Many of you will know Ken by his frequent blog posts here. He was a prolific writer and influence among the atheistic community, especially in the blogosphere (atheosphere). He maintained the blog “Why I De-Converted from Evangelical Christianity“. I am sad to say that he died of a heart attack on Friday. His wife announced it on Twitter. I just found this out. My condolences to his family.
A Facebook page dedicated to him has been created here.
Ken was someone who, while a “de-convert” from Christianity, and while an evangelical with regard to his atheist faith, I considered a friend. I did like and respect him very much. He was cordial and respectful. He and I had some history, but it was something that I look back upon with great pleasure. I am glad that I knew him.
I commented on his blog post the day he died . . . it was a tongue in cheek reference to his post on the governmental theory of the atonement (which was very interesting, by the way).
Much of the conversation that I had with him in private, through email, was very positive. He expressed appreciation for what we were doing here, especially at the blog. He linked to us many times and actually sent me someone who was struggling with the faith for help.
All of this to say that I will miss Ken Pullium.
May God be with his family during this trying time.
7 replies to "Dr. Ken Pullium (1960-2010)"
I didn’t know Ken Pulliam except for his interactions on this blog. What always impressed me about him was the fairness in his comments. Even though he was an atheist he spoke very fairly of Christian beliefs and was always kind in his approach. As you said, Michael, he was a respectful man. I was certainly sorry to read of his death.
atheism is not a faith
Boz
“atheism is not a faith”
I disagree. Atheism holds that there is no God. One cannot prove this belief in a mathematical way. One could argue that there is not sufficient evidence, or even that there is evidence against God. Yet none of this is 100% conclusive on the matter. In the end the atheist must exercise some degree of “faith” that no God exists.
atheism does not require 100% certainty
I got a nice email from Ken too. You are right. He was a different sort of atheist. The kind who had a pastoral sense, if you will.
Can we leave aside the debate over atheism for now and just recognize that someone has died, and that his family is hurting.
I’m very saddened to hear this. I was planning to get together with Ken next week in Atlanta. We had exchanged emails and had a geniunely cordial correspondence. I had invited him to join us for some of our Evangelical Philosophical Society annual meeting for our paper presentations and our apologetics conference as well.
I am very sorry that Ken’s family has experienced such a severe blow. I too shall miss Ken.