Tech guru Larry Sanger announces conversion to Christianity

Larry Sanger, who was influential in the founding of Wikipedia, on Monday said he was blown away by the response he’d received to a blog post on his website last week detailing his conversion to Christianity. Sanger described growing up in a Lutheran church, losing his faith in God, becoming what he characterized as methodological skeptic, and then ultimately returning to faith in Christ.

What were some of the factors that ultimately drew Sanger to Christ? Sanger pointed to two things that he said laid the groundwork for his conversion years before he actually converted. Those two events were his marriage in 2001, and the birth of his first child in 2006. His feelings about his wife and children helped him reject the idea that humans only ever act in their own self-interests, as atheist philosophers like Ayn Rand suggest.

Additionally, Sanger said many of his good friends in the early 2000s were Christians, and he admired the ways that many Christians often—but not always—showed maturity and grace amid online disagreements with people of other worldviews. As the years went on, Sanger said he grew more disenchanted with atheists who possessed what he characterized as vile online rhetoric that lacked a strong intellectual foundation. He also said he grew disenchanted with prominent new-atheist thinkers such as Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins.

Eventually, Sanger found himself bemoaning what he described as the moral abyss that modern culture had fallen into after rejecting a Christian moral framework. He identified the ways that a Christian moral framework taught people how to live well together in society. While still an unbeliever, Sanger described his feelings toward Christianity at the time as warm and friendly. He said they’d previously been cool and skeptical.

Sanger said he began to read the Bible deeply and for himself in December 2019. Utilizing commentaries and Bible apps, and poring over definitions, maps, and explanations of historical figures, Sanger worked his way through the Bible. He recalled being shocked at how coherent the Bible was. “The Bible could sustain interrogation; who knew?” he wrote. Sanger said he also began experimentally praying for the first time. During this time he began to believe in God, but was not ready to admit to himself that he’d come to that belief, Sanger explained.

Eventually, Sanger grew to accept his own belief in God. But even after doing so, he said he struggled with the idea of his own sinfulness. He didn’t feel particularly distressed over his sins, he recalled. He struggled to understand how he could view Christ as his savior from his sins if he didn’t feel all that distressed about those sins, Sanger said. Eventually, he said he did grow into an orthodox Christian understanding, including an understanding of his own sinfulness and an appreciation for the fact that Christ saved him from those sins.

What's next for Sanger? Sanger said he is part of a Bible study group that will wrap up its two-year Bible study plan early next month. He plans to re-read “The Apostolic Fathers” as well as the “Apocrypha” — both of which he acknowledged are not considered canonical. After that, he said he plans to begin re-reading the Bible. He encouraged his readers to do so daily.

Dig deeper: Read R. Albert Mohler Jr.’s column in WORLD Opinions about how young men are rejecting their parents’ liberalism for conservatism—in both politics and Christianity.