Why People Stop Believing

By Paul Chamberlain

This book addresses a growing need in apologetic literature. It is a response to the growing wave of Christian leaders who are rejecting Christianity and becoming some of its most ardent critics, often supported by a plethora of new organizations arising to encourage such people to cut ties to their faith. This is a new challenge from a different breed of critics who are using their instant credibility and insider's knowledge of theology, the Bible, church history, even apologetics, to debunk the faith they once believed and promoted. They have taken aim at the foundations of Christianity, including God, the Scriptures, miracles and the supernatural, and Christianity's perceived inherent prohibition on free enquiry.  
Readers will be introduced to arguments against Christianity by these critics, which they claim compelled them to leave, followed by responses that use examples, questions, and nontechnical language to make the reasoning accessible.  Every issue addressed has been raised by a former Christian leader, and special attention has been paid to their precise formulations.  The book makes the case that, however convincing the critics' arguments may appear at first glance, further analysis reveals them to be weaker than they appear, and in many cases entirely unpersuasive.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Release date: Jan 12, 2018
• ISBN: 9781532639913

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Why People Stop Believing

By

Paul Chamberlain

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Why People Stop Believing

Copyright © 2018 Paul Chamberlain. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

Cascade Books

An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3

Eugene, OR 97401

www.wipfandstock.com

paperback isbn: 978-1-5326-3989-0

hardcover isbn: 978-1-5326-3990-6

ebook isbn: 978-1-5326-3991-3

Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

Names: Chamberlain, Paul, 1954–.

Title: Why people stop believing / Paul Chamberlain.

Description: Eugene, OR: Cascade books, 2018 | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: isbn 978-1-5326-3989-0 (paperback) | isbn 978-1-5326-3990-6 (hardcover) | isbn 978-1-5326-3991-3 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Apologetics | Christianity and atheism

Classification: BT1212 C43 2018 (paperback) | BT1212 (ebook)

Manufactured in the U.S.A. 01/23/18

Table of Contents

Title Page

Chapter 1: A New Kind of Critic

Chapter 2: Encountering a Critic Who Once Believed

Chapter 3: Christianity and the Freedom to Think

Chapter 4: Why Would God Do That?

Chapter 5: An Extra Problem for the Case against God

Chapter 6: The Changing Face of Atheism

Chapter 7: Undermining the New Testament

Chapter 8: How Did We Get the New Testament?

Chapter 9: But Can I Trust My Bible

Chapter 10: Undermining the New Testament Authors

Chapter 11: Who Really Wrote the Gospels and What If We Don’t Know?

Chapter 12: Discrepancies among the Gospels

Chapter 13: Why Aren’t There More Outside Sources about Jesus?

Chapter 14: Naturalism

Chapter 15: Questioning Miracles

Chapter 16: Three Arguments against Miracles

Bibliography

Chapter 1

A New Kind of Critic

The email message said it all. It was from a young Christian I’ll call Steve who had just returned from a business trip on which he had shared his faith with a colleague. Or should I say, tried to share his faith. The colleague had once been a devout Christian but had rejected the faith and was now an ardent, and as it turned out, very knowledgeable, skeptic of Christianity. He had spent a great deal of time thinking the matter through and had compiled his own case against Christianity, and he welcomed the opportunity to present his case to anyone who would listen. Steve, similarly, had read and studied the Bible more than most Christians and he gladly took up the challenge, seeing it as a golden opportunity to share the message of Jesus with a colleague. He asked his church and friends to pray for him and off he went to attend to business . . . and to a bruising encounter in which his attempts to share his faith with a friend were frustrated by a well prepared skeptic.

Every time Steve made a point, his colleague seemed to be one step ahead of him. He knew the point and immediately raised a problem with it and, in most cases, Steve found himself unable to respond. In addition, his colleague raised new challenges Steve had not thought of. The longer it went, the worse it got. Where was God, Steve wondered, when he really needed him? Didn’t Jesus say he would give us words to say when tough questions were thrown our way?

There is a new and increasingly aggressive breed of skeptic today. It is made up of people who have studied Christianity and, in the past, were devout members of the Christian community, themselves. This group includes people who once were pastors, those preparing for ministry, theologians, Christian apologists, authors, church planters, and theological seminary graduates. Over the past decade a wave of such skeptics has sprung up across the continent, supported by a growing number of organizations devoted to providing support and encouragement for Christians who choose to leave the faith.

People like this know what it feels like on the inside because they were once there, themselves. They understand Christianity and the Bible better than most Christians since they studied and taught it for years. Their objections against Christianity are highly focused and precise, and they go beyond the typical responses offered by Christians. Nor are they the kind of people who are satisfied by being told that some things, usually the problem areas, have to be taken by faith. Do you offer the same concession to members of other faiths when their teachings have difficulties, they are prone to ask.

Furthermore, in a good number of cases, they have honed their skills in presenting their case against Christianity. Increasingly, their goal is to persuade other Christians to join them in their rejection of Christianity, or at least to provide a safe haven for Christians who become disillusioned with their faith.

This book is a response to critics in this group. The people to whom I will respond have two specific characteristics. First, when they were part of the Christian community, they were leaders in it, either in the church or in academic institutions, and sometimes in both. In other words, I will focus on arguments being made by thoughtful leading members of the faith. Secondly, they are now ardent critics of Christianity. Now that they have left the faith, they are not content simply to let sleeping dogs lie. Some have become leaders in various atheist and skeptic organizations throughout North America, while others have taken up academic posts from which they articulate new and sophisticated arguments against Christianity, often in best-selling books. A good number of the skeptics and atheists I have engaged in debate or dialogue over the past fifteen years share both these characteristics.

What Kind of Christian Leaders Walk Away from the Faith?

Perhaps you’ve wondered how anyone could walk away from Christian faith. Did they truly know the God of the Bible? How can you walk away from that? While it may seem unimaginable, there is really nothing new about this phenomenon. Even St. Paul, in the New Testament, wrote about two men named Hymanaeus and Alexander who, in his words, had suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith (1 Tim 1:20).

We will return to this question later in the book but for now let me say that I have found it difficult to establish neat and tidy categories for why people leave the faith. In some cases there has been a traumatic negative experience while in others there is a sense of having been let down by members of the Christian community. At times a series of unresolved doubts has eaten away at one’s confidence in the basic truth claims of Christianity, or there has been a moral failure coupled with difficulty finding renewed acceptance among former Christian friends and colleagues. When one looks at the journeys of these former Christian leaders, it becomes immediately obvious that there is a variety of causes and motivating factors, and usually a combination of them.

For example, one is a person who, in his words, was raised in a loving Southern Baptist home and was a fundamentalist Christian for over twenty years. As a young man, he set out to reaffirm his faith with a plan to attend theological seminary and prepare for ministry. After investigating a series of topics, however, he found his faith was weakened and eventually destroyed. In his words, his study of philosophy, science, and other academic disciplines helped free . . . [his] mind from the shackles of religion.¹ He now leads the atheist community in Austin, Texas, as an articulate spokesperson for his views. He is prominent at public gatherings of atheists throughout North America and also on various internet sites. I know him personally, having engaged him in formal debate at an atheist convention, and consider him a friend.²

Another is a person who, as a young man, began to read the Bible uncritically, as he puts it now. It all seemed so real to him and eventually his life was radically changed. He began looking for opportunities to tell people about Jesus, even going out hitchhiking with the goal of witnessing to anyone who picked him up. My guess is he put most Christians to shame in terms of his passion and service for Jesus. Eventually he went on to study theology and philosophy at two evangelical seminaries, earning MA, MDiv, and ThM degrees from these schools. He later studied philosophy at the PhD level and currently teaches philosophy. He preached for over a decade in a number of churches and taught Christian apologetics along the way.

Today he sings a different tune, however. In his words now, . . . when I weigh the sum total of all that I know, I believe I’m rational and correct to reject Christianity. It just doesn’t make sense to me. Just like any jury has difficulties in assessing the case, we must go with the position that makes the most overall sense of everything that we know.³ Claiming to be living life to the hilt, he states his wish that everyone who reads his writings could experience the freedom he has found. He has written a thick and well-endorsed book outlining his journey to atheism and setting out his reasons for rejecting the faith. He has also maintained a blog over the past few years devoted to debunking Christianity, and has developed a team of bloggers.⁴

A third person is currently the Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at a well-known American university. As a devoted Christian, he attended both a prominent Bible College and a highly regarded Christian College in his younger years but eventually rejected the faith. During his years as a graduate student, he encountered difficulties with the biblical text which were never satisfactorily resolved. In time, his confidence in the Bible evaporated and eventually his faith came crashing down. As a critic of the faith, he has written or edited over twenty books, numerous scholarly articles, and dozens of book reviews. His credentials, skills as a textual critic, and engaging writing style have put him in the forefront of contemporary critics of historic Christianity.⁵

Still another served as a Pentecostal minister for twenty-five years. He is now rising in prominence as an American atheist and is known especially as the founder of one of America’s first secular churches. His story was written up recently in a New York Times profile.⁶

A fifth is a university professor who was raised as a pastor’s kid, and from an early age, wanted to be a theologian, so he read everything from the church fathers to systematic theology. He went on to earn a BA in theology, followed by an MA and PhD in the history of Christianity. Eventually he landed a teaching position in an evangelical seminary. Then, as he puts it, he began to put his religion under the academic microscope and gradually found himself no longer believing the faith he had grown up with and held all his life. When it became clear that he no longer possessed that faith, he made the difficult decision to leave behind his full-time faculty position. It has not been an easy road. Unable to find a tenured teaching position elsewhere, he now teaches as an adjunct professor at a different institution but still claims he is much happier now that his new identity is public knowledge. In a recent article, he encouraged other professors in Christian institutions to follow his lead and consider being open about their new identity as well.⁷

The last example is a person who was ordained to the Christian ministry in California but nine years later announced he had become an atheist. Over the years he has become a prominent member of the atheist community in the United States and works as the director of public relations for an organization devoted to encouraging people to leave their faith. As an atheist he has written four books and many articles.⁸ Do people like these fit into one of our categories? Which ones?

However difficult it may be to pinpoint causes or motivating factors, what is clear is that a number of former Christian leaders have put forward actual reasons, arguments, against Christian faith which they now say compelled them to leave, and those reasons are the primary concern of this book.

As I have examined a number of these reasons, I have been struck, as a Christian philosopher, by one particular theme running through them all, and that is the claim that rejecting Christian faith has brought a new-found freedom to think and reason. Not only is this fresh freedom a cause of great celebration at their meetings and conferences, but it forms a large part of their appeal to others still trapped in their faith. Christianity, they say, placed severe restrictions on their ability to reason and enquire into life’s biggest questions when they were in the faith. It did this by telling them what to believe regardless of whatever evidence or arguments they might come across. Some, in fact, go further and claim that Christianity actually controlled them and took away their very ability to think rationally. Now that they have thrown off the shackles of Christianity, they can reason and enquire freely, and so could the rest of us if we would just follow them out.

This theme is displayed prominently in the very names given to many atheist, humanist, or skeptic organizations to which many such people belong; names like Free Thought Society, The Reason Project, The Good Thinking Society, and The Center for Inquiry, a group which runs a summer camp called Camp Inquiry. The claim concerning this new-found intellectual freedom is an exceedingly strong one which is made often and with great enthusiasm. It raises questions we should all ask and we will take it up early in this book.

What Makes These Challenges Different?

What makes the challenges coming from these critics different from any others we may encounter? Clearly, bringing arguments against Christianity is not a new enterprise. It goes back as far as Christianity itself. When critics of Christianity used to believe the very things they now decry, does it make the charges they now bring against the faith different from others? If so, how? I have found that it does, indeed. Both the messages and the messengers are different, and the differences matter. In fact, taken together, they tell the story of why the challenge from these critics is unlike any most Christians will have faced.

First, and most importantly, these critics bring a greater knowledge of the Bible, theology, and church history than many Christians, themselves, possess. On one occasion, one such person with whom I was talking took great delight in demonstrating that he was right about the precise place one Bible verse ended and the next one began after I had voiced my doubts. Out came his iPhone Bible app which he put in front of me. There it is, he exuded, pointing me to the verse on his phone. Isn’t it great that I can trump you on something in the Bible! It was a humorous moment on a relatively unimportant matter but the overall point is a serious one. These critics’ knowledge of the scriptures, theology, and matters of faith will outstrip that of most Christians, and this gives their arguments a sharper focus and greater persuasive power than they otherwise would have. If you quote a verse to them, they will already know the verse, its context, and probably any hard questions associated with it, and they will be all too happy to put these questions back to you. And when you’re done with that verse, they will be quick to point to others that raise other questions. Indeed, most Christians will soon realize that they, not the critics to whom they are speaking, are the ones with the lesser knowledge of their own message.

Secondly, the way these critics formulate their objections against Christianity often moves beyond the way these challenges are normally presented. These critics, unlike many others, know the Christian community well because they were members of it. They know the type of preparation and teaching most Christians will have had and can, thus, easily anticipate the typical responses they will hear to their objections since they used to give these same replies themselves. So they frame their challenges differently, in ways for which most Christians will be unprepared. Their objections, in fact, usually already contain the normal responses they know they will hear from Christians. When I have presented a number of these objections to Christian leaders and others, using the language of the critics, most are perplexed and admit they wish they had better responses.

Thirdly, these arguments come with increased credibility in the eyes of the public since those making them were once Christian leaders, themselves, but now insist that intellectual honesty, and insuperable problems with Christianity, have forced them to abandon the faith. And who could argue with them? After all, they’ve seen the issue from both sides. They speak from an insider’s perspective, and this gains them a higher standing than they could have hoped for when they were leaders within the Christian community. To see this, we need only think of the credibility and respect we, ourselves, attribute to an ex-Muslim, or ex-Hindu, or ex-just-about-anything when they speak about the group to which they previously belonged. Others may have studied this group from the outside but these people were in it and some were, in fact, leaders.

Fourthly, the reasons presented by these critics come in many forms. Some are philosophical, alleging that Christianity is in some way incoherent or its key assertions false. Others are theological, finding deep and serious fault with the actions attributed to the God of the Bible. Still others are scientific, alleging that Christianity is deeply incompatible with either proper scientific method or widely agreed upon conclusions drawn by the scientific community. Others are textual, arguing that, for a variety of reasons, the biblical text cannot be trusted to give us the truth about Jesus or key first-century events surrounding him. Finally, some are historical alleging that the Christian Church, the community of Christians worldwide, which is supposedly guided by an unchanging scripture, has switched its positions on key issues throughout the centuries and then, in some cases, poured salt in the wounds by handing out nasty condemnations or worse to those who did not fall into line. These various lines of criticism in the hands of former Christian leaders can add up to an intimidating case against Christian faith.

A Surprising Support Mechanism

It is not just the wave of Christian leaders leaving the faith that is of concern here, however. As noted earlier, a plethora of new organizations have arisen in response to this exodus of Christian professionals, with the goal of helping and encouraging such people to make the move. Meet the Clergy Project (TCP), an organization established in 2011 with fifty-two charter members, whose website states that its purpose is to provide a safe haven of protected, anonymous online community for former and active religious professionals who no longer hold to supernatural beliefs.⁹ Since then TCP has received widespread news coverage. Are you a religious professional who no longer holds to supernatural beliefs? the TCP website asks. Have you remained in vocational ministry, secretly hiding away your non-belief? Are you struggling over where to go from here with your life and career? If so, the website invites you to join TCP and connect with other religious professionals who, likewise, have left their beliefs behind, even while continuing on as professional ministers. Perhaps some remain in ministry and simply fake it because they cannot afford to lose the salary. For others, the trauma of publicly walking away from the faith is just too much to bear. At TCP, they will be offered support, community, and hope. Applicants are individually screened in order to protect the anonymity of participants.¹⁰

TCP has a board of directors and various committees, and in early 2015 received final approval for 501(c)(3) status, allowing donors to make tax-deductible donations. It has programs to help people move away from having a reputation as a man or woman of God to a person who no longer holds such beliefs. This is a hard transition, the group acknowledges. We’ve been there, we’ve made the transition, and we’re there to help anyone else who is on that journey.¹¹

TCP is not alone. Another similar group goes by the name, Recovering From Religion. It is there for people with doubts and changing beliefs, and who are learning how to live after belief. This can be tough, proclaims the group’s website, but you don’t have to do it alone. We’re here for you and we want to help you as you walk this road.¹²

Then there is Christians Anonymous (CA) which proclaims itself to be A resource for recovering Christians. CA sets out its own twelve-step program, patterned after Alcoholics Anonymous. These steps help people free themselves from mental enslavement which comes from the addiction to Christianity, something this group dubs a disease of the mind. Counselling services are offered to help Christians break free of their addiction and the first step to recovery, proclaims the group, involves the simple admission that Christianity controls you, that you no longer have the ability to think rationally. The group’s website includes testimonials of people who have successfully recovered from their addiction to Christianity.¹³

Other groups have names like, The Freedom From Religion Foundation, and Internet Infidels. They exist alongside a rising number of blogs with names like exchristian.net whose motto is Encouraging de-converting and former Christians, which provide daily arguments and encouragement to Christians to reject their faith as many others have done."¹⁴ They are complete with testimonials of people who, grew up in their faith and actively followed Jesus for years, but finally came to their senses and threw it all overboard. Clearly something new is underway. Anyone who chooses to engage others on matters of faith and religion will eventually encounter a critic like the ones noted above.

The Aim of this Book

Our overriding question in this book will be the following one: are the reasons these particular critics give against Christianity as compelling as they say they are? Do they constitute good reasons to abandon Christian faith? To explore this question, we will spell out a number of the most foundational arguments given by Christian leaders who have rejected Christianity, the arguments that have the most overall impact on the credibility of Christian faith. Special attention will be given to how the critics draw upon their former insiders’ perspectives to articulate their critiques in informed and persuasive ways. We will draw from their writings, lectures, interviews, and debates in order to get an accurate and well-rounded picture.

Secondly, this book will engage these arguments and provide responses to them. We will make every attempt to avoid erecting straw men which can be knocked down easily. Such misrepresentation of others’ positions is neither helpful, nor is it even honest scholarship. The question we will ask is whether the arguments advanced by these critics, when viewed in their strongest forms, really are as convincing as they say they are.

Thirdly, throughout the book, we will suggest tips for engaging in productive conversations, oral or written, with those who once embraced Christian faith but no longer do. These will often consist of helpful questions to ask or ideas to inject into the conversation. It’s worth asking from time to time how we might fare if we chose to engage an informed critic who had recently walked away from the faith. In our earlier story, Steve stepped up and did this and my hat is off to him. My question for the rest of us is whether we would have any better answers for the questions that critics like this might ask? Would we have any questions of our own for them? Or would we simply prefer to shy away from such conversations in the first place and avoid the discouragement that could result? The following conversation is for those willing to engage. Ask yourself how you might do if you were a part of it.

1. This statement is part of Matt Dilahunty’s personal testimonial found at the following website on May

26

,

2016

: http://www.atheist-experience.com/people/matt_dillahunty.

2. This reference is to Matt Dilahunty. He and I participated in a formal debate at the annual convention of the Atheist Alliance International in Kamloops, British Columbia, on May

18

,

2012

.

3. This paragraph refers to John Loftus, author of the book, Why I Became an Atheist. See especially pages

20

–

24

,

32

, and

57

.

4. Loftus, Why I Became an Atheist,

32

.

5. This paragraph is in reference to Bart Ehrman, Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and prominent textual critic. His books include Lost Christianities, Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why, and Lost Scriptures: Books That Did Not Make It into the New Testament.

6. This refers to Jerry DeWitt, former Pentecostal minister for twenty-five years. The secular church he founded is known as Community Mission Chapel of Lake Charles, Louisiana. His journey is described in the article entitled, Bible Belt Atheist.

7. This reference is to Brandon G. Withrow, currently an adjunct lecturer of religious studies at the University of Findlay. Formerly he was an assistant professor of the history of Christianity and religious studies at the Winebrenner Theological Seminary. He describes his own journey in Losing Faith in Religious Higher Education: What happens when a seminary professor joins the religiously ‘unaffiliated’?

8. This reference is to Dan Barker, one of America’s most well-known atheists. He was ordained to the Christian ministry