Last month, I concluded my post series of chapter-by-chapter responses to Lee Strobel’s The Case for a Creator. I’m happy with the way this project turned out, and I’d been wanting to do it again, but I wasn’t sure if I had the stomach to tackle another apologetics book in such detail so soon.
Well, fortune favors the bold! Earlier this year, I got an e-mail from a Daylight Atheism commenter who offered to write his own book-length rebuttal. After seeing some of his writing, I decided he’d be a more than worthy contributor to this site. With that in mind, I’d like to introduce B.J. Marshall, who’s going to be addressing Francis Collins’ The Language of God. (Having given creationists their turn, it seemed only fair to give a theistic evolutionists a chance to prove themselves.)
I’ll let B.J. introduce himself in his own words:
With a BA in Economics from Oswego State University, BJ began his career in 1999 working for the Federal Government where he still works. During his career, he obtained a MS in Management from the University of Maryland University College, got Master’s Certificates in both Business Analysis and Project Management, and became a Certified Project Management Professional. He currently works as a Business Analyst in IT, where he serves as a liaison between program areas that think they need IT solutions and the IT personnel who actually provide the software applications to meet those needs. Given the Federal Government’s stereotypical dysfunction, he’ll be busy for a very long time.
BJ grew up Roman Catholic in a small city in rural Upstate New York. He became very active in the church proclaiming the readings at mass, singing in choirs, participating in Small Church Communities, leading a Young Adult Ministry, and in general kicking butt at being Catholic.
He began having serious doubts with his faith about five years ago, when he started studying philosophy and seeing that the claims he held to be true were based on rather poorly grounded assertions. His search for God attained Ludicrous Speed when his wife announced she was pregnant with their son. He read books from both the theist and atheist perspectives, listened to debates and podcasts, and discovered the wealth of information that is the blogosphere.
He decided last summer to come out to his close friends and family. While his friends have been accepting, his parents have actively tried to reconvert him, lovingly giving him “The Case for a Creator” for his birthday (along with a new Bible and a pamphlet for those who have left the church). He found Ebonmuse’s rebuttal of Strobel’s book to be of great assistance. BJ’s parents gave him “The Language of God” as a Christmas gift, and he’d like to return the favor to the Daylight Atheism readership.
He would like to sincerely thank his wife, who is made of 100% awesome, for supporting him throughout his deconversion. He finds it ironic that the person he stood the most to lose through his deconversion was the one he came out to at the onset and relied on for support over the past five years.
B.J.’s first post will appear later today. Stay tuned!