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2011-DEC: A communication problem caused by lack of clear, unambiguous terminology:

Origin unknown. Copied from the Religious Tolerance facebook page

2012-JAN-01: Tebowing > Thinkering:

Tim Tebow is a quarterback for the Denver Broncos football team. He appears to have become better known for "Tebowing" than for throwing footballs. When Tebowing, he goes down on one knee and adopts a position of humility by tipping his head down, and praises Jesus for a victory. Many other fundamentalist or other evangelical Christians have adopted the pose.

This inspired Dave Silverman, president of American Atheists, to adopt a pose called "Thinkering." It mimics the pose of Auguste Rodin's sculpture known as "The Thinker." He also gets down on one knee, but curls his fist under his chin and adopts a pensive expression as if he is trying to find a solution to a problem through the use of reasoning. He posted the photograph on 2011-DEC-28 and received 136 "likes" by JAN-01:

Dave Silverman and Giordano Bruno "Thinkering" 

The object in the photograph that appears to be a spear stuck in Dave's back seems to be a corner molding in the wall.

He is a reasonably accurate duplicate of Rodin's sculpture, except that he has a lot more clothes on and he is looking straight ahead or upwards.

Auguste Rodin's sculpture "The Thinker"
(Image rotated about its vertical axis)

Silverman posted his photo on his facebook page on 2011-DEC-28. When criticized that his pose looked too similar to Tebowing, he replied:

"That's the point. The difference is we don't bow our heads in blind submission. Rather we consider, and conclude for ourselves."

References used:

The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.

1. Staks Rosch, "Thinkering: The atheist answer to Tebowing," 2011-DEC-30, Examiner.com, at: http://www.examiner.com/
2. Giordano Bruno, "Thinkering at the liquor store," Facebook, 2011-DEC-31, at: http://www.facebook.com/

Original posting: 2012-JAN-01
Author: B.A. Robinson

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