Atheist group meeting.
Hannah, Molly, Kirsten, Anne and Rebecca met Sunday, July 5th.
Group please add more notes to blog. I will post this their as well in hopes to create a conversational component to this.)

First we talked about Unaffiliated and its really being separate from Atheism. They talked about asking the entire group about how it fits in. Maybe it is incorporated into every section. We shared that many of the interviews and people we spoke with about being unaffiliated still seemed to have a belief in god. We decided to shelf unaffiliated and request a group discussion. It would be great to get something going on the blog!

Hannah shared her experiences viewing the sequence and interviews. Her sense was that the next piece shot really needed to focus on community and connection. Kirsten added that in the other sections there is a real sense of sharing in an experience and that they needed to find a way to accomplish this in the Atheist section.
Everyone felt this could be done in the group coffee time and moved onto to discussing what people, what they, are interested in knowing about atheism. Rebecca will speak with Bjorn about joining their next gathering or creating our own.

Points that were brought up to discuss during our gathering:
What stories are in the news about Atheists? Where and what kind of information is the public getting? (Kirsten will research this and share with the group prior to our meeting)
Look at and talk to them about Atheists side of standing up for their beliefs. Talk about separation of church and state.
What is their feeling of religion as a whole?
Discuss the treatment they receive / what are the perceptions people have of Atheists.
Talk about community. We hear community discussed a lot in the context of religion and its meaning to people. And because Atheism is not a religion and does not have a central meeting place people seem to wonder why they would come together. Yet we know they do. We talked about humans, even the most introverted, needing social connections. The girls shared that their experience with Atheists (their peers who identify as Atheists) is that it feels individual and given there is no designated building icon, etc. What brings them together?
Do they share family gatherings, traditions/holidays... What events bring them together?
Talk about the convention and its purpose.
What do they enjoy about coming together?
What were their personal journeys? How did they come to this place, when did they know / identify as Atheists?
Where is Atheism around the world? (Molly will research this)

The idea is that this will be a real conversation/connection as opposed to an interview feeling. Questions will be loose and conversational. IT will be getting personal and sharing stories and an understanding.

They also discussed wanted to get a couple youth interviews. They are thinking about their peers to see if anyone who identifies as Atheist would be a good interview. Rebecca will also check with Bjorn to see if he could identify someone(s) for us.

Our hope is to get this completed ASAP. I will update after I speak with Bjorn regarding scheduling a video shoot.

Hannah passed the drive onto Annie to view.