Atheists 'Evangelize' on College Campuses
At least one Christian club or group can be found on most public college and university campuses today.
One prominent Christian campus ministry, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, has staff working on 580 U.S. college campuses alone. InterVarsity President Alec Hill calls the college campus "the strategic point where you can impact the world by connecting with students, because of who the students will become."
It seems now that militant atheists are catching on. Atheists can now be found nearby Christians on college campuses "evangelizing" new adherents.
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This new generation of atheists - typically more aggressive and outspoken than their predecessors - includes bestselling authors Richard Dawkins and also ex-Christians.
Just over the weekend, John Loftus, a former Church of Christ preacher, took his crusade to debunk evangelical Christianity to Indiana State University, where he promoted his new book, Why I Became an Atheist.
Loftus, who once taught apologetics to students at Christian universities, on Saturday appealed to the crowd to see Christianity as a false system.
He said that Christians should realize their faith is just one of many, and he cited evidence based on geography, history, philosophy and scripture to make his case that the existence of a Christian God is impossible, the Indiana Daily Student reported.
"I want them to get away from relying on inspired texts," said Loftus, according to the paper, "and come up with their own conclusions adopted by themselves based on their own reasons and evidence."
Loftus runs a Web site called "Debunking Christianity" which has a stated purpose of debunking Evangelical Christianity. On the blog, Loftus profiles himself as majoring under William Lane Craig, a well-known apologist, and holding a Th.M. degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
During his address at ISU, Loftus documented that his crisis of faith started after a failed love affair led to him be outcast from his Christian community, according to the student newspaper. He said that during the next 14 years he shed his faith and eventually adopted atheism.
Loftus' story contrasts with that of Lee Strobel, a former atheist who accepted Christ and is now a popular Christian apologist.
Strobel has encouraged Christians and pastors to arm themselves against attacks on Christianity, which were in part fueled by an increase in best-selling atheist books.
A best-selling author himself, Strobel just released "The Case for Christ" DVD, which answers two of the biggest objections to Christianity: "Why is Jesus the only way to God?" and "How could a loving God exist if there is evil and suffering in the world?"
In his latest work, Strobel interviews scholars, theologians, and ministry leaders who provide intellectual arguments to questions skeptics might ask.
"The questions can be brutally difficult and the answers are not quick - they're not easy," says Strobel in the DVD.
"But if we come to God in faith, I believe he gives us legitimate reasons for hope that carry us through the most difficult circumstances for our lives."
