Christianity is more than just a religion. It is a social organism that affects the lives of every person on earth in significant ways, even if they are not Christians themselves. In the United States its influence is pervasive with often profound influence on public policies, but it is largely unchallenged as a belief system, relegated to that quarantined area outside the zone of polite conversation. Despite much academic ink being allotted to the weaknesses of Christianity as a valid belief system, the general public remains unaware of these flaws. In Cross Examined, John Campbell applies his almost thirty years of experience as a trial lawyer to dissecting Christianity and the case of apologists for the Christian God. He addresses the best arguments for Christianity, those against it, and the reasons people should care about these questions. His purpose is to fill a void in books on atheism and Christianity by systematically taking Christian claims to task and making a full-throated argument for atheism from the perspective of a trial lawyer making a case.
John Campbell has been a trial lawyer for over twenty-five years, successfully handling cases all over the country. He graduated from the College of William and Mary in Virginia and from the University of Arkansas law school with high honors. Campbell is also a magician and the co-writer of a book on close-up magic, Pure Imagination. Campbell was raised in a religious family but lost his faith in college, ironically in the process of trying to strengthen it. Since that time, he has had a profound interest in religion and Christianity in particular.
"Empirical truth claims in science differ from mythic truth claims in religion, but many Christians today claim that their myths are, in fact, real, and that they have the evidence and arguments to make their case. They don't, as many scientists have demonstrated. The real venue for this debate, however, is not a lab of science but a court of law, and attorney John Campbell lays out the case against Christianity in this, the most comprehensive treatment of all the arguments and refutations I've ever seen. It takes a rightful place on my bookcase of classic works of skepticism." --Michael Shermer, Publisher, Skeptic magazine, Presidential Fellow Chapman University, author of The Moral Arc, Heavens on Earth, and other books "Like a skillful archeologist, attorney John Campbell methodically exposes two thousand years of accumulated obfuscation, fables, and dark history to the penetrating sunlight of critical analysis. The result is an original, extraordinary, and liberating masterwork. Hallelujah!" --Sean B. Carroll, author of A Series of Fortunate Events "This is the kind of book that is missing from the vast atheist literature, and it should be read by everyone who wants to really understand the absurdity of Christianity." --Christer Sturmark, CEO of Fri Tanke, editor-in-chief of Sans magazine, and author of To Light The Flame of Reason "When Clarence Darrow argued cogently against the biblical fundamentalism of William Jennings Bryan in the infamous Scopes Trial, he helped demonstrate to the public that when it comes to empirical reality, science, not Christianity should be our guide. John Campbell has now taken up the torch in his comprehensive new book putting Christianity on trial. From a scientific perspective, Christianity has been through numerous trials for 2000 years and has lost every case. But this hasn't stopped billions of people continuing to believe in the myths of Christianity. Maybe Campbell's new definitive legal brief can help push the popular compass a little closer in the direction of reality." --Lawrence M. Krauss, theoretical physicist, President of the Origins Project Foundation, and author of numerous bestselling books including A Universe from Nothing, and most recently, The Physics of Climate Change
