The End of Christianity

386 Pages·2011·2.74 MB·English

by  John W. Loftus

“No collection better demonstrates how taking Christianity seriously reveals its
all-too-human origin. This superb, often witty, and exceedingly well-researched
collection explains how early Christianity is only a pale resemblance of any of
the diverse Christian sects today. As well, the authors reveal how vastly
improbable Christian dogmas are, such as the notion that a god designed the
universe, that life replete with personal identity continues after death, that hell
represents divine justice; and that morality is exclusively Christian. Overall, very
sobering for Christians, and so wonderfully delightful for the rest of us.”
—Malcolm Murray, PhD, associate professor of philosophy,
University of Prince Edward Island;
author of The Atheist's Primer
”The End of Christianity reads like a family reunion that brings together the
family of disbelieving intellectuals we've grown to love and respect. The stories
that form the great narrative of the history of unbelief find in this book fresh
voices with new and exciting angles. Loftus and his friends annihilate the
Christian Goliath with their disputatious slingshots. The reader will probably
hope that believers will not shy away from this text if only so that Loftus will
soon publish yet another exciting anthology.”
—Johnnie Terry, instructor in philosophy, Sierra College
“This fascinating book's beefy arguments as well as its tasty tidbits of
information are all geared to show that when it comes to ‘God talk’ and the
‘revealed religion’ known as Christianity, the questions outnumber the
certainties. And though Christianity and religion in general will certainly endure
long enough for John Loftus to edit additional works, that sort of blessing does
not appear to be one for which some Christians will be eager to thank God.”
—Edward T. Babinski, editor of Leaving the Fold:
Testimonies of Former Fundamentalists
“The Christian Delusion is the first book I give to anyone who wants to
understand why I am no longer a Christian. Loftus and company have returned
with The End of Christianity, which will now be the second book I give to
anyone who wants to read a substantive case against Christian faith.”
—Luke Meuhlhauser, owner of the popular blog
Common Sense Atheism, which named
Loftus's Why I Became an Atheist as the
Best Atheism Book of the Decade (2000–2009)

Published 2011 by Prometheus Books The End of Christianity. Copyright © 2011 by John W. Loftus. All
rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in
any form or by any means, digital, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or
conveyed via the Internet or a website without prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case
of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Cover image © 2011 Media Bakery
Cover design by Jacqueline Nasso Cooke Inquiries should be addressed to
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The end of Christianity / edited by John Loftus.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978–1–61614–413–5 (pbk.)
ISBN 978–1–61614–414–2 (e-book)
1. Christianity—Controversial literature. I. Loftus, John W.
BL2775.3.E53 2011
230—dc22
2011009827
Printed in the United States of America

Introduction
I. WHY TWO THOUSAND YEARS ARE
ENOUGH
1. Christianity Evolving: On the Origin of Christian
Species
Dr. David Eller
2. Christianity's Success Was Not Incredible
Dr. Richard Carrier
3. Christianity is Wildly Improbable
John W Loftus
II. PUTTING AN ANCIENT MYTH TO REST
4. Why Biblical Studies Must End
Dr. Hector Avalos
5. Can God Exist if Yahweh Doesn't?
Dr. Jaco Gericke
6. God's Emotions: Why the Biblical God Is
Hopelessly Human
Dr. Valerie Tarico
III. LIVING ON BORROWED TIME
7. The Absurdity of the Atonement
Dr. Ken Pulliam
8. The Salem Witch Trials and the Evidence for the
Resurrection
Dr. Matt McCormick
9. Explaining the Resurrection without Recourse to
Miracle
Dr. Robert M. Price
10. Hell: Christianity's Most Damnable Doctrine
Dr. Keith Parsons
IV. SCIENCE PUTS AN END TO CHRISTIANITY
11. Is Religion Compatible with Science?
Dr. David Eller
12. Neither Life nor the Universe Appear
Intelligently Designed
Dr. Richard Carrier
13. Life After Death: Examining the Evidence
Dr. Victor J. Stenger
14. Moral Facts Naturally Exist (and Science Could
Find Them)
Dr. Richard Carrier
Afterword: Changing Morals and the Fate of
Evangelicalism
Robert M. Price
Notes
List of Contributors
Commitment Page
his present anthology is now what I call the third book in a series—the first of
T
which I consider my magnum opus, Why I Became an Atheist (2008),
followed by the anthology The Christian Delusion (2010), titled after Richard
Dawkins's bestselling book, The God Delusion. The End of Christianity is titled
after Sam Harris's bestseller, The End of Faith, which started the so-called New
Atheist movement. Unlike Harris, who called for an end to religious faith as a
whole, we're calling for an end to a specific kind of religious faith: Christianity. I
honestly think that with this book (and certainly the series) Christianity has been
debunked. The jury has returned its verdict. The gavel has come down. The case
is now closed.
I think the chapters in this anthology speak for themselves, so I'll not
introduce them except to say I'm very pleased and honored to be a part of this
work, which includes several leading atheists, agnostics, and religious critics of
our day. Once again I thank each contributor and especially Richard Carrier for
the yeomen job he did with editing and peer review of nearly all the chapters.
GETTING ON BOARD WITH THE OTF
My signature argument is the Outsider Test for Faith (OTF), which I defended in
my earlier books. It plays an important role in this series, so I want to say more
about it here. Who would have thought that such a simple and obvious argument
would be so hotly contested that I would have to revisit it again? But it is
contested, probably because it can and does undermine religious faith so well.
We are all raised as believers by our parents in our respective cultures. If our
parents said something was true, then we believed it as children. We didn't know
not to do so. One of the most important things our parents told us to believe is
that their particular religion is true. And so, fundamentalists will raise
fundamentalists. Snake handlers will raise snake handlers. Polygamists will raise
polygamists. Catholics will raise Catholics. Militant Muslims will raise militant
Muslims. Mormons will raise Mormons. Orthodox Jews will raise Orthodox
Jews. Scientologists will raise Scientologists. And so on and so forth. We can