You may have wondered how someone who grew up in a Christian home, studied Bible and theology and served as a pastor of two Christian churches can end up as an atheist. As I heard David Madison tell his story and how much realism meant to him, I came to understand.

 

The First Cracks

David told me that his mother was born in 1905 and raised in Southern Indiana. Though a devout Christian, she was not a Fundamentalist. While she had no college education, she read voraciously, including the liberal Interpreter’s Bible.  Maybe because of that reading, she voiced her negative reaction to Billy Graham when he appeared on the TV, waving his Bible in the air.

 

As a child, David attended church regularly, but, even then, seeds were planted for his later doubts and questions.

 

He recalled two events that were instrumental in his questioning the faith observed at home. 

 

The first was the presence of the twelve volume Interpreter’s Bible in his home. It’s comprehensive biblical commentary; its insights and interpretations of biblical writings gave David permission to look critically at what he learned about the Bible. His mother even allowed him to take the Interpreter’s Bible to college with him.

 

The second event that got him thinking was the gift of a telescope. “That is what began to eat away my faith,” he said. Under the wide unobstructed skis of northern Indiana, he concluded that the Biblical authors were “naïve.” To them. the earth was a flat surface, and above the flat surface was “the realm of the gods.” With his telescope in hand, he saw how unbelievably vast the cosmos was. He was grateful for Edwin Hubble who, 15 years before he was born, had discovered that the swirl of stars known as Andromeda, thought to be within our Milky Way galaxy, was actually a galaxy 2.5 million light years away. He realized that the universe extends far beyond our own galaxy, and the Milky Way is just one of many galaxies. The cosmos that he saw made what he learned about heaven from the Bible seem to lack wisdom and reality.

 

Examining His Faith

Being introduced to Bible readings, including biblical criticism, it was no surprise that David took courses in Bible when he went to college at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, though he majored in political science. 

 

He was ready to raise questions about what he read in the Bible. For example, he remembers writing a paper about the virgin birth in which he asserted that it was not factual – not real. 

 

By the time he’d finished college he was fascinated by biblical studies. Instead of retreating from doubt, he pursued it further, and had decided to study for the ministry; he was accepted at Boston University School of Theology. The more he studied theology, the less certain he was that the ministry was the right career for him. Why not teach Bible in an academic setting? So he enrolled in the PhD program in Biblical studies. He’s been quoted as saying “the mind-numbing courses in theology proved to have a corrosive effect on my faith.”  The tension intensified.

 

His early learning that the world was sheltered by the heavens where God resided, was not realistic. That Jesus was born of a virgin was not realistic. In fact, the existence of “God” was an unrealistic notion. While studying theology, David felt isolated. He thought, “What if we could get input from creatures that are light years away? What would they think about God?”

 

He remembered his study of the writings of the Swiss German theologian Karl Barth, best known for his 14-volume Church Dogmatics. In his writing, he expounded on what he saw as the essence of the Christian message: “The absolutely supreme transcendent God, who comes in infinite condescension to give himself to humankind in unconditional freedom and grace.”  Despite the church’s claim to know about God, one of David’s professors, referring to Barth’s writing, said, “Nobody knows 8,000 pages about God, even in German.”  David was looking for data and wondered how anyone could know even one page about God.  

 

Living the Contradiction

Despite his growing skepticism, David was ordained as a minister in the Methodist Church and served two congregations in Massachusetts. 

 

Even while David was serving as pastor in Massachusetts, he felt uncomfortable preaching and avoided sharing his disbeliefs about some of the major Christian tenants. He finally resigned. He said he was so “glad to be away from conducting Sunday worship.” He never discussed with this mother his doubts about the faith he had inherited. It was just a relief to finally decide to leave the ministry. He left, without saying why. 

 

Reinvention

A member of the congregation was a resource for his finding a job selling insurance. David had a considerable “rolodex” of contacts he’d met over the years and, by following up on his many contacts, he exceeded expectations in the insurance business.

 

But after a year selling insurance—which was even more depressing than the ministry—he moved to New York with his future husband and worked for another 33 years in human resources related roles. He happily points out that he and his husband have been together for 48 years. They were able to get legally married after being together for 30 years.

 

His Public Voice

Finally retired, David began exploring and writing about his newfound his belief – unbelief - which he was now ready to declare in a bold way, 

 

In 2016 he published The Tough Problems in Christian Thought and Belief: A Minister-Turned-Atheist Shows Why You Should Ditch the Faith. It was an enormous undertaking. In it, he raised questions about biblical authority, the problem of evil, and the nature of Jesus.

 

His years of training and education gave him a deep knowledge of the Bible, the inconsistencies and statements which he found unrealistic. In retirement, he had time to think about what he knew, and to share his knowledge with others. 

 

His central theme is that the foundational claims of Christianity do not hold up under critical study. The gospel writers never listed sources. In fact, they wrote 40 to 80 years after the death of Jesus. Clearly their writing was not historical record, but rather what David called “propaganda to promote the Jesus cult.”

 

David challenges believers to sit down and read the Book of Mark and then, he says, relax with a glass of wine and read the Book of Luke. The reader will then realize that both can’t be right. Then, the reader should go on to read the Book of John. The reader will see yet another view of Jesus, this time putting Jesus present at creation. Reading each book will enable the reader to see how the gospels differ from one another. 

 

Referring to the gospel writers, David points out the fact that these authors didn’t rely on archives. It’s important to know when each book was written, in order to put their messages in context. He points out, for example, that Mark wrote after the temple was destroyed. 

 

David thinks a comment often attributed to Mark Twain sums it up well: “The best cure for Christianity is to read the Bible” (www.cureforchristianity.com).

 

Support in His Atheism

I asked David if he had support in his thinking from other atheists. He mentioned John Loftus, who, like David, had served in the ministry. John was a devout Evangelical Christian and minister in the Church of Christ. After multiple academic degrees, he taught philosophy and ethics at several universities, until he had a crisis of faith, declared himself an atheist, and went on to write 10 or 12 books about atheism. 

 

David also mentioned Richard Carrier who has written extensively about the historicity of Jesus and the historical reliability of the Bible. He is often referred to as a “Christ myth theorist.” With a PhD in the Science of Antiquity, he has written extensively about atheism and metaphysical naturalism. David said he has read Carrier’s works multiple times and follows his blog about the ancient Greek and Roman world. Carrier notes that there were nine other major religions in the ancient world that believed in dying-and-rising gods. (see his essay describing them in detail, (https://www.richardcarrier.info/archives/13890) The early Christian sect borrowed the idea and applied it to Jesus. Carrier notes that “Jesus is just a late comer to the party.”

 

David writes prolifically and introduces his readers to other atheists and scholars of biblical skepticism.  So, I asked him what he thought was his unique contribution. He described himself as “derivative.” I took that to mean he bases his thoughts on essays from others like Loftus and Carrier with a distinct emphasis on the gospel writers who wrote inconsistent stories without any data or sources to back up their writing.

 

His Core Conviction

David is particularly troubled by the moral and theological portrayal of God in the Bible; it is inconsistent, and, at times, deeply troubling. In his view, when it comes to the reality of God, believers often say their belief is based on faith. They understand the stories as a result of “divine inspiration.” David’s view is that they were using “their imaginations.” 

 

David is disturbed by how God is characterized – as an angry God. “We are to bow down to a vicious guy.” David says, referring to what Christians are taught about how to regard God. David wants us to read the Bible and see the horrific texts in the Bible. 

 

What Drives David

David is not only a writer, but he’s an active reader, drawing upon the writing of others to amplify some of these points.  For example, he reviewed the book Night, by Elie Wiesel in which Wiesel recounts how his family was ruined by the Nazi. Weisel said that 

“The ghetto was ruled by neither German nor Jew; it was ruled by delusion."  Not dealing with reality is what David is talking about.

 

His writing consistently explores the theme of reality. When writing about Elie Wiesel’s writing, he includes reference to Helene Munson’s book, Hitler’s Boy Soldiers: How My Father’s Generation Was Trained to Kill and Sent to Die for Germany.

 We cannot deny the reality of horrendous suffering described by these authors.

 

When it comes to reality, David alerts his readers to superstitions promoted by stories in the Bible.  He cites the story Jesus’ disciples believing they are eating the body and blood of Jesus. “That’s a story that belongs in Harry Potter or alongside Cinderella and the pumpkin that turns into a carriage,” says David. “These stories are not helping the world.”

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As I heard David describe books that have mattered to him and writing that he had done, I asked him if he saw himself as a social justice writer. Despite his concern for the well-being of people, David’s response to me was that he prefers to make his focus on the Bible. Exposing what was not real speaks for itself. 

He cites evidence from research that shows how religion is slipping, especially membership among mainline Protestant denominations—this even while televangelists and the Southern Baptist Convention are strong. 

 

He’s concerned about the social consequence of belief and church membership. He refers to what is known as “religious trauma syndrome (RTS),” a phenomenon arising from negative experiences within one’s religious life. What annoys him is the church as a business, which he sees particularly in the Vatican. He cites the show business with over-the-top costumes for the priests, cardinals and the Pope, and the vast amount of money spent on Saint Peter’s Basilica, Notre Dame, the artwork, the stained glass, “all,” as he says, “to make sure the set is perfect.”

 

He wants to encourage people to not be persuaded by the “shallow words of the church,” phrases like “God works in mysterious ways,” or “God has a big plan for us that we’re not aware of.”  The reality is that there are no God and no plan.

 

David’s Media Presence

Since 2016 David has written a weekly article on John Loftus’ blog, www.debunking-Christianity.com. In addition to his thoughtful posts, the reader will find a list of books he has written as well as those by others.

 

He also maintains a Facebook page to which he posts each week. Through it he helps us understand, in small chunks, his reasons for questioning the reality of the Bible. For example, on one occasion he wrote that much of the excitement fades when devout folks read it—carefully and critically. 

He said, 

In my article this week, I concluded my series of ‘Honest Sermons about the Gospel of Mark’. That is, I described the final,16th chapter, which has plenty to shock people who consider themselves Christians. 

 

Reality as the Bottom-Line

From a child gazing through a telescope to a scholar dissecting scripture and encountering doubts, David’s journey has focused on reality.

For him, the turning point was not a moment of rebellion, but a gradual realization that the world described in the scriptures, did not align with the world as it is.​​​