On Sat, 18 Jan 2014 18:09:14 -0700, Patrick Elliott wrote:

> Yeah, got one of those calling everyone else fools and claiming that
> they just don't "see the truth", and quoting Ray Comfort, and AIG, etc.,
> while never coming up with anything other than Bible quotes to support
> his claims of the infallibility of the Bible, and the truth of god, over
> here:
> 
> http://yearwithoutgod.com/2014/01/02/am-i-doing-it-wrong
> 
> What started out as a fairly sane discussion about someone "trying out"
> atheism, and his comment on people telling him that doing so was a bit..
> odd, if nor absurd, has turned into nothing but a back and forth between
> a few ex-believers, and a full blown creationist. Unfortunately, I
> decided to get involved as well, and.. haven't quite gotten around to
> getting so completely fed up as to nuke the email updates for the
> discussion, and let the rest just go at him.

I think this guy is very misunderstood - I've been following him since 
about day 2 of his experiment, but my initial read (born out by his later 
posts) is that he didn't decide on January 1 to flip a switch - that the 
possibility of the universe not having a "god" is something that has been 
weighing on him for years, and he's decided to take the next step and 
stop acting like a Christian, but to start acting in a way that's 
consistent with what he's thinking.

In one of his more recent posts, he talks about his methodology and the 
ties between belief and action.  I found it to be a very enlightening 
post, and I'm looking forward to seeing how he progresses through the 
year.

But my initial reaction was "this is a guy who actually probably /is/ an 
atheist, and is just coming to realize that himself.  He's at the point 
of consciously changing his behavior to match his current state of belief 
- or disbelief."

He's been very generous, both in terms of his openness about his process 
and thinking, and also with the organizations he contracted to who 
decided that his "experiment," while interesting, was incompatible with 
teaching the courses he was teaching.  He's been generous because those 
organizations and employers are "faith-based," so he doesn't bear them 
ill will for discriminating against him - but I'm sure that experience 
has registered as perhaps a sample of the sort of discrimination that 
"out" atheists experience.

But kudos to the family and friends he has who are supporting him as 
well.  In that respect, he's had it easier than many.

Jim
-- 
"I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and 
besides, the pig likes it." - George Bernard Shaw

Post a reply to this message