While we wait for the last responses to the Ideological Turing Test to trickle in, I wanted to address a concern that was raised by a couple of Christian bloggers. Stacy of Accepting Abundance felt she couldn’t ethically vote in the survey, and Elizabeth of Startling the Day shared some of her worries. Stacy wrote: As I read the responses I found myself unable to make such a judgement. These are people, not computers trying to pass as people, but... Read more
Because sample size for the Christian phase of the Turing Test has been lagging behind the numbers for the Atheist round, I’m pushing back the time polls close. I have enough responses to run analysis, but, greedy stat geek that I am, I want more. So the new deadline for voting is: Noon (EST) on Wednesday July 20 And at noon oh one on Wednesday, the answer key will go up and the true authorship of all the posts will... Read more
Voting for the Christian round of the Turing Test is ongoing! Get thee there if you haven’t weighed in yet. So, back to some of my undisguised opinions for a bit, as we wait for the survey results. There’s been a lot of commenting on the Natural vs Normative thread about homosexuality. Benjamin Baxter of Prodigal No More just brought up a common philosophical argument against homosexuality that I want to take a minute to address. He wrote:... Read more
Voting is now closed. Check out the answer key. This is the ballot page for the second round of the Ideological Turing Test. In this round, a slate of fifteen Christians and atheists answered questions about Christian life and belief. The Christians answered sincerely and the atheists did their level best to answer as they thought a Christian would. Now, it’s time to vote and see if the atheists know their opponents well enough to blend in with them.... Read more
Before I start the Quick Takes, I have to announce the next stage of my Ideological Turing Test — a challenge for individual Christians and Atheists to see how well they understand each other. This past week, Christians and atheists both answered questions about Christianity and the atheists tried to are trying to imitate Christian respondents well enough to blend in with them. Now, you can be the judge. Read through the responses and vote on whether you think each entry was written by a... Read more
This post is part of the Ideological Turing Test Challenge. Go to the tab above for an overview and remind yourself of the voting and commenting guidelines. What is your best reason for being a Christian? There was a time in my life I would have said that the best reason to be a Christian is that God is offering you the greatest conceivable bargain. In exchange for a small suspension of doubt, you get an enormous reward. Forgiveness for... Read more
This post is part of the Ideological Turing Test Challenge. Go to the tab above for an overview and remind yourself of the voting and commenting guidelines. What is your best reason for being a Christian? Truth. First let’s start with God. Clearly there are ample proofs for god’s existence but my favourite is probably the argument from desire. This argument simply put states that there are NO innate desires in man that are not fulfilled in nature, the desire... Read more
This post is part of the Ideological Turing Test Challenge. Go to the tab above for an overview and remind yourself of the voting and commenting guidelines. What is your best reason for being a Christian? Right now, it’s honestly through Jesus to God. The teachings of Christ resonate to me in a way little else does. When I was 17, my school gave me an Al Franken book as part of a book award where he relates his Rabbi’s... Read more
This post is part of the Ideological Turing Test Challenge. Go to the tab above for an overview and remind yourself of the voting and commenting guidelines. What is your best reason for being a Christian? Well, it puts me in a more direct appreciation of truth than anything else, for a start, and I happen to think pursuit and acceptance of truth to be an essential thing– the only thing, in fact. But what about Christianity is true? I... Read more
This post is part of the Ideological Turing Test Challenge. Go to the tab above for an overview and remind yourself of the voting and commenting guidelines. What is your best reason for being a Christian? My best reason for being (or should I say staying) a Christian is the changes I see in my life as a result of it. I know what kind of person I can be, I’m self absorbed, judgmental, vain, lazy, indifferent, amongst other things.... Read more
Unequally Yoked
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