2013-01-10T15:40:56-05:00

This is the third entry in the Atheism round of the 2012 Ideological Turing Test for Religion. In this round, the honest answers of atheists are mixed in with Christians’ best efforts to talk like atheists. It’s your job to see if you can spot the difference. The voting link appears at the end of the entry, and you can look at all entries in this round here.   When (if ever) have you deferred to your philosophical or theological... Read more

2013-01-10T15:40:07-05:00

This is the second entry in the Atheism round of the 2012 Ideological Turing Test for Religion. In this round, the honest answers of atheists are mixed in with Christians’ best efforts to talk like atheists. It’s your job to see if you can spot the difference. The voting link appears at the end of the entry, and you can look at all entries in this round here.   When (if ever) have you deferred to your philosophical or theological... Read more

2013-01-10T15:39:34-05:00

In a conventional Turing Test, computer programmers try to write a computer program that can pass for human.  In the Ideological Turing Test, atheists and Christians test how well they understand each other by trying to talk like each other.  All the entries in the atheist round are collected below, and you can click on each link to read the entry to decide whether you think the author is sincere or shamming. Make sure you vote before you read the... Read more

2013-01-10T15:39:29-05:00

This is the first entry in the Atheism round of the 2012 Ideological Turing Test for Religion. In this round, the honest answers of atheists are mixed in with Christians’ best efforts to talk like atheists. It’s your job to see if you can spot the difference. The voting link appears at the end of the entry, and you can look at all entries in this round here. When (if ever) have you deferred to your philosophical or theological system... Read more

2013-01-10T15:34:52-05:00

One of the reasons I found the “gay brownshirts” argument so frustrating is that it’s a distraction from the fight I really want to have with Mark Shea and other orthodox Catholics.  I want to know why they think gay people are required to be chaste, why homosexual relationships are ‘intrinsically disordered.’  Mark put out a call to his commenters on my behalf for reading recommendations. My questions are a little unusual, as I don’t think it’s necessarily wrong to... Read more

2013-01-10T15:33:52-05:00

I’ve revised the judging form for the Ideological Turing Test (starting tomorrow) based on your comments.  Here’s the updated link.  I’ve split the “How compelling/attractive do you find this entry?” question into two parts, and below is the language that introduces that section. For the next two questions, I want you to judge the CONTENT of the entry. Regardless of whether you think the writer is sincere, are they making a good pitch for their side? The first question asks... Read more

2013-01-10T15:33:25-05:00

Last night was the season finale of Sherlock (which I hope you were all watching), and, in one sequence, Sherlock and Watson end up handcuffed together.  As they clasp hands and start running, Watson shakes his head and mutters, “We’re never going to hear the end of this.”  Watson’s frustration that everyone assumes he and Sherlock are, ahem, involved is shared by Maureen Ryan, who wrote at HuffPo that the “not-that-we’re-gay” joke that follows around male-partners-in-crime (or crime solving) is... Read more

2013-01-10T15:32:08-05:00

No Longer Quivering has moved to Patheos.  The blog is a resource for anyone fleeing the Quiverfull/Christian Patriarchy movement.  Libby Anne, a Patheos blogger at Love, Joy, Feminism, got her start blogging by telling the story of her escape from this abusive religious sect. It looks like the move-in is still in progress, so, although new posts will show up at the new site, the tabs, forum, etc are still getting set up, so you should use these links to... Read more

2013-01-10T15:31:41-05:00

The Ideological Turing Test starts this week, and I’ve put together a generic Google Form so you guys can give feedback on the survey instrument.  You can test drive it here. Make sure you give me feedback in the comments of this post, not on the form. I’d definitely like to know if you have any technical problems, and this is your last chance to give feedback on the questions.  I’m using a four item Likert scale for judging, since... Read more

2013-01-09T11:35:09-05:00

The post was “It’s hard for me to hear you over the sound of your Nazi analogies” and the comment thread was… err… frustrating, so I’m not advising you revive it.  But there’s been a positive development: Mark Shea has decided to stop using the phrase “gay brownshirts” (with more comment from him here). We didn’t exactly come to consensus (he and I still definitely disagree on whether the comparison is accurate), but we can pretty much agree it does bupkis for dialogue.... Read more

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