she must not be that smart...

I'm looking at the blog. She once stole a pretty interesting idea called the Ideological Turing Test. A mix of atheists and Christians argue assigned positions and people try to determine if they are talking to genuine or fake atheists or Christians. The purpose being to identify misconceptions. The idea was inspired by a Paul Krugman claim that liberals could play the role of conservatives, but the reverse would fail.

Wait. In what world is the Catholic church the good guys?

michchamp said:

she must not be that smart...

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Presuming the facts you need to maintain your beliefs?

cheeno said:

Wait. In what world is the Catholic church the good guys?

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Yours. Mine. The world that's gettin' better all the time.

So any time someone leaves the Catholic church that would be a score one for the "bad guys"?

MI_Thumb said:

So any time someone leaves the Catholic church that would be a score one for the "bad guys"?

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Depends. Who's the someone, why are they leaving, and where are they going?

redandguilty said:

Depends. Who's the someone, why are they leaving, and where are they going?

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An alter boy--molestation--a shrink. I feel like Johnny Carson.

cheeno said:

An alter boy--molestation--a shrink. I feel like Johnny Carson.

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...a "joke" that's been told countless times already on a topic that's tragic and shouldn't be joked about. You must have a low opinion of Carson.

redandguilty said:

...a "joke" that's been told countless times already on a topic that's tragic and shouldn't be joked about. You must have a low opinion of Carson.

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No, not Carson. Just the Catholic Church.

cheeno said:

No, not Carson. Just the Catholic Church.

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There's plenty ugly there for you to form that opinion. I don't focus on just the ugly or I'd have a low opinion of everything. It's gettin' better all the time.

redandguilty said:

There's plenty ugly there for you to form that opinion. I don't focus on just the ugly or I'd have a low opinion of everything. It's gettin' better all the time.

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Well at least you can see where I am coming from. And unlike many (militant) Atheists, I can see where you are coming from as well.

However, getting back to the OP, I doubt this blogger was a true Atheist to begin with and the fact that she has a Catholic boyfriend had as much sway in her conversion as any logical argument IMO.

cheeno said:

... I doubt this blogger was a true Atheist to begin with and the fact that she has a Catholic boyfriend had as much sway in her conversion as any logical argument IMO.

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$5 says he drunkenly beat the atheism out of her.

michchamp said:

$5 says he drunkenly beat the atheism out of her.

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He was Irish-Catholic?

typical...

1. pose as an atheist for some period of time

2. experience an "epiphany" and "find the lord"

3. go on speaking tour denouncing atheists as "selfish," "misguided," "sad," "lonely," "evil," or "just in need of a hug."

4. collect $$$$ from the sheep

5. repeat steps 3 & 4 as often as possible, until you get caught in any of the following: sexual misconduct, embezzling funds, fraud, murder, rape, or you get caught drunk or drugged out of your mind on the Hollywood freeway at 4 am on a Saturday. If drugs or alcohol, give a weepy press conference where you announce you need more time with the lord or some BS; collect more $$$$ for rehab, then return to repeating steps 3 & 4 when you get out.

michchamp said:

typical...

1. pose as an atheist for some period of time

2. experience an "epiphany" and "find the lord"

3. go on speaking tour denouncing atheists as "selfish," "misguided," "sad," "lonely," "evil," or "just in need of a hug."

4. collect $$$$ from the sheep

5. repeat steps 3 & 4 as often as possible, until you get caught in any of the following: sexual misconduct, embezzling funds, fraud, murder, rape, or you get caught drunk or drugged out of your mind on the Hollywood freeway at 4 am on a Saturday. If drugs or alcohol, give a weepy press conference where you announce you need more time with the lord or some BS; collect more $$$$ for rehab, then return to repeating steps 3 & 4 when you get out.

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If you're lucky the sexual misconduct is hetero. Other than that this is spot on.

cheeno said:

Well at least you can see where I am coming from. And unlike many (militant) Atheists, I can see where you are coming from as well.

However, getting back to the OP, I doubt this blogger was a true Atheist to begin with and the fact that she has a Catholic boyfriend had as much sway in her conversion as any logical argument IMO.

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I don't intend to keep following the story, but if she gets back together with that Catholic boyfriend, I would be very suspicious. (I get the impression that they've been apart for a long time - at least 200 pages of posts.) And it sounds like she has held some non-Atheist ideas for some time...so I kind of wonder how she got to be somewhat popular (~5,000 hits per post) as an Atheist in the 1st place. Looking at the comments, some of the readers seem quite a bit more educated than I am. I did click the turing test link and for the most part, her Atheist and Christian readers were able to trade positions and fool people at similar and surprisingly high (to me) rates. That's why I scored this for the good guys-this isn't just anyone switching teams. She's a math geek, educated enough to develop an educated following (not that there aren't stupid posts in the comments too, of course there are a share of those too.) To me, anything that helps debunk the idea that it's religion vs. science is a good thing or that Catholics are part of the anti-intellectual craze is a good thing (not to suggest that the anti-intellectualism craze hasn't swept up some Catholics, when that happens, I should score one for the bad guys. Maybe 2 for the bad guys.)

I sort of feel bad for the atheists that couldn't pass as atheist and the Christians that couldn't pass as Christian.

michchamp said:

typical...

1. pose as an atheist for some period of time

2. experience an "epiphany" and "find the lord"

3. go on speaking tour denouncing atheists as "selfish," "misguided," "sad," "lonely," "evil," or "just in need of a hug."

4. collect $$$$ from the sheep

5. repeat steps 3 & 4 as often as possible, until you get caught in any of the following: sexual misconduct, embezzling funds, fraud, murder, rape, or you get caught drunk or drugged out of your mind on the Hollywood freeway at 4 am on a Saturday. If drugs or alcohol, give a weepy press conference where you announce you need more time with the lord or some BS; collect more $$$$ for rehab, then return to repeating steps 3 & 4 when you get out.

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The science vs. religion is one popular misconception I wish weren't the case, confusing Catholics with other groups is another.