Charles Bradley Templeton^[2][3] (October 7, 1915 – June 7, 2001) was a Canadian media figure and a former Christian evangelist. Known in the 1940s and 1950s as a leading evangelist, he became an agnostic and later embraced atheism after struggling with doubt. Afterwards, he worked at various times in journalism, radio and writing.

Charles Templeton was born on October 7, 1915, in Toronto, Canada. He attended the high school Parkdale Collegiate Institute.^[2]

In 1932,^[2] at age 17, Charles Templeton was hired to create Chuck Templeton's Sportraits, a daily sports cartoon, for The Toronto Globe (now The Globe and Mail),^[4] leaving high school to pursue the job. His work became syndicated and earned him a comfortable living. He converted to Christianity while working as a cartoonist, and in 1936, left his job to become a preacher.^[2]

After he quit his first job, Templeton became a mass evangelist. From 1936 to 1938, he toured the United States, preaching in 44 states^[2] and gaining international recognition as a leading evangelist.^[2][5][3] In 1941, Templeton started the Nazarene Avenue Road Church where he served as its preacher, renting a building that once housed a Presbyterian church.^[2][6] In 1955, he became the Presbyterian Church in the United States's secretary of evangelism.^[2]

Eager to deepen his understanding about Christianity, Templeton attended Princeton Theological Seminary in the 1940s.^[7][5] He later received an honorary doctorate from Lafayette College.^[2]

He hosted the religious television show Look Up and Live.^[2][3]

Charles Templeton began to struggle with doubts about his religion eventually becoming an agnostic.^[2] This caused a wide backlash from Christian communities.^[3]

Templeton was a close friend of fellow evangelist Billy Graham, and the two shared billing as they co-founded (along with Torrey Johnson) Youth for Christ International.^[2][3] After Templeton became an agnostic, they remained friends but became more distant.^[2]

In 1959, Templeton quit evangelism and transitioned into a media career. That same year, he was hired as executive managing editor of the Toronto Star, a position he held until 1964, when he entered politics. Furthermore, he founded the advertising company Technamation Canada, working there until CTV hired him as director of public affairs in 1967. In 1969, he briefly served as editor of Maclean's magazine for seven months.^[2][7][5][3]

Templeton became an interviewer for the radio show Close-Up.^[2] He later collaborated with Pierre Berton on the radio show Dialogue from 1966 to 1970 on CFRB, and from 1970 to 1984 on CKEY, where Templeton also served as the morning news reader.^[8][2][7][3]

He won two ACTRA Awards for broadcasting^[2][7] and in 1992, he was awarded the 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal.^[7]

Templeton wrote several plays that were performed on television. Templeton's first novel, The Kidnapping of the President (1974), became a bestseller and was adapted into a 1980 film.^[5] He wrote several other novels.^[2][7] In Farewell to God (1995 or 1996), he described his conversion to agnosticism and explained his reasons for doing so.^[2][5] Templeton also won the B'nai B'rith book award.^[7]

He came second in an election for the leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party,^[2][5][3] although he was its vice-president in 1964 and 1965.^[7]

Templeton made his own unsuccessful designs of a child-resistant medicine cap, a cigarette filter and a pipeline.^[2] However, his design for a teddy bear that could stay warm for many hours was widely manufactured.^[3]

While he was an evangelist, Templeton married fellow evangelist and singer Constance Oroczy in 1939. In 1957, they divorced. In 1959, he married singer Sylvia Murphy, whom he met while producing a television drama; they also divorced.^[3] In 1980, he married author Madeleine Helen Stevens Leger, and they remained married until his death.^[2] Templeton had four children: Michael, Deborah, Bradley, and Tyrone.^[2]

On June 7, 2001, Charles Templeton died from Alzheimer's disease.^[7][5][3]

• Photo archive curated by Brad Templeton
• Anecdotal Memoir (1982) by Charles Templeton, online version