Claire... Oh man, how can you miss out those? :-D

On Sat, Feb 6, 2010 at 10:03 PM, Claire L Simpson <[address removed]> wrote:

Gah - missed out tabletop roleplaying games from my hobbies list. Sorry.

Claire

On Sat, Feb 6, 2010 at 10:02 PM, Claire Simpson <[address removed]> wrote:

Hi,

I've never been to a meetup (I will I promise) but thought I'd comment anyway

On Sat, Feb 6, 2010 at 12:24 PM, Kevin Grishkot <[address removed]> wrote:

So, I was thinking, (never a good thing), in order to give us an accurate profile, I need some background info. ?So here goes.

1. ?What does everyone do for a living? ?I know we come from all walks of life, but I'd just like to know officially.

I'm a statistical geneticist, doing a post-doc at NHGRI/NIH

2. ?Who, and how many, of us have abandoned religion?

Born and bred, 3rd generation (at least) atheist.? I have no idea what my great grandparents believed.

3. ?What fallout from abandoning religion have we faced?

Until I moved to the US, none. Here, it's very different and I'm still adjusting to the fact that to some people atheist==evil?

4. ?How long ago, or at what age, did you walk away?

I flirted with it a bit in my teens. I'm British so in our schools this stuff is thrust down your throat a bit. Annoyed teachers by asking questions. Eventually decided that if it didn't make any sense and nobody could explain it to me then it was probably rubbish.

5. ?What level of education do you have?

PhD

6. ?City or country?

Grew up on a farm outside Newcastle-upon-Tyne, small city in the north east of England.
?

7. What hobbies do you have?

Reading, dancing, scuba diving, music, theatre, movies, computer games, love to do outdoorsy stuff (hiking, spelunking, horseriding) but I don't drive so that makes it difficult.

8. ?Are you raising kids? ?If so, are you raising them secular or just not mentioning it?

I don't have children, but if I did I'd raise them the way I was raised. Religion was mentioned, talked about and we were told we had to make up our own minds. My dad and I also had lots of conversations about infinity and the universe and evolution and all that good stuff. Infinity's a heady concept to an eight year old! Evolution captivated me especially, that's what started me on my journey to become a scientist.

9. ?What is your vision for GBAC?

This is a hard question for me to answer because I'm still adjusting to the idea that atheism is controversial.? I'd like to see atheism treated more the way it is in the UK, as a perfectly normal valid choice and I guess that means educating people and campaigning for religion to be taken out of places it doesn't belong.

Cheers,

Claire

Skydivers don't knock on death's door; they ring the bell and run away... It really pisses him off.

?

The World Famous Tink. (I never heard of you either!!)

AA #2069 ASA#33 POPS# 8808

EAC Chairman, Division of Skydiving and Sushi consumption.

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