It's a publicity stunt.

-hackenslash

Yeah, that's what I thought too before I read his piece. I am a sucker for false sincerity, I admit, so I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt to the exact point that he MIGHT be sincere in what he THINKS he is doing. But as I've said twice now, there IS no way to "temporarily be Atheist" or "temporarily Theist." Belief isn't a voluntary act on the part of the individual, it is something which they discover in themselves, or they don't.

So yes, I'd say that this is a publicity stunt, at least to the extent that he can't do what he is pretending to do, and in that he is likely to be praising himself for playing this game with himself, as well as doing it openly in order to garner additional support for his ego. The only thing I'm not sure of, is whether he is as unconscionably duplicitous in this as was my first assumption.

Sorry. I think, even assuming he'll take up Hack's invitation, if he's treated with skepticism and suspicion from the moment he arrives he'll be put on the defensive, and will undoubtedly end up acting the religious apologist. I know that happens to me when confronted by some of the anti-religious rhetoric on this site and I am an atheist.

He doesn't have to make himself known to us if he joins, which will circumvent that.

As for anti-religious rhetoric, I find myself unable to help with that. I am anti-religion, and vehemently so. It's a pox on mankind.

hackenslash wrote:He doesn't have to make himself known to us if he joins, which will circumvent that.

As for anti-religious rhetoric, I find myself unable to help with that. I am anti-religion, and vehemently so. It's a pox on mankind.

Actually Hack I was never speaking about you! You tend to be in areas of the forum where the topic comes up in a way that invites your barrage of arguments. I have no problem with that. It's more the kind of blanket slurs that come out on the Politics forum.

Furry muff.

Aern Rakesh wrote:

hackenslash wrote:I've extended an invitation.

Are you sure that's a good thing? We don't want to put him off atheists right at the start of his year!

Oh don't worry, in no time he will be all over the atheism+ thread explaining how feminism is destroying genuine atheism (and never leave)

Christ, imagine if he went there first. oO

It will be interesting to see if he has the intellectual fortitude to let go of the apron strings altogether.

If he does lose his religion, I hope he's not expecting to be raised on shoulders and paraded around town, he'll be sorely disappointed. I'll just give him an "atta boy, now move on" for buying clothes in the adults department rather than the little kids department.

ElDiablo wrote:It will be interesting to see if he has the intellectual fortitude to let go of the apron strings altogether.

If he does lose his religion, I hope he's not expecting to be raised on shoulders and paraded around town, he'll be sorely disappointed. I'll just give him an "atta boy, now move on" for buying clothes in the adults department rather than the little kids department.

Yeah and that's just the kind of condescending attitude that will make him feel welcome, lol!

Look, I know a lot of you think a patently obvious intellectual argument is all it takes to get someone to change their beliefs, but it doesn't work that way. At least in most cases. If someone is going to forsake years of belief and practice...and perhaps more importantly in an emotional sense, the beliefs and practices of those closest to them, what they need is empathy and encouragement. Not intellectual snobbery and questioning their motives from the get go.

This guy has already gone through several changes. He's not an entrenched fundamentalist. Back in the RDF days we used to be very supportive of people who were trying to change. What's happened? This part of the forum is open to the public and he could check it out before getting an account. Just saying...

Aern Rakesh wrote:

ElDiablo wrote:It will be interesting to see if he has the intellectual fortitude to let go of the apron strings altogether.

If he does lose his religion, I hope he's not expecting to be raised on shoulders and paraded around town, he'll be sorely disappointed. I'll just give him an "atta boy, now move on" for buying clothes in the adults department rather than the little kids department.

Yeah and that's just the kind of condescending attitude that will make him feel welcome, lol!

Some people seem to read his intention as wanting to become an atheist. That is certainly not the case. It is more some form of "embedded journalism". Joining a phenomenon in order to be able to report about it from within.

We will see what his attitude and his mode of reporting will be, but it seems to me his approach is quite open-minded so I hope this will be a chance of improving the image of atheists among his audience (the liberal adventist community)

Aern Rakesh wrote:Look, I know a lot of you think a patently obvious intellectual argument is all it takes to get someone to change their beliefs, but it doesn't work that way. At least in most cases. If someone is going to forsake years of belief and practice...and perhaps more importantly in an emotional sense, the beliefs and practices of those closest to them, what they need is empathy and encouragement. Not intellectual snobbery and questioning their motives from the get go.

This guy has already gone through several changes. He's not an entrenched fundamentalist. Back in the RDF days we used to be very supportive of people who were trying to change. What's happened? This part of the forum is open to the public and he could check it out before getting an account. Just saying...

You may disagree Nora but I think this forum is still supportive of those who are interested in changing or at least in trying to genuinely understand the opposing viewpoints to their faith based ideas. It's the preachers and wibblers who get most of the flak so far as I can see, and deservedly so.

This thread reminds me of this:

http://ajjacobs.com/books/the-year-of-living-biblically/

Which is why I think it's not sincere. It's merely an academic? exercise.

Blackadder wrote:

Aern Rakesh wrote:Look, I know a lot of you think a patently obvious intellectual argument is all it takes to get someone to change their beliefs, but it doesn't work that way. At least in most cases. If someone is going to forsake years of belief and practice...and perhaps more importantly in an emotional sense, the beliefs and practices of those closest to them, what they need is empathy and encouragement. Not intellectual snobbery and questioning their motives from the get go.

This guy has already gone through several changes. He's not an entrenched fundamentalist. Back in the RDF days we used to be very supportive of people who were trying to change. What's happened? This part of the forum is open to the public and he could check it out before getting an account. Just saying...

You may disagree Nora but I think this forum is still supportive of those who are interested in changing or at least in trying to genuinely understand the opposing viewpoints to their faith based ideas. It's the preachers and wibblers who get most of the flak so far as I can see, and deservedly so.

I'm not just talking about people who come here 'asking for it', so to speak. Yeah, I have no problem with the volleys thrown at them. But I'm talking about some of the posts about 'religious people' in general, the language used and the sweeping generalisations that are made on a regular basis.

In the case of this guy, I think the deck is already stacked against him feeling welcome here if he would happen to read this thread before joining. I'm just saying that if I were invited I would check the forum out before joining.

I suppose he could pretend to be someone else, but then he might get in trouble with his blog, which is open to the public, and where he seems to want to genuinely chronicle his experience.

NineBerry wrote:Some people seem to read his intention as wanting to become an atheist. That is certainly not the case. It is more some form of "embedded journalism". Joining a phenomenon in order to be able to report about it from within.

We will see what his attitude and his mode of reporting will be, but it seems to me his approach is quite open-minded so I hope this will be a chance of improving the image of atheists among his audience (the liberal adventist community)

The questions arise...
Can one live as if there is no god and yet still believe in god?
Does living without god make one an agnostic or atheist?

From his blog

For the next 12 months I will live as if there is no God. I will not pray, read the Bible for inspiration, refer to God as the cause of things or hope that God might intervene and change my own or someone else’s circumstances. (I trust that if there really is a God that God will not be too flummoxed by my foolish experiment and allow others to suffer as a result).

ElDiablo wrote:

NineBerry wrote:Some people seem to read his intention as wanting to become an atheist. That is certainly not the case. It is more some form of "embedded journalism". Joining a phenomenon in order to be able to report about it from within.

We will see what his attitude and his mode of reporting will be, but it seems to me his approach is quite open-minded so I hope this will be a chance of improving the image of atheists among his audience (the liberal adventist community)

The questions arise...
Can one live as if there is no god and yet still believe in god?
Does living without god make one an agnostic or atheist?

From his blog

For the next 12 months I will live as if there is no God. I will not pray, read the Bible for inspiration, refer to God as the cause of things or hope that God might intervene and change my own or someone else’s circumstances. (I trust that if there really is a God that God will not be too flummoxed by my foolish experiment and allow others to suffer as a result).

Isn't that the same as lying? Would it be "lying for God?"

People who write use figures of speech.

"We partied as if there was no tomorrow" doesn't mean we literally though there was no tomorrow.

igorfrankensteen wrote:But as I've said twice now, there IS no way to "temporarily be Atheist" or "temporarily Theist."

Unless Ray Kurzweil's vision of a technological singularity ushers in immortality for us, it's a very plausible possibility that all atheists and theists are only temporary atheists or theists.