John W. Loftus

John W. Loftus (born 1954) is an American author who writes about his conversion from Christianity to atheism.

Education and career as a Christian

Loftus earned a bachelor's degree (B.R.E.), from Great Lakes Christian College in 1977. He later earned two master's degrees, M.A. and M.DiV., from Lincoln Christian University under the teaching of James D. Strauss, and a Masters of Theology degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School^[1] under the teaching of William Lane Craig. He was a student for a year and a half in a doctoral program at Marquette University in Theology and Ethics. He became ordained as a minister in the Church of Christ and taught apologetics for Great Lakes Christian College and Lincoln Christian University, as well as teaching philosophy and ethics for College of Lake County, Kellogg Community College and Trine University.^[2]

Career as an atheist activist

During his almost twenty years as an evangelical Christian and Christian apologist, he experienced growing doubt about the tenets of the Christian faith. In the late 1990s he experienced a crisis of faith that led him to reject Christianity altogether.^[3]

He eventually wrote a book laying out his case against Christianity, earlier published in 2006 as Why I Rejected Christianity: A Former Apologist Explains and revised in in 2008 as Why I Became an Atheist: A Former Preacher Rejects Christianity.^[4] In 2008 he self-published a companion book entitled, Why I Became an Atheist: Personal Reflections and Additional Arguments. In 2012, he revised the book Why I Became an Atheist (Amherst, NY Prometheus Books 2012) ISBN 978-1616145774.

He is the editor of four anthologies of essays that attempt to debunk Christianity, the first three of which are The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails, (Amherst, NY Prometheus Books 2010) ISBN 978-1-61614-168-4, The End of Christianity (Amherst, NY Prometheus Books 2011) ISBN 978-1-61614-413-5, and Christianity Is Not Great: How Faith Fails (Amherst, NY Prometheus Books 2014). The titles of these books mirror those of the atheist best-sellers The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, The End of Faith by Sam Harris, and God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens. The fourth, Christianity in the Light of Science: Critically Examining the World's Largest Religion (Prometheus Books July 26, 2016) ISBN 978-1633881730 was published in July 2016. It is a collection of critical essays written by experts in their fields, examining Christianity using scientific criteria.

In 2012 he collaborated with Christian author Randal Rauser on a book entitled God or Godless: One Atheist. One Christian. Twenty Controversial Questions.^[5]

His book The Outsider Test for Faith: How to Know Which Religion is True (Prometheus Books March 2013) ASIN B00CAYK0VI proposes a method for evaluating religious belief from an outsider's perspective.^[6] It is an expansion of a chapter in his earlier book Why I Became an Atheist, arguing that everyone should examine their own faith from the perspective of an outsider.

How to Defend the Christian Faith: Advice from an Atheist (Pitchstone Publishing Nov 2015) ISBN 978-1634310567 teaches Christians the best and worst arguments for defense of their faith.

Unapologetic: Why Philosophy of Religion Must End (Pitchstone Publishing Nov 2016) ISBN 978-1634310987 is forthcoming.

He founded the website Debunking Christianity, a blog with many guest contributors.

References