Grad student seeking atheist to interview

[Rahn127]

Brooke, before you became a believer in any religion you were an atheist, even if you didn't know it.

When you are old enough to be convinced that a particular belief is true, you are also old enough to not hold that belief.

I am of the camp that we are all born atheists as a default.
Depending on where we live, we may never be exposed to religion and thus we remain atheist.

There are others who would say that a person must be old enough to understand what it means to hold a belief and make a conscious choice to not hold certain beliefs.

(Or words to that effect)

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

Brooke, before you became a believer in any religion you were an atheist, even if you didn't know it.

When you are old enough to be convinced that a particular belief is true, you are also old enough to not hold that belief.

I am of the camp that we are all born atheists as a default.
Depending on where we live, we may never be exposed to religion and thus we remain atheist.

There are others who would say that a person must be old enough to understand what it means to hold a belief and make a conscious choice to not hold certain beliefs.

(Or words to that effect)

Brooke, you're a graduate student? May I ask in what discipline?

I ask because it seems you may be using a deeply flawed methodology.  In the Social Sciences, using questionaires and direct interviews is called "Symbolic Interactionism" . This approach has long been considered perhaps the least reliable method of finding truths.  

Using that method will probably get you the information you need and it will probably  be accepted.  I guess it depends on your goal. To simply get your Masters or to get it based on evidence which is kinda ,umm, true.  The wiki article lined below is worth a glance, especially the criticisms


"Symbolic interactionism is a sociological theory that develops from practical considerations and alludes to particular effects of communication and interaction in people to make images and normal implications, for deduction and correspondence with others.[1] According to Macionis, symbolic interactionism is "a framework for building theory that sees society as the product of everyday interactions of individuals". In other words, it is a frame of reference to better understand how individuals interact with one another to create symbolic worlds, and in return, how these worlds shape individual behaviors.[2] It is a framework that helps understand how society is preserved and created through repeated interactions between individuals. The interpretation process that occurs between interactions helps create and recreate meaning. It is the shared understanding and interpretations of meaning that affect the interaction between individuals. Individuals act on the premise of a shared understanding of meaning within their social context. Thus, interaction and behavior is framed through the shared meaning that objects and concepts have attached to them. From this view, people live in both natural and symbolic environments."

Symbolic interactionism - Wikipedia

[arewethereyet]

Brooke stated she was studying at a seminary. Pretty safe bet her area of study is theology.

[Mermaid]

I actually live in the Bible belt, finding an atheist (or someone willing to admit they are an atheist) is quite difficult. The doctor I had lined up was the only person I knew...also, it can't be just anyone. The person has to work in a STEMM field.

I work in the STEM field and am willing if you still need someone.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

Brooke stated she was studying at a seminary.  Pretty safe bet her area of study is theology.

AH, sorry I missed that. Had I seen it, I wouldn't have wasted my time.

Imo, the best thing one can ever say about degrees in theology is;  "A  waste of a good mind".  

[The Grand Nudger]

The reason it must be with a person in a STEMM field is because one of the objectives of the assignment is to see if field of study has any impact on religious views. 

I can give you one point of data on that without any need for an interview.  Not in my case, no.  I was an atheist looooong before I knew what a RAS system was. Before I could do basic math. Before I knew that there was a word to describe it.

You'd have to tailor the question more narrowly, as it seems that there's a silent premise that your target demo would all have began as theists, so that going into stem could conceivably make them atheists - whatever that means. It also appears to make the silent assumption that atheists aren't religious. There's probably a more interesting bit of research to do on whomever gave you these questions.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

I find myself fighting the urge to lock this thread.

Boru

[The Grand Nudger]

Meh, I mean, hard to stuff the cat back in the bag - it'll either implode like every other thread of it;s type over the years or lead to something productive in spite of itself. I think it's interesting to wonder if there's some dingbat sending people out into the internet saddled with misapprehensions.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Meh, I mean, hard to stuff the cat back in the bag - it'll either implode like every other thread of it;s type over the years or lead to something productive in spite of itself.  I think it's interesting to wonder if there's some dingbat sending people out into the internet saddled with misapprehensions.

No, the cat can indeed be re-bagged, but I hesitate to go quite that far.

Boru

[HappySkeptic]

Thanks to everyone who responded. I have found someone willing to help me with this assignment!

The reason it must be with a person in a STEMM field is because one of the objectives of the assignment is to see if field of study has any impact on religious views. The purpose of the interview is to gain insight into the culture of scientists and thinkers and provide an opportunity for real-world feedback and engagement with an analytical non-believer. The course looks heavily into science and faith.

I'm going to stick around this forum! I think this is going to be an interesting place. I've never been an atheist but I am a (newer) Christian. I am a former agnostic, and Christian of 7 years. Looking forward to getting to know you all, hopefully!

Why don't you just post a question topic, and discuss.  Perhaps that will give you enough fodder for your assignment.

I have a Ph.D. and work in a STEMM field (though not the one I was originally trained for).  Yes my training helped me throw off theism in the last 10 years, but it didn't prevent me from becoming a theist in the first place (as a young man).  Educated people are perfectly capable of coming up with all sorts of special-pleading for their beliefs in God. God belief doesn't come from logic - it comes from emotion.