John W. Loftus

John W. Loftus (born 1954) is an American author who writes about his conversion from ordained minister to atheist. His best known book is Why I Became an Atheist: A Former Preacher Rejects Christianity along with his defense of The Outsider Test for Faith
Education and career as a Christian
Loftus earned a bachelors degree (B.R.E.), from Great Lakes Christian College in 1977. He later earned two masters degrees, M.A. & M.DiV., from Lincoln Christian University under the teaching of James D. Strauss and a Masters of Theology degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School under the teaching of William Lane Craig. 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.
Career as an atheist
During his almost twenty years as a 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. He eventually wrote a book laying out his case against Christianity, which was published in 2008 as Why I Became an Atheist: A Former Preacher Rejects Christianity. In it he describes the reasons that led him to reject the Christian doctrines and beliefs he had "once accepted as rock-solid truths." Later in that same year he self-published a companion book entitled, Why I Became an Atheist: Personal Reflections and Additional Arguments.
He also edited the anthology The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails, (Amherst, NY Prometheus Books 2010) ISBN 1-61614-168-4 and The End of Christianity (Amherst, NY Prometheus Books 2011) ISBN 1-61614-414-2. In 2012 a work by him (co-written with Dr. Randal Rauser) will be published by Baker Books entitled, God or Godless.
He founded the website Debunking Christianity.

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