' new Ten Commandments". CNN. Retrieved February 15, 2015.
  13. "The Rethink Prize". Retrieved February 15, 2015.
  14. "The Atheist Chaplain". Huffington Post Live. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
  15. Shulman, Robin (21 December 2008). "Humanist Parents Seek Communion Outside Church". Washington Post. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
  16. Michael Schulson (December 7, 2014). "Humanist chaplain John Figdor: "Religion introduces moral problems that wouldn't exist otherwise"". Salon. Retrieved February 15, 2015.
  17. "Here's a Secular Alternative to the Ten Commandments". TIME. December 21, 2014. Retrieved February 15, 2015.
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