Book Review: The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails edited by John W. Loftus

“In their most inner thoughts, even the most devout Christians know that there is something illegitimate about belief. Underneath their profession of faith, there is a sleeping giant of doubt…In my experience, the best way to conquer doubt is to yield to it.” – Dan Barker, pastor-turned-atheist

The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails edited by John W. Loftus, a former Christian preacher turned atheist, is a brilliant compilation of fifteen arguments written by various distinguished atheists, and in my opinion, is the best critique of the Christian faith I have ever read. I was astounded by this book! I have never encountered a more compelling and thorough reading that covered an incredible amount of information with solid refutations of claims made from top Christian apologists.

The essays in this book cover and refute the claims and belief that modern society has Christian foundations; they cover the lack of solid evidence to show the Resurrection as true; they show that scripture does not portray God as good; and they argue that it is foolish to believe the Bible is the word of God, and much more.

Using anthropological, archaeological, cultural, psychological, philosophical, ethical, cognitive, scientific, historical, and cosmological criticisms, this book destroys Christianity. The rest of the essays cover why Jesus cannot be the son of God, why morality did not originate in the Bible, and the problems with biblical scholarship. The arguments presented are compelling and exemplary.

I recommend The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails to those who are seeking the truth about Christianity’s many nagging questions, or if you are a Christian having “never-ending doubts” because something does not make sense. This collection of arguments is thorough, well-presented, well-documented, and very-well argued. I would say it is the go-to book on why Christianity absolutely fails. Anyone trying to argue against what is found in this book, well…good luck with that!

A bit about the contributing writers of The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails:

Hector Avalos, Ph.D., professor of religious studies at Iowa State University and author of Fighting Words: The Origins of Religious Violence and The End of Biblical Studies.

Edward T. Babinski is the editor of Leaving the Fold: Testimonials of Former Fundamentalists and his writings are available the Secular Web, Talk Origins, and Debunking Christianity.

Richard Carrier, Ph.D., is philosopher and expert historian of antiquity, is the author of On the Historicity of Jesus Christ, Sense and Goodness with God: A Defense of Metaphysical Naturalism, Not the Impossible Faith: Why Christianity Didn’t Need a Miracle to Succeed, and other books.

David Eller, Ph.D., is the assistant professor of anthropology at the Community College of Denver and is the author of Natural Atheism, Atheism Advanced: Further Thoughts of a Freethinker, and a college textbook, Introducing Anthropology of Religion.

John W. Loftus, M.A, M.Div., Th.M., is the author of Why I Became an Atheist: A Former Preacher Rejects Christianity and founder of Debunking Christianity blog. He is editor of The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails.

Jason Long, Ph.D., is the author of Biblical Nonsense: A Preview of the Bible for Doubting Christians and The Religious Condition: Answering and Explaining Christian Reasoning.

Valerie Tarico, Ph.D., is the author of The Dark Side: How Evangelical Teachings Corrupt Love and Truth, of Leaving the Fold: Testimonials of Former Fundamentalists, and Trusting Doubt: A Former Evangelical Looks at Old Beliefs in a New Light. 

Paul Tobin is the author of The Rejection of Pascal’s Wager: A Skeptic’s Guide to the Bible and the Historical Jesus.

To purchase The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails, visit Barnes and Noble.