Pastor "tries on" atheism for a year, is promptly fired by his Christian employers.

[Angrboda]

This all shows the wrong-headedness of many religious, that they think atheism is a set of acts and a lifestyle, rather than what it is. If this pastor really wanted to know what it took to "be an atheist" for a while, you'd think he'd ask some atheists what that actually meant. No, instead it sounds like he based his project on the stereotype that Christians have about atheists and atheism. That's pretty stupid for a professor.

Second, I've been immersed in atheist culture and literature for a few years, I hang out with atheists, and I think I have a good grasp of what atheism is. (Correct me if I'm wrong.) Yes I still engage in religious rituals associated with my Hinduism, but stopping those doesn't make me any more atheist than I am now. A non-practicing theist, perhaps, but not an atheist. And I doubt that I'm alone in this. I know a Bah'ai who would likely say the same thing. Many of us involved in interfaith activities immerse ourselves in the "culture" and scholarship of atheism, and are no less religious, and no more "atheist" for doing so. Atheists themselves not uncommonly actively cultivate a deep understanding of various popular religions. They don't stop being atheists just because they engage the culture of religions. And it doesn't take a lot of research and thought to come to these conclusions. So why didn't he?