Jim Henderson of Off the Map gives some background to this story in this article. Some excerpts:

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. [    ]

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are they fighting, what are they conquering and what are they against " I thought to myself, if you only knew all the outdated and arrogant sounding language we use to describe our mission it would really give you the creeps.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. [    ]

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