Born in Istanbul, Turkey to secular Turkish and American parents, Edis traveled to the United States many times in his childhood.

[3][4] Edis has lived in the United States since starting his master's degree at Johns Hopkins University.

[5] Edis has been called "a liberal atheist, secular humanist and a zealous proselyte of scientific reason".

[6] Fascinated by the plethora of supernatural and fringe science beliefs around him, and concerned about the rise of Islamist politics back in Turkey, Edis first got involved with skeptical inquiry into religious and paranormal claims during his graduate studies.

"[7] In an interview with Susan Gerbic at CSICon, Edis characterized his more recent writings on the subjects of science and skepticism by saying that "it might [even] be rational to believe in certain falsehoods.

[6] Within the context of Islam and science, Algerian astrophysicist Nidhal Guessoum categorizes Edis as a kind of "anti-harmonizer", who rejects the possibility that the two systems are reconciled.

[16] Philosopher John Gray reviewed Edis's 2006 book, An Illusion of Harmony: Science and religion in Islam for The New Scientist.

Gray writes that Edis's thesis is that there is a fundamental incompatibility between Islam and science because of the religion's dogmatic precepts.

Gray calls Edis's work "one of the few recent books that truly illuminates the troubled relationship between science and religion".