John Loftus Takes On Christian Apologists Norman Geisler, Frank Turek, William Lane Craig, Paul Copan, Gary Habermas, Dave Hunt, Ben Witherington III, Victor Reppert, Gregory Ganssel, Craig Evans, Stewart Goetz, Daniel Wallace, Plus Others for the Win, and Guess Who Won?

I did! Here's the story.

A former Christian named ToonForever described why he no longer believes:

I decided that in order to avoid prejudicing myself toward my doubts, something I always accused T of doing when she left the faith, I would find a well-recommended apologetics book and give God the first and best chance of answering my questions and calming my fears.

For the Pro side of the argument, I downloaded to my Kindle Norman Geisler’s [and Frank Turek's] I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist.

I already knew what book I would choose for the Con side of the conversation. I wanted to read the book that made me the most afraid, because that would be the greatest challenge. If I could get through that with my faith intact, I could set aside my doubts and at least approach the meditation question with the confidence that would come from overcoming what to me was the sternest challenge I could find. So I downloaded Loftus’ Why I Became an Atheist (Revised & Expanded).

I got a blank steno pad and started reading Geisler. I had all my doubts and questions clear in my mind and looked for answers. Really, before I even read a word of Loftus, I was severely dissatisfied with what I was finding in this book. I took 30 pages of notes, delineating why the answers weren’t at all satisfying. If I wasn’t sure, I would think of what T would say about that answer, and if I could come up with her response myself, then I knew it wasn’t an answer for the rational seeker, but for the convinced who needs comfort.

I wondered for a short time if maybe there was a better book on the Christian side. Having read through WIBA, I now knew of William Lane Craig, whose talent is not that he makes a better argument, but that he knows how to manipulate the debate environment to his advantage.

So I downloaded Contending with Christianity's Critics: Answering New Atheists and Other Objectors by Craig [which includes chapters by William Lane Craig, Paul Copan, Gary Habermas, Dave Hunt, Ben Witherington III, Victor Reppert, Gregory E. Ganssle, Craig A, Evans, Stewart Goetz, Daniel Wallace and others]. I got about 40% into it and gave up. It was like reading Geisler all over again. He was perhaps more wordy, but it was the same moving of goalposts and equivocating that I’d tired of so desperately during my first read.

By the time I finished that book, I was shaken. If this was some of the best on offer, I knew where this conversation was going to end up. After all, I’d read enough of chapter 3 in Loftus’ book to really put cracks in my confidence.

So I started reading WIBA, same steno pad in hand. I took another 20 pages of notes, trying to poke holes in his assertions and answers, but when I finished the book, I looked up at the blank wall and thought, “I don’t believe it anymore.” LINK.