2014-08-05

Faith Interview Request

Introduction:

I am (as we all are) on a lifelong journey of spiritual exploration. I am seeking individuals of strong faith and religious experience to interview with the desire to understand the “what”, “why”, and “how” of their beliefs. My intention is to use these interviews to put my own spiritual experiences and beliefs in perspective for a story that I'm writing.

I appreciate you even considering participating in my project and I understand that for many individuals the spiritual journey may be highly personal, please feel free to defer any question that makes you uncomfortable, omit details, or generalize. I promise to be completely confidential with regard to what you reveal or teach me. If you would prefer a "give and take" conversation to a straight interview, I am fully prepared to answer / discuss each of these questions from my perspective.

Ideally, I would like to record the conversation (audio or video). I would be very glad to share the recording with you. I promise to keep the recording in confidence and will destroy it within 24 months of creating it and if you're uncomfortable during the recording, I agree to destroy it on the spot. I will not use anything you say verbatim, I'm just interested in building thematic elements to expand upon in a fictional manner...

I am open to an interview of any duration that is convenient for you. The interview can be an open ended conversation or as as short as a 30 minute appointment.

Below are the topics that I would like to cover during the interview. I provide these to you to allow you time to consider how you would like to respond each. Once again, please feel free to establish any questions as “out of bounds”.

Questions:

1. What is your earliest significant religious/spiritual memory? What was the emotional impact of this experience? How did this alter/shape your view? Reflecting back on your reaction at the time, how do you view your reaction?

2. When did you become active in your religious community? What was the impetus (calling) that caused you to become active? How do those early experiences influence your religious practice today?

3. What are the three most influential religious experiences of your life? What was the emotional impact of each? How did these alter/shape your view of existence?

4. Were there any “false steps” that you made within your faith? What was the emotional impact of these? How did these alter/shape your view of existence?

5. What are the most important aspects your religion (expectations, good/bad, artifacts, writings, teachings, tenets, ceremonies, practices, primal forces (god, nature), spiritual agents (angels, demons, ancestors, other), afterlife, pre-life, etc)? What are the roles of these aspects in the existence of believers?

6. How do you know what you believe is correct? What is your level of certainty in your belief? Why is your certainty at its present level? How has your certainty changed over time? Do find a correlation between your level of happiness and your religious conviction? What challenges to your faith do you expect to potentially face in the future?

7. What do you believe about those who are currently not of your religion? What do you believe about individuals who lived before your religion was formed? In what way would you recommend that someone not of your faith approach your religion to afford them the best opportunity to emotionally connect with the truth of what you believe?

Thank you very much for your time and attention

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