Chris Stedman's Blog, page 2

Could there be an ISIS without an Islam?

Speaking of catching up on things I’ve missed while I’ve been gone, I was asked my thoughts about a cover story from March’s issue of The Atlantic. It reminded me of another article from The Atlantic earlier in July, which argued that “is ISIS Islamic?” is the wrong question to ask (for the record: I wouldn’t disagree that [Read More...]

James Croft and Steve Neumann on atheist diplomacy

I’ve been catching up on some material since I’ve been back from writing in New York (I’ve also picked up a few very exciting and promising projects), and I stumbled on a roundtable discussion from last month—how should atheists engage with religious believers? Arguing in favor of anti-theism was Kaveh Mousavi and Peter Mosley, while James Croft and Steve Neumann championed a [Read More...]

How a subway step explains Ferguson

At Religion Dispatches, Andrew Aghapour has a great piece about the cognitive psychology behind our failures in blame. My favorite metaphor he highlighted (because those are important) is a subway stairwell that has one stair taller than the others, which person after person trips on. He links to the following video and writes: When the video was posted three years [Read More...]

Explanations and story-telling, or how to write about science

I’ve had a steady gig at The Daily Beast for a half-dozen months or so which, more than paying me too generously, has given me a great opportunity to do some more science writing. I’ve enjoyed this a lot. I took a science writing seminar my senior year in college with Carl Zimmer, an award-winning science [Read More...]

5 Ways to Avoid Being a Jerk in the Workplace

Jerks — we all know at least one person we’d describe as such. Because we have to deal with their ish from time to time, I thought I’d compile a short list of ways all of us can avoid becoming one of them. Using the context of my past workplace experiences, I will offer some [Read More...]

My Interview with David Pizarro for Religion Dispatches

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing David Pizarro, professor of psychology at Cornell University and host of the fantastic podcast, Very Bad Wizards. He and I had a great conversation about the psychology of hiding cocaine and how we’re inconsistent with religions like Islam: VC: I’ve always found it really interesting that there also seems to [Read More...]

San Francisco LGBTQI Pride: A Humanist Reflection

If you are anything like me,  last Friday’s SCOTUS ruling on marriage equality completely overwhelmed you. Tears of joy were present with me throughout the day. Since not all NonProphet Status readers live in a city quite like San Francisco, where Pride is celebrated in a very major way, I thought I’d take this opportunity [Read More...]

A Reason to Celebrate: An Incomplete List of Not-So-Holy Days

For some reason, when I first became an atheist, I began distancing myself from rites of passage, celebrations of life or anything that resembled religious ritual. Early on, my atheism took the form of rebelling against the dominant Christian norms that prevail here in the U.S. It was my way of living into my new [Read More...]

Introducing our guest editor, Vanessa Gomez Brake

I’ve been living New York City for the last week in a mini-residency to focus on some more substantial writing projects, and I’ll be here for the next three weeks. Vanessa Gomez Brake, interviewed below, will be NonProphet Status’s guest editor while I’m gone! Gomez Brake’s interfaith credentials are impressive. She oversees campus programming at the Stanford [Read More...]

Trigger warnings are more important than spoiler warnings, so why are they more controversial?

This post originally appeared on my new website, which you should check out. A few fair warnings: First, I’m about to discuss events from two recent episodes of this season’s Game of Thrones, “Unbowed, Unbent Unbroken” and “The Gift.” Second, I’m also going to discuss graphic depictions of rape. Those who aren’t up to speed [Read More...]