DOCTOR, MY EYES: Unequally Yoked is holding a contest-type thing where atheists and Christians attempt to answer relatively basic apologetic questions without letting on what they really believe. Then, you guys (yes, you, the viewers at home, Mr. and Mrs. America and all the ships at sea) get to vote on which responses you think are from real atheists and which are from papists and snake-handlers dressed up in ghost suits. This seems fun! So I figured I’d let you know that voting on the Talk Like an Atheist round is now open.

I have a lot of problems with the questions for atheists, which seem to provoke really bloodless and boring responses (cf the repetition of some variation on, “If I had a road to Damascus experience, I’d check myself in to a respected medical establishment”). That said, I think it’s kind of fascinating to see what people think atheists are like, as a tribe or contemporary identity-group, and I suspect the same will be true for the Christian responses.

I’m startled and dismayed by how few of the “atheist” responses (again, some are really written by Christians, so keep that in mind) are basically, “The world is obvious and boring! Morality is mostly a matter of willpower, not discernment. I’m a good person!” Very few of these guys have anything to say to Kafka, let alone an actual Christian. That said, I’m totally fascinated to see which kinds of self-presentation are considered most convincing by atheists and by Christians; I think this is mostly an exercise not in philosophy but in cultural criticism, in which we try to figure out who we think we are and who we think they are. As such it’s pretty great.