Seth Andrews is truly an interesting fellow. He was blessed with a radio voice — one that you could listen to for hours, which I have done so and enjoyed. He was one of six children, born to Christian parents who are educated theologians. Not surprisingly, Seth went into the Christian radio station business, first as a night radio DJ, and then later as a prominent morning drive host.
He was a big fan of contemporary Christian music, but the 1997 death of the very talented Rich Mullins shook Seth’s faith to the core. Seth stated later: “As I spoke words of comfort to our listeners and callers [at KXOJ-FM], I struggled to reconcile the notion that the God of Matthew 10, the one who considered us worth “more than many sparrows,” would design or abide the taking of Mullins’ earthly life in such a pointless, gruesome manner. Why would God propel Rich Mullins into the spotlight merely to plunge millions of fans into mourning and leave his family and friends to grieve over a closed casket?”
The Wikipedia entry on Seth states:
This event became a turning point for him: “I started the long, slow journey to losing my faith.” On that journey, the events of 11th of September 2001 played a crucial part in deepening Andrews’s doubts about religion. In his book Deconverted Andrews talks about the events of that day when his colleagues asked him to pray for them. As he finished the prayer one thought became clear to him: “We are all just kidding ourselves… I found it ridiculous to beg for divine protection as thousands laid torn to pieces amid the twisted steel and jet fuel. Any benevolent, omniscient, omnipotent deity could have easily prevented the fires of terror of ever being lit”. By 2004 Andrews left a shrinking radio production business and started working in video production for a local media company.
I have listened to many of Seth’s podcasts on his Thinking Atheist site. I found the following presentation from Seth to be one of his best short talks. I hope you enjoy it like I did.