Dear Religious Americans: How Many Atheists Do You Know?
For the last several years, my work as an interfaith activist has been largely defined by a single question: “Wait — you do interfaith work, and you’re an atheist?!” That question, posed by religious people (to be fair, I’ve gotten that question from many atheists, though usually for a different reason-for more on that, check [...]
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tennessee: Why Muslims and the LGBTQ Community Should Be Allies
This year, two notable controversies have been brewing in Tennessee: a proposed bill that would forbid educators from using the word “gay” in the classroom, and a court battle to determine if Islam is a religion. (The verdict? Islam is in fact a religion — for now, anyway.) These two issues may seem unrelated, but I believe [...]
Inkerfaith: What My New Abraham Lincoln Tattoo Has To Do With Atheism and Interfaith Work
These last few weeks, I’ve gotten a lot of questions about my newest tattoo — a portrait of Abraham Lincoln on my right shoulder. “Why Abraham Lincoln? Is it because there are rumors he was gay?” Well, no, but I do appreciate the opportunity to make a Gaybraham Lincoln pun, thank you. “Why Abraham Lincoln? [...]
Welcome to Rural Pennsylvania
“I still can’t believe this is what I do for living,” I thought to myself as I walked out of the airport in State College, Pennsylvania. I was met by the Rev. David Witkovsky, Campus Chaplain for Juniata College in Huntingdon, PA, and Juniata Campus Ministry intern Lauren Seganos. “Welcome to rural Pennsylvania,” said Lauren as [...]
Do Atheists Belong in the Interfaith Movement?
Recently, there’s been a lot of talk in the organized atheist, humanist, skeptic and freethought movements about the potential benefits and drawbacks of interfaith work. Over at Patheos, the Executive Director of the American Humanist Association, Roy Speckhardt, recently made an excellent case that—while the terminology of “interfaith” may be problematic and there are several other important [...]
Stephen Hawking’s Other Insight
I am sitting in Oregon, adoring the all-too-brief bouts of sunshine interrupting the more extended periods of drizzle. The sky is clouded, as it apparently often is in this part of the world, and for the first time in a while I feel like the least hipster person in the room. I am here because [...]
We Haven’t “Won” Yet
This post originally appeared on the Washington Post On Faith and the Huffington Post Religion. The attacks on the United States of America orchestrated by Osama bin Laden occurred during my first week of high school — what was supposed to be the start of my transition into adulthood. Due to construction on my school, the academic [...]
The Humanist Obligation to Serve: Being “Good without God” Requires Action
“I would like my life to be a statement of love and compassion — and where it isn’t, that’s where my work lies.” — Ram Dass Ten years ago, in the summer before my freshman year of high school, I went with my church to the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota to do home [...]
Listen to Lupe, Ellison and Eboo: It’s Time to Hear From More Muslims
As I sit here contemplating Representative Peter King’s (R-NY) upcoming ”Muslim radicalization” hearings, trying to discern if my stomach ache is the result of the cookies I’m scarfing or the prospect of congressional hearings that specifically target one community, I’m comforted by rapper Lupe Fiasco’s new single, “Words I Never Said.” Over a deliciously lush and crunchy [...]
Talking About Atheism and Interfaith Work at Religious Colleges
This post originally appeared on The Huffington Post Religion. This February, as friends of mine flocked south to escape the unrelenting cold of Boston, I headed to the Midwest. It was my first college and university speaking tour, put together in partnership with eight institutions in Indiana, Illinois and Iowa that extended invitations for me [...]
Chris Stedman
Chris Stedman is the former Managing Director of State of Formation at the Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue. He is also the Interfaith and Community Service Fellow for the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard, a columnist for the Huffington Post and Washington Post On Faith, and is currently writing a book on religious-nonreligious engagement.
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Contributing Scholars
Rose AslanRose Aslan is a doctoral student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the Department of Religious Studies, where she specializes in Islamic Studies. She received her MA in Arab and Islamic Civilizations from the American University in Cairo and her BA in Religious Studies from the University of British Columbia.
Rachel A. HeathRachel Heath is currently completing her graduate studies at Yale Divinity School. While living in New Haven, she has been both a community organizer for public housing residents and an interfaith chaplain at a local hospital. In between cups of hazelnut coffee she works as an intern for the Yale Chaplain's Office and focuses on the positive convergence of interfaith dialogue and community service.
Wilfredo Amr RuizAttorney Wilfredo Amr Ruiz is also a Muslim Chaplain and Political Analyst on the Middle East and Muslim World. He is a regular columnist at various newspaper and electronic media outlets in New York, Puerto Rico, and Spain. Ruiz is regularly interviewed and consulted at national and international media outlets on diverse issues on politics of the Middle East and the Muslim World, Islam and Christian-Muslim relations.