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We have a new blogger at FTB and he’s a pretty big name in atheist circles. John Loftus is a former student of Christian apologist William Lane Craig and the author of several books. His blog, Debunking Christianity, is now on Freethought Blogs. Welcome, John!
Welcome John Loftus
November 14, 2011 at 2:02 pm 
Ed Brayton 
Posted in Uncategorized 11 Responses to “Welcome John Loftus”
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Excellent addition to the FTB network!
Thanks for having me!
Welcome. Also, this is silly, but I like the sound of Loftus as a surname. I think because it sounds like lofty.
Ed, sorry this is off-topic but I don’t know the best way to alert you to mechanical problems with the site. It may be just me, but I’m not getting any confirmation emails when I try to subscribe to thread on various FtB blogs, nor am I getting comments in my inbox. The two blogs I’ve tried so far are Jen McCreight’s and Ophelia’s.
Ed writes:
I finally listened to William Lane Craig debate several weeks ago. It was against Christopher Hitchens at Biola U. Two hours or more IIRC. Mr. Craig flunked even remedial logic which any smart high school sophomore or least a junior should be able to observe and define. I had heard he was their best and brightest where I was embarrassed on Mr. Craig’s behalf.
Not that Hitchens was able to KO him, he simply doesn’t know enough science to do so. Nor does Hitchens appear all that attracted to devastating logical arguments, e.g., preferring his ‘dance with the sinners than sing with the saints’ argument over the logical impossibility of a holy, beneficent god who punishes eternally. But Hitchens didn’t have to, Mr. Craig seems to enjoy rhetorically punching himself in the face with ginormous roundhouse rights and lefts, e.g., arguments from authority – one supposed authority being sufficient even if all other experts disagree. I do suspect however that Mr. Hitchens got the attention of many students given his [surprisingly] classy performance compared to Mr. Craig’s juvenile display.
Perhaps Mr. Loftus can give us a breakdown of contemporaneous Christian apologists, especially those with particularly novel or compelling arguments. Actually I’d also welcome recommendations from David Heddle on people he thinks are capable of presenting an honest and rational argument that’s also compelling, which I’ve never encountered.
I can’t say I’m a fan of Loftus’s writing (I’ve read very little of it), but I have to say, from my few interactions with him personally, that I think he is a stand-up guy, having very kindly passed on a message a few years back to an old philosophy professor of mine (Dr. James Sennett) that I had lost contact with, and I was able to reconnect with Dr. Sennett as a result. If for no other reason than that, welcome to FTB, John.
Loftus does a stellar job of breaking down the arguments from the crowd that will ask atheists if they’ve read the bible in the original Hebrew or Aramaic. Like Dan Barker, he also understands christianity from the inside out.
Two hours or more IIRC. Mr. Craig flunked even remedial logic which any smart high school sophomore or least a junior should be able to observe and define.
Maybe that’s the case where you live. Where I live, it’s not taught in most high schools at all, and it’s not required in colleges.
If you want to know why Texas (or even I) am so stupid, well, there’s your answer.
This is great news! Welcome to the neighborhood, John!
Yes, Craig’s arguments on science and mathematics are terrible, and you can find them shredded in numerous treatments on the web. The challenge is pointing out the badness within the time constraints of a public debate, in front of an audience who is probably not equipped to judge which arguments are more valid.
[...] is also noteworthy that Loftus was recently added to the roster at FreeThoughtBlogs (translation = Anti-ChristianBlogs), a more appropriately [...]
Wohoo…
[...]Welcome John Loftus | Dispatches from the Culture Wars[...]…