Why don't you introduce yourself here? 
by I'm a first-time poster here, and I just thought I would introduce myself and give you guys a little information on me.
I'm a 25-year-old graduate student pursuing an MA and PhD in political science, specifically comparative politics and political philosophy. I'm originally from Michigan, but I now reside in the great, usually frigid state of Minnesota. As of now, I still have another ~6 years of grad school left, but when I finish, I plan to become a professor, preferably at a large research institution.
I'm generally a pretty boring guy: when I'm not in class, performing research, writing my thesis, or working on other graduate school "stuff" (which is rare), I enjoy reading, writing short poems, running, hiking in nature, spending time with family and friends, and, of course, discussing politics, philosophy, and religion. 'm single right now, but someday I would love to get married and have a family. I've spent much of my life residing in various college towns, and after I finish school (some distant day from now) I would love to spend the rest of my life living and teaching at a research university in a small college town.
I'm an atheist and a naturalist, but I have a soft spot for religion and spiritual teachings (in fact, I'd consider myself a Christian atheist). That's not how I started off, though. Far, FAR from it, in fact. I was raised in a very devout evangelical Southern Baptist home, where I learned that the Bible was true "from cover to cover," the earth was 6,000 years old, and people would go either to eternal bliss or eternal damnation upon their death. I readily believed this, and spent my early adult (undergraduate) years living my life "sold out to Christ." However, I always had doubts, and eventually I decided to question the core of what I believed. After struggling to hang on to my faith, I eventually decided it couldn't be true and left Christianity. I look forward to having some interesting discussions with both theists and atheists here!
That's all for now, if you have any questions, feel free to ask me.
Nice meeting you guys!
Peace, Love, and Reason,
Haven
