An Unexpected Journey: Introduction to the Project

Hello everyone!

Welcome to my first blog...ever. I am still trying to figure out how to use everything so if things start out a bit bumpy that is my story and I am sticking with it. 

A Bit About Me:


My name is Austin and I am an Atheist. I do not subscribe to any religion or doctrine. I reside in Utah and was brought up in the Mormon Church while occasionally attending a Baptist church with my father. As I grew older I gradually fell further away from the church and adopted more of a deist position then transitioned toward an agnostic position. From there, I eventually gravitated to atheism at the age of 19. I will eventually post a more thorough account of my religious background and experience (I have little participatory experience outside the Mormon Church). There seems to be a common trend in people who became atheists after once adhering to one form of faith or another, and that is the "angry atheist" stage. Through this survey and firsthand observations, I hope to better understand people, their rituals, their beliefs, and why they hold those beliefs.
 

The Project:

As the name of the blog suggests, I will be trying to explore 52 different paths to truth, these of course being different religious denominations. Every week I will attend a different church and share my experience here on this blog. For those of you who know me personally, you are/were probably wondering "what in the world are you doing going to church? Have you finally lost it?". Let me take a moment to explain my madness and the reason behind this endeavor. This is a personal research project for my own betterment and enlightenment about the various religions that are practiced in and around my area. I am seeking a better understanding of various religions through experiencing them first hand. One every week for a year. If the congregation has a post-service social and the company is enjoyable I will attend that as well.

NOTE: Attending these meetings I know I enter as a guest and will act accordingly. I will be respectful, polite and cordial. My purpose is not to cause trouble but to gain an understanding of beliefs and culture. My aim is to blend in as much as possible but to be honest when I am approached. If asked, I will not lie about why I am there and I will be friendly about it. There is no need to perpetuate the negative stereotypes about atheists, it is my hope to help dispel these if I can and  show that even atheists can be personable and non confrontational, I go not preach but to observe and will do so quietly.



How Did you Come up with the Idea?:

I didn't... Two years ago I read about someone doing a similar project and I decided that it would be an interesting way to familiarize myself with different religions and their beliefs, political and social positions, as well as the attitudes of the members. I have been wanting to pursue this for some time but never got around to it for one reason or another. It wasn't until a close friend of mine revealed to me his new year's resolution to do this that I got the motivation to get this under way myself.

He did a lot of digging and compiled a very diversified list of 52 churches here in Utah, many of which are in our area. So the credit goes to Chad for the preliminary research and selection of churches we are going to visit. As it stands now, I am basically along for the ride on many of these, I would also like to recommend his blog: http://52weeks52churches.blogspot.com which is sure to be an enlightening read as he has an encyclopedic knowledge of the material and can give you an educated perspective, having years of experience within several religions and many years of university study on the topic. All I am able to provide is my own insight as being largely new to many of these religions to be covered and sharing first impresions.

How It's Done:

Every week, Chad and I will attend a different church together (schedules willing). Before the day of the sermon, activity, etc I will post on my blog a little preview of what the church is, a brief history, and a little bit of what I might expect to see and experience. I will attend the service and make another post the day of the sermon or the following day describing and outlining the experience.

In this post there will be an analysis where I will rate the experience on several factors using a scale of 1-10 candles (that was my idea! ;) ) with 10 being the highest. these categories will be as follows...

The Rating System

• Message- Higher ratings will be messages that are positive and applicable to everyone, and non discriminatory. Examples would be teaching tolerance, love, etc. 

• Atmosphere- General atmosphere, how are the aesthetics of the meeting area, is it a comfortable or tense atmosphere. Higher rating means it is more enjoyable.

• Community and Hospitality- Was the congregation personable, friendly and helpful? 

• Service or Activity- Okay, this one is the entertainment factor. Could they keep my attention? Is it  lively or droll? Is it something I would recommend someone else to check out?

• Overall- The overall experience as I see it. This rating will take the sum of all the previous ratings and divide by the number possible for a mean. Would I go back, and would I recommend it to others?

One more rating will be given describing where the church stands politically and theologically in terms of being conservative vs liberal and traditional vs progressive. These values will be represented also on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being most conservative/traditional and 10 being most liberal/progressive.

Comments:

I really do hope to get plenty of feedback and insightful discussion from the readers, however I realize that this is a heated topic and people often hold very passionate views on the subject of religion. THIS IS NOT A HATE BLOG, this is about discovery and education. With that said here are the rules:

1. No name calling, let's try to be mature.
2. No Trolling (Yeah, like a troll is going to listen).
3. Stay on topic.
4. NO SPAMING! Advertisements in the comments section or plugs to businesses without my consent will be promptly deleted.
5. No insulting the the religion or its members. 
6. Skepticism and questioning material or evidence included in their sermon is okay, and criticisms of a Church's STANCE on political or social issues is also permitted (Thank Chad for this one!)

New rules may be added depending on the behavior of those who choose to comment, but I will play it by ear and see how it goes trying to keep them straight forward and simple as possible.Comments on this blog should be kept tactful as possible. Please do not use profane language and please do not insult others who may comment.


So that's it in a nutshell. I hope to learn much through this experience and share with anyone who has time to sit and follow. I will try to make it entertaining as well, those who have followed my tales of Buffalo Jill know a bit about my literary style. I would also urge others to try this challenge and see what they can learn.

Cheers!
Austin