Why Is A Queer Atheist Spending All His Time On Interfaith Activism?

[rug]

You might not yet be able to pick Chris Stedman out of a hipster lineup. His new book, Faitheist, and his work to bring atheists and the religious together could change that.



Image by Alex Dakoulas

posted on February 13, 2013 at 10:21am EST
Chris Geidner
BuzzFeed Staff

I got to know Chris Stedman as he was writing a book to explain how a gay hipster atheist could come to work on interfaith activism as the assistant humanist chaplain at Harvard University.

It's a tangled web, but in Faitheist: How an Atheist Found Common Ground with the Religious, Stedman tells his own story — from his childhood to an adolescence in evangelism to coming out to defining his atheism to engaging in interfaith work.

Along the way, he aims at a larger story. As Stedman tells it, "I offer it up as a case study of sorts — an inside look into why one atheist struggled to find a healthy way to engage with the religious and why transcending our divisions is so important."

Not yet the 25-year-old he is today, Stedman reaches a point in his book — and his life — when he saw all of those steps in his story coming together.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/why-is-a-queer-atheist-spending-all-his-time-on-interfaith-a

[longship]

1. Non-believers and liberal theists are natural allies.

I don't know why everybody doesn't see this. Of course, one must consider the cultural environment. But with today's crazy right wing religious cabal, this conclusion is inevitable and inescapable.

[cbayer]

2. Wow, what a very cool guy. My new hero.

The article is really funny as well.

[patrice]

3. K&R for "intersectionality"!!! What a beautifully CRITICAL thought! nt