Introduction

This blog is part of a 2 week project for my Internet in American Life course. Given the option of joining a social networking site or writing a blog (as well as the fact that I've been a part of social networking sites for quite a few years), I figured I'd take the road less traveled.

I guess I'll start out with a short introduction about myself and the kinds of things I'll talk about. I'm a 23, I live in the Cincinnati area, and I'm an atheist. While this may not be out of sorts in most areas of the country, the bible belt is not exactly forgiving when it comes to denial of the divine.

Before any good discussion, you need to make sure that all parties on equal footing. It must begin with solid and agreeable definitions for important terms. To avoid any confusion, I just wanted to define some of the terms and ideas that I'll probably mention repeatedly over the course of my little blogging adventure.

• Atheism: The lack of belief in a deity or deities. (NOTE: It is not "The belief that there is no god." While the difference in sentence structure is minor, the overall meaning changes dramatically.)
• God: Undefined. While references to God will usually refer to the Judeo-Christian deity, many other gods exist in various writings and cultures, including deistic gods with little or no involvement in the "creation" or personal lives of human beings or any other life forms. I will always clarify to which deity I'm referring when I use this term.
  
• Evolution: When I refer to evolution, I'll be referring to evolution by natural selection - the only scientific theory for the changes of lifeforms into other lifeforms. While Deistic evolution (the idea that a god controls evolution) is a neat compromise, it is still not science. NOTE: Evolution does NOT theorize how life began its journey, only the vehicle it used (and is using) to travel. When/if I ever talk about life forming on the planet, I'll address that area of science when I get to it.
  

I will try to talk about personal experiences and conversations I've had while living in this area of the country rather than going on theoretical and philosophical ramblings (though I may end up going on a few of those if my goat gets pulled hard enough!) Names will usually be changed, and personal facts may be hidden/altered/exaggerated to protect the dignity of anyone involved.