"Katherine Stewart started her career in journalism..."
It looks like they even invited KStew over Loftus! ;-)
On a serious note, I suspect Loftus is too vanilla as an atheist to have been invited. He's no philosopher like A.C. Grayling. He's no public figure like politician Pete Stark. He has no cultural clout like the musicians or authors invited. He doesn't host a popular radio show or write for a famous website or other forum like Matt Dillahunty or Cara Santa Maria who writes for the Huffington Post. He's not an ethnic or other minority like David Tamayo, Hemant Mehta, Greta Christina, Mandisa Thomas, or Teresa MacBain. He has no university appointment like Hector Avalos. He doesn't even hold a PhD or as far as I know any other credentials which might indicate expertise or specialization in a field so he could at least attempt to market himself as some sort of a public intellectual like Richard Carrier. He holds an MDiv, but this wouldn't distinguish him from a crowd of apostate ministers with MDiv degrees. I don't think he's even won any awards for his published works like Janet Heimlich. If he has, then I would bet they were for books in which he's not the sole author.
His biggest claim to fame is his Outsider Test for Faith. But that's hardly taken seriously by intellectuals.
At best, he might have been asked to speak at this convention, not as a headliner, but as second billing. He might be a headliner if everyone else at the convention were as vanilla as he is.
Anyway, I suspect he barely registers in the real world. He's a dime a dozen sort of atheist.
It doesn't look like John Loftus is a speaker. Maybe he wasn't invited.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.atheists.org/convention2013/speakers
"Katherine Stewart started her career in journalism..."
DeleteIt looks like they even invited KStew over Loftus! ;-)
On a serious note, I suspect Loftus is too vanilla as an atheist to have been invited. He's no philosopher like A.C. Grayling. He's no public figure like politician Pete Stark. He has no cultural clout like the musicians or authors invited. He doesn't host a popular radio show or write for a famous website or other forum like Matt Dillahunty or Cara Santa Maria who writes for the Huffington Post. He's not an ethnic or other minority like David Tamayo, Hemant Mehta, Greta Christina, Mandisa Thomas, or Teresa MacBain. He has no university appointment like Hector Avalos. He doesn't even hold a PhD or as far as I know any other credentials which might indicate expertise or specialization in a field so he could at least attempt to market himself as some sort of a public intellectual like Richard Carrier. He holds an MDiv, but this wouldn't distinguish him from a crowd of apostate ministers with MDiv degrees. I don't think he's even won any awards for his published works like Janet Heimlich. If he has, then I would bet they were for books in which he's not the sole author.
His biggest claim to fame is his Outsider Test for Faith. But that's hardly taken seriously by intellectuals.
At best, he might have been asked to speak at this convention, not as a headliner, but as second billing. He might be a headliner if everyone else at the convention were as vanilla as he is.
Anyway, I suspect he barely registers in the real world. He's a dime a dozen sort of atheist.