Telling people what they should think about God is not Hector Avalos’ main concern.

Rather, he focuses on what they can think about God, even if it means not believing at all.

Avalos is an ISU associate professor of religious studies. And he is an atheist, which means he lives his life without a belief in God.

Avalos currently is teaching both “Introduction to the Old Testament” and “Introduction to the Bible.” He describes both as descriptive courses in which he can highlight different viewpoints people have about God.

Juggling these two positions – a scholar of religious studies who is also an atheist – is a challenge Avalos can handle, he said.

“I suppose one of the obstacles would just strictly be answering questions from people that are puzzled as to being an atheist and a scholar,” Avalos said. “A lot of people perceive atheists as embittered people that hate the world and so forth, and to me, atheism is the opposite – it’s about a group of people that care more about this world rather than an afterworld.”

Being fair in class is one of his challenges, Avalos said. “In class, my duty is not to teach atheism or to convert people to atheism. My job is to report how different people interpret the Bible and let students interpret it themselves.”

David Hunter, professor of philosophy and religious studies, said he does not see Avalos’ atheism as a conflict with his position as a scholar of religious studies.

“It does not seem to me that an atheist or agnostic is any more or less suitable to teach religions than a religious believer is,” Hunter said. “The aim is to understand religions and how they function in the world. Both believers and non-believers are able to do this, if they are willing to pay attention to religious experience itself in all its many dimensions.”

Atheism was not always Avalos’ set of beliefs. He was in a Pentecostal Protestant home. He went into religious studies in college and even said he thought about wanting to convert people to Christianity.

“Since I had read the Bible so much in my high school years, I wanted to convert the world to Christianity,” Avalos said. “So I went into very systematic studies and came to the conclusion that atheism was the answer for me.”

Becoming an atheist did not change his interest in the Bible, Avalos said. It just changed the questions he had about it.

But now Avalos is not only an atheist, he’s one of the founders of the ISU Atheist and Agnostic Society. He serves as the group’s faculty adviser.

Avalos said some students may perceive him as an advocate for atheism, but he said he does not let his own beliefs affect the way he teaches.

“The point of the class is to show students what different viewpoints they believe,” Avalos said, “not what they should believe.”