Richard Carrier
Richard Cevantis Carrier is an American historian, author, and Christ myth theorist. A longtime contributor to skeptical outlets including The Secular Web and Freethought Blogs, Carrier writes about philosophy and religion in classical antiquity, examining the development of early Christianity from a skeptical perspective and addressing modern debates about religion and morality. He frequently debates the historical basis of the Bible and Christianity and promotes the view that Jesus did not exist in his publications. Carrier's interpretations have not been accepted within academic scholarship, and are considered fringe.
Background
In his autobiographical essay "From Taoist to Infidel", Carrier recounts a benign Methodist upbringing, an early adult conversion to Taoism, and conflicts with Christian fundamentalists while he served in the United States Coast Guard. He writes that those experiences and his study of religion, Christianity, and Western philosophy led him to embrace naturalism.Carrier married Jennifer Robin Carrier in 1995, and the couple divorced in 2015. When he announced the separation he described himself as polyamorous and said the final two years of their marriage were an open relationship.
In 2008, Carrier received a doctorate in ancient history from Columbia University, where he studied the history of science in antiquity. His thesis was entitled "Attitudes Towards the Natural Philosopher in the Early Roman Empire."
From 1996 to 2008 Carrier edited and contributed extensively to The Secular Web, writing about atheism and metaphysical naturalism. Those essays later formed the basis for his book Sense and Goodness without God. Carrier has frequently spoken at skeptic, secular humanist, freethought, and atheist conventions, including the annual Freethought Festival in Madison, Wisconsin, Skepticon in Springfield, Missouri, and gatherings hosted by American Atheists.
Carrier initially regarded the nonexistence of Jesus as a fringe theory that did not warrant academic investigation, but readers asked him to examine the topic and crowdfunded his research. He later became a vocal advocate of the view that Jesus was not a historical person. Carrier notes the scholarly consensus when he writes "the non-existence of Jesus is simply not plausible, as arguments from silence in the matter aren't valid, nor could they ever be sufficient to challenge what is, after all, the near-universal consensus of well-qualified experts." He likewise states that "the historicity of Jesus Christ is currently the default consensus."
Public debates and other media
Carrier has engaged in several formal debates, both online and in person, on a range of subjects, including naturalism, natural explanations of early Christian resurrection accounts, the morality of abortion, and the general credibility of the Bible. He debated Michael R. Licona on the Resurrection of Jesus at the University of California, Los Angeles on April 19, 2004. Carrier debated atheist Jennifer Roth online on the morality of abortion. He has defended naturalism in formal debates with Tom Wanchick and Hassanain Rajabali. In 2013, Carrier debated David Marshall on the general credibility of the New Testament. His debates on the historicity of Jesus have included professor of religious studies Zeba A. Crook, Christian scholars Dave Lehman and Doug Hamp.In 2006, Carrier was the keynote speaker for the Humanist Community of Central Ohio's annual Winter Solstice Banquet, where he spoke on defending naturalism as a philosophy. Carrier appears in Roger Nygard's 2009 documentary The Nature of Existence, in which persons of different religious and secular philosophies are interviewed about the meaning of life.
In 2007, famed English philosopher Antony Flew, who had long advocated atheism in the absence of empirical evidence of divinity, published his final book with co-author Roy Varghese, There Is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind. Flew espoused the position that there was an intelligent creator, thereby embracing the concept of deism. Carrier wrote to Flew, and discussed the philosopher's supposed conversion on The Secular Web. In Carrier's analysis he came up with an incorrect theory that There Is a God was authored primarily by Varghese, and misrepresented Flew's opinion regarding religion. Without addressing Carrier directly, Flew released a rebutting statement through his publisher: "My name is on the book and it represents exactly my opinions. I would not have a book issued in my name that I do not 100 percent agree with. I needed someone to do the actual writing because I'm 84 and that was Roy Varghese's role. This is my book and it represents my thinking."
The March 18, 2009 debate Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? with William Lane Craig was held at the Northwest Missouri State University and posted online in two parts by ReasonableFaithOrg. Prior to the debate, Carrier commented that "I originally insisted we first debate Are the Gospels Historically Reliable? for the simple reason that you can't honestly debate the former until you've debated the latter." In his post debate commentary, Carrier argued that Craig "focused almost entirely on protecting the Gospels as historical sources, and it was there that his shotgun of arguments got well ahead of my ability to catch up." Another debate with Craig was broadcast on Lee Strobel's television show Faith Under Fire.
The October 25, 2014 debate Did Jesus Exist? with Trent Horn was held in San Diego, California, and posted online by the "MABOOM Show".
A debate with Craig A. Evans, entitled Did Jesus Exist? was held at Kennesaw State University on April 13, 2016, and posted online by KSUTV.
Carrier appears in the 2020 film Marketing the Messiah, where he discusses several topics including biblical canon creation, the Pauline sect, the dating of Paul's letters and the Gospels, Gospel authorship and redactions over time, and his interpretation of the Gospels as allegory. On allegory, he specifically addresses the story of Jesus Barabbas as a symbolic retelling of atonement in Leviticus.
Sexual harassment allegations
In June 2016 allegations of unwanted sexual advances by Carrier at atheist and skeptic events were publicized by bloggers and organizers. Freethought Blogs suspended his posting privileges pending review after reporting "several first-hand reports of persistent, obnoxious sexual behavior in defiance of specific requests that he cease." The Orbit published a contemporaneous roundup that described three categories of public allegations then on record, Carrier's own description of a rule-violating advance toward a student at a campus event, a second student's public account that he asked her out and touched her arm and leg without consent, and Skepticon organizers' description of repeated boundary-pushing toward a staffer, along with notice that the Secular Student Alliance had removed Carrier from its Speakers Bureau and was reviewing its procedures. On the same day, Skepticon announced that Carrier was prohibited from attending future Skepticon events, citing "repeated boundary-pushing behavior." SSA stated that, after an internal inquiry, Carrier had been removed from its Speakers Bureau the prior year and that it was undertaking a board-level review of policies.Carrier denied the accusations, published a detailed rebuttal, and apologized for one incident he had earlier described, stating that he misread interest and immediately apologized, while contesting that any conduct amounted to harassment or policy violations. He assembled a public case summary, linking affidavits, exhibits, and correspondence, arguing that the claims were false and that no investigation had found him in violation of organizational policies. Carrier also published legal filings and evidentiary materials, including declarations from witnesses and attorney correspondence with Skepticon, on his site.
Beginning in September 2016 Carrier filed defamation suits against Freethought Blogs, The Orbit, Skepticon, and several individuals. His federal action in Ohio was dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction in November 2018, after which he pursued separate actions in other jurisdictions. In late 2019 the remaining cases were dismissed with prejudice pursuant to a settlement agreement among the parties, with defendants publicly characterizing the result as a complete walk-away and noting that the agreement permitted continued discussion of the allegations. The Washington Post summarized the controversy in 2018, reporting that Carrier both apologized for and denied allegations of unwanted advances and that he had been banned from at least one conference.