Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails

By John W. Loftus

Book Overview

In this anthology of recent criticisms aimed at the reasonableness of Christian belief, a former evangelical minister and apologist, author of the critically acclaimed Why I Became an Atheist, has assembled fifteen outstanding articles by leading skeptics, expanding on themes introduced in his first book. Central is a defense of his "outsider test of faith," arguing that believers should test their faith with the same skeptical standards they use to evaluate the other faiths they reject, as if they were outsiders. Experts in medicine, psychology, and anthropology join Loftus to show why, when this test is applied to Christianity, it becomes very difficult to rationally defend. Collectively, these articles reveal that popular Christian beliefs tend to rely on ignorance of the facts. Drawing together experts in diverse fields, including Hector Avalos, Richard Carrier, David Eller, and Robert Price, this book deals a powerful blow against Christian faith.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1616141689
• ISBN13: 9781616141684
• Release Date: April 2010
• Publisher: Prometheus Books
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

only the very intelligent will see past the impressive and persuasive 400 or so pages of information

Only the very intelligent will see past the impressive and persuasive 400 or so pages of information to realize: wait a minute 1/2 of the equation is missing. D.O.A. Dead on Arrival. I agree with maybe 98% of his writings about man and mans religions but his conclusion that there is no God is Dead on Arrival. D.O,A, because the author spent all of his efforts in the realm of man's activities and thinking and zero in the realm of the spirit. Therefore he can no more conclude that there is no God (or Spirit) from man's activities then he can conclude there is no life on other planets based on man's activities and wild strange thinking on this planet, Therefore his conclusion is completely invalid no matter how impressive and persuasively presented. It is missing 1/2 of the equation. 1 + = 6 is an invalid equation/conclusion/answer just like this authors conclusion is the result of an invalid equation. AGAIN, only the very intelligent will see past the impressive and persuasive 400 or so pages of information to realize: wait a minute 1/2 of the equation is missing. While at the same time I agree with maybe 98% of his writings about man and mans religions. Also his conclusions about all the details through out are highly suspected tainted by the obvious bone to pick with religion and Christianity in particular. Which taints his believability somewhat/a lot. That is to say he has an agenda. I am left with the instinctive impression that a superior during his training for ministry days made him mad/offended/put in his place and then the author decided to "I'll show you" (that scenario has been recorded before) Then we have those who have had experience/encounters with the spiritual world which the author clearly has not, and they will be totally unaffected by this books effort to convert then to atheism. Again the author has valid points 98 or so percent of the time about humans and their faults that believers have to wrestle with.

This Book is great

I am a christian but I love books that challenge and make me doubt my faith because then my faith is my faith regardless if I believe in fairy tales or not. This is a good book that is a beginning book of any doubters library. Richard Carrier is great in this book!!! I give it 5 stars!!!