After much discussion, it looks like there’s a green light on my summer o’ Christianity project… In short, I’ll be living with a Christian family for ten weeks, attending their church, meeting their friends, and perhaps branching out from there.
More on the details soon.
In the meantime, I’m trying to thing of some basic questions I’d like to explore while I’m a part of this Christian world. Understand that I’ve never been in this serious of a mainstream Christian environment, and not everyone who meets me will know I’m an atheist. I know some of these questions can be answered by readers and by Christians I know, but it would all be second-hand. I want to experience these things on my own.
Consider it a sociological experiment.
What would you like to find out? What are topics I should explore while I’m there?
A few questions that come to my mind:
- Do Christians who condemn homosexuality treat gay people with respect and kindness?
- Will Christians engage with me if they find out I’m not a Christian or that I don’t believe in God?
- Will I be able to form as strong bonds with church members as I can with other atheists?
- Is hypocrisy really a problem in the Christian church? In what ways?
- Are they getting an accurate non-Christian viewpoint when it comes to the hot-button social issues like evolution and abortion?
- How well do Christians understand atheists?
I would really appreciate your thoughts on other areas you’d like to see explored and questions you’d like to have answered. I also know this is a small sample size and it’d be foolish to extrapolate how all Christians act based on one family and one church, but I still think it’ll be a worthwhile examination.