Chris Stedman is the the author of Faitheist: How an Atheist Found Common Ground with the Religious, "an intimate and deeply affecting portrait... [that] proves [he is] an activist in the truest sense and one to watch" (Booklist, Starred Review). The Assistant Humanist Chaplain at Harvard University and the Values 
in Action Coordinator for the Humanist Community at Harvard (where he was previously
 the inaugural Interfaith and Community Service Fellow), he is also the Emeritus
 Managing Director of State of Formation at the Journal
 of Inter-Religious Dialogue and founder of the first blog
 dedicated to exploring atheist-interfaith engagement,
 NonProphet Status.

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 writes for Salon, CNN, msnbc, The Advocate, The Rumpus, Huffington Post Gay
 Voices, Huffington Post Religion, The Washington Post 
On Faith, Religion Dispatches, Relevant, and more.
 Previously a Content Developer and Adjunct Trainer for Interfaith Youth Core, Chris is a queer atheist working to 
foster positive and productive dialogue and
 collaborative action between faith communities and the nonreligious. He speaks on this 
topic across the United States and around the world.

In 2011, the Huffington Post listed
 Chris's work as one of the Top 11
 Religion Stories of the year and named
 him one of the top interfaith activists on
Twitter, Religion Dispatches listed him
 at #5 in a list of the Top 10 Peacemakers 
in the Science-Religion wars, and
 the University of Oregon Alliance of
 Happy Atheists recognized his work with 
their first annual Happy Heathen! Award.

Chris served on the initial Leadership Team of the Common Ground Campaign, a
 coalition of young people who stood up in response to the wave of anti-Muslim rhetoric
 and violence in the U.S. surrounding the Park51 controversy, and continues to advise it
in its current form, Groundswell. He also sits on the Board of Directors of the interfaith
 global development organization World Faith and is an advisor to the Foundation
 Beyond Belief's "Challenge the Gap" charitable initiative. Portland, Oregon's Just Out called his work "brilliant" and labeled him an "emerging... vibrant
 and youthful queer voice for the secular humanist movement." For more on Chris, check out this profile in Out Magazine.

For media inquiries, contact Beacon Press Communications Director Pamela MacColl at pmaccoll [at] beacon.org. For inquiries about the Humanist Community at Harvard, contact Conrad Hudson, Administrative Manager for the Humanist Community at Harvard, at chudson [at] harvardhumanist.org. To reach Chris, click here.