FāVS News News and Commentary about Religion and Ethics in Eastern Washington and North Idaho
Chris Stedman, author of “Faitheist,” visited Eastern Washington University and the Compassionate Interfaith Society on Monday to talk about the importance of atheists and theists working together for the common good.
He started by telling his story about realizing he was gay, and how that pushed him away from his Evangelical church and ultimately into the atheist community.
But being an atheist left him unsure how to communicate with his religious friends, prompting to seek ways atheists and believers could work together and learn about one another.
By developing relationships and focusing on commonalities, believers and atheists can reconcile their differences and work toward a better, pluralistic world, Stedman says.
Tracy Simmons is an award-winning journalist specializing in religion reporting and digital entrepreneurship. In her approximate 20 years on the religion beat, Simmons has tucked a notepad in her pocket and found some of her favorite stories aboard cargo ships in New Jersey, on a police chase in Albuquerque, in dusty Texas church bell towers, on the streets of New York and in tent cities in Haiti. Simmons has worked as a multimedia journalist for newspapers across New Mexico, Texas, Connecticut and Washington. She is the executive director of SpokaneFāVS.com, a digital journalism start-up covering religion news and commentary in Spokane, Washington. She also writes for The Spokesman-Review and national publications. She is a Scholarly Assistant Professor of Journalism at Washington State University.
