Atheist Preachers

In my list of favorite Christian preachers who turned atheist is Seth Andrews. Preachers have to have the gift of the gab since that’s the tool of their trade; Seth has that in spades. He is a delight to listen to — like listening to a virtuoso violinist. Years of preaching the Good Book does make one into a maestro in that business. A sample video coming up.

Another favorite is Dan Barker. He preached for 19 years. He was no ordinary preacher; he was the kind of preacher that you’d not want to sit next to on a bus (Richard Dawkins’ description of Dan in the preface to Dan’s book Godless.) He has even appeared on Oprah, talking about his de-conversion. A sample video of him in an Oxford Union debate will be up next. One of the people on the opposing side was Peter Hitchens, a devote Christian. That’s ironic considering that his brother, the late great Christopher Hitchens, was the world’s most celebrated atheist.

Among the devout-Christian-turned-athetist crowd (it’s a crowd) is the celebrated biblical scholar Dr. Bart Ehrman. He’s an authority on the Bible — both the Old and the New testaments. His books are best sellers. He’s attended the best Bible schools and seminaries, and was a preacher too.

(Interesting side note: Dr Ehrman taught at Rutgers University around the same time that I was a computer science PhD student there.  Of course, I didn’t know of his existence then.)

Alright, let’s throw in a few videos for your viewing pleasure. Let Seth kick off the show, followed by Dan Barker, and then Bart Ehrman.

Dan Barker at the Oxford Union debate:

Next up is Bart Ehrman. He’s a biblical scholar, as mentioned before. He is fluent in Greek (the New Testament is in Greek), Hebrew (the Bible is in Hebrew) , and Aramaic (the language that Jesus spoke).

I post this brief video for two reasons. First for its information content. I bet you’ll learn something fascinating about Christianity. And not just Christianity. Bart is a historian. We get a quick lesson in history. Historians cannot prove anything that happened in the past. What they do is to figure out “what most probably happened.” Now, a miracle is a least probable event. Therefore, historians cannot “prove” a miracle. Listen to his argument beginning around the 7:30 minute mark.

Second reason I chose this video is to illustrate a great feature of modern-day Christianity: they are astonishingly liberal. Here’s a scholar debating believers in the den of the believers: the Southern Evangelical Seminary. This would never happen in Islamic institutions; the doubter will be sent to meet his maker in short order.

That’s it for now. Have a wonderful weekend.

Author: Atanu Dey

Economist. View all posts by Atanu Dey