Today I came into the office and found two books in my mailbox for review. The first had been sent from IntervVarsity Press, W. Mark Lanier’s Christianity on Trial: A Lawyer Examines the Christian Faith. The second came from Epicurus, a reader who is a local Edmontonian. And what did Epicurus provide? A copy of John W. Loftus, Why I Became an Atheist: A Former Preacher Rejects Christianity, rev. ed (Prometheus, 2012)
Thanks Epicurus!
That’s bad news for John Loftus since he’s on record saying he’d prefer I didn’t review his book. But it is good news for everybody who would like to see that review. Having just leafed quickly through it I was struck yet again by how much Loftus brought his Christian fundamentalism with him when he became an atheist. I see, for example, that his critique of Genesis 1-2 includes fundamentalist assumptions about reading ancient literature as a scientific account. Moreover, the book even ends with a “Commitment Page” (p. 467) in which Loftus asks the reader to sign their name that they are now an atheist committed to propagating atheism in the world. Once an evangelist, always an evangelist, I guess.
I hope to have a review of Loftus’ book sometime in August (I have two time sensitive reviews that I need to get out first).
