By Jim Henderson

About sixty days ago Off The Map hired an atheist on eBay. Since that time we have appeared on Fox News and been interviewed many times on radio and done a number of print pieces. Hemant has done nine church surveys for us as well. Here is a short story about how it happened, where we are and how you get connected with the story.

I was yelling into my cell phone balanced precariously between my ear and shoulder’ $298, $302, $379, $402.I kept one eye on the ebay screen hitting the refresh button every few seconds, the numbers came fast and furious. Money was going up and time was running down – soon to intersect and change life for two guys 3000 miles apart but with both sets of eyes glued to the screen.

Ebay auctions are like a basketball game decided in the final seconds. I was shouting now to our web guy who was also watching the final seconds– Wow, those numbers jump, this is exciting ,lets get our home page ready to announce our winning bid. $465, thirty seconds left $478, $489, one bid trumped another as the final seconds ticked off. 10, 9, 8 - $500, 7, 6 our bid for $504 came up 5,4,3,2,1 no other bidders!– we win! A three point shot from the corner while falling out of bounds. Our little organization Off The Map had won an atheist – now what?

Without the internet Hemant and I would not have met. No ebay, no bidding, no bidding no story. The internet is the great flattener of culture. The Roman road system for the 21st Century. The rules have changed. No one is an authority “just because” anymore. Anyone can find out anything they want about you while you are talking to them on the phone. Welcome to Google World 1.0

When it comes to buying and selling information online it’s the wild wild west and Hemant and I were like two gunslingers swaggering onto the internet. We’d decided it was better to talk than shoot. We bellied up to Bar eBay, slapped our philosophical six shooters down and began the dialog or should I say diablog.

“Hemant, how about this, instead of visiting fifty churches how about writing for 50,000 people. I need you to blog about this experience so we have an online journal and provide a place where a lot of people can ask you questions and hear what you have to say”

“Can I talk about The Secular Student Alliance, he asked” What’s that “It’s the group I help lead, kind of like Campus Crusade for Christ only without God” “Jim ,why do they still use Crusade in their title? Who are they fighting, what are they conquering and what are they against “ I thought to myself, if you only knew all the outdated and arrogant sounding language we use to describe our mission it would really give you the creeps. “ I don’t know” I muttered, “I think is has something to do with keeping the donations coming in”

“Sure, write about whatever’s real” I told him but let’s avoid the debate trap” What’s that, his eyes lit up “The Case for Christ syndrome, I answered, where I “prove to you” that I have the right idea and you have the wrong one. Or where we argue over evolution ad nauseum thinking if I can get you to admit that evolution is a theory you will fall on your face and accept Christ as your personal savior” “Have you read Strobel’s stuff,” Sure “ And…? “ He makes some good points, Hemant was trying to be polite, “hey lets be straight with each other, I hired you to tell me the truth, Don’t hold back, “but nothing we atheists haven’t already thought through, Let’s avoid the debate and instead lets have a dialog.

Since it will be online we’ll call it a diablog.

What’s the difference Hemant wondered? Essentially it boils down to this, in a debate you lead from strength, in dialog you lead from weakness. In a dialog you actually admit your weaknesses to your learning partner “you give ground”, become vulnerable which makes it easier for your conversation partner to respond in like manner”

For example, Christians are perceived to be judgmental because we really are , somewhere along the line we began practicing what I call “beliefism” the worship of right beliefs. And if you don’t agree with our beliefs, well nothing you can say or do will make you an equal in our eyes. we need to becoming better at being interested in the viewpoints of people who disagree with us not to “catch them” making a mistake in their logic, Hemant’s eyes lit up, Jim I think one of the reasons Atheists are slow to admit weakness is because whenever they do the religious person trying to convert them jumps all over them for some small detail. “Right” in fact one of the guys on the blog put it this way “If I make one typo or make one point incorrectly in a debate that idea is beat until not only the horse is dead but in the glue factory”

Remember the guy who stayed up all night so he could write on the blog? Yea the one who said “This is like the KKK inviting the Black Panthers to share their point of view” Now that dates him and me. Speaking of which, how weird is it for you to be partnering with an old musician turned pastor guy when you are young hip and just getting started into your twenties? I’ll bet you thought I was some kind of kook when I called you about surveying churches?

Learn more at www.otmatheist.com