Ravi Zacharias

Who is Ravi Zacharias?

Ravi Zacharias is a world renowned Christian evangelist who has written over a dozen books.  Former White House counsel, Chuck Colson, called him “the great apologist of our time.” Mr. Zacharias maintains a hectic travel schedule lecturing all over the world. He resides in Atlanta, Georgia, where his ministry, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM), is headquartered. RZIM has numerous overseas offices and maintains a staff of over 100 people. Mr. Zacharias’ weekly radio program, “Let My People Think”, airs on over 2,000 outlets worldwide.

Ravi Zacharias is visiting Australia
22 August 2015 – 30 August

Mr. Zacharias has unfortunate views on homosexuality:

Ravi Zacharias frequently preaches about morality and the moral bankruptcy of atheism and yet at the same time has demonstrated his own lack of integrity.

Evangelist Ravi Zacharias Caught Lying About his Credentials
Friendly Banjo Atheist | 16 Jul 2015

Tour of Australia – August 2015

22nd August 2015
2 days
City Life Church
Knox Campus, Melbourne, Australia

28th August 2015
3 Days
Hillsong Church
Brisbane/Sydney, Australia

If you would like further information please contact us via email: contact@progressiveatheists.org

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Details of Misrepresentations by Ravi Zacharias

Kindly provided by Steve Baughman aka the Friendly Banjo Atheist

Ravi Zacharias talks a great moral line, but sets his morals aside when his ego needs a boost.

“When intellectuals violate morality in any academic discipline, implicitly or explicitly, it leads to lawlessness and the concoction of science fiction.”

​Ravi Zacharias in The Real Face of Atheism (p. 58.)

These are fine words from a famous Christian evangelist. The problem is that Mr. Zacharias has just been exposed as a fraud. For many years Mr. Zacharias claims to have been a “visiting scholar at Cambridge University.” It turns out that claim is false.

He also routinely refers to himself as “Dr. Zacharias”and nowhere discloses that his doctorates are merely honorary.

So we have a famous Christian evangelist preaching about the bankruptcy of atheist morals, homosexuality, etc. while misleading the world about his own academic qualifications.

That is nothing new. What is new about the Zacharias case is how reluctant the Christian community has been to speak out against him. A classic case of “tribe before truth.”

Please go and see him and during the Q & A
ask him about these matters.

  • Mr. Zacharias, did you lie about having been a visiting scholar at Cambridge University?
  • Do you mislead people by calling yourself “Dr. Zacharias” when you have no doctorate degree?
  • Do you believe fewer people would be misled if you just called yourself “Mr. Zacharias?
  • Would it not be more humble and Christlike to just call yourself “Mr. Zacharias?

This is a brand-new scandal. The Australians will be the first to have the chance to ask him about these issues.

Mr. Zacharias will respond with his standard sophomoric debating ploy –

“If you are an atheist you reject objective moral standards and therefore you have no right to be upset with me. So by complaining about me you are committing yourself to the existence of God.”

Our reply should be –

“I see you are diverting attention from the message to the messenger. I only want to know if you are misleading the audience when you call yourself a doctor and say that you were a visiting scholar at Cambridge.”

Many more details below.

Onward!!!!

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1. RZ calls himself “Dr. Zacharias”pretty much everywhere. He regularly speaks at academic institutions where that title is understood to mean someone did rigorous academic work resulting in the conferral of a PhD. RZ has done no such thing. He has only a Master of Divinity degree.

He has six honorary doctoral degrees from Christian institutions, but he does not use the term “honorary doctorate” at his website bio. Why on earth not? Instead he uses confusing language that furthers the belief that he has PhD.

Curiously, after my Friendly Banjo Atheist video came out criticizing him for this practice, he took out some of the references to himself as “Dr.” and replaced them with “Mr.” I consider this a clear recognition of guilt, with an unwillingness to do much about it.

2. Mr Ravi Zacharias has very unremarkable academic credentials. The crown jewel of his curriculum vitae is that he was once “a visiting scholar at Cambridge University.” I contacted Cambridge and they told me that Mr Ravi Zacharias had actually done a sabbatical at some nearby affiliated school, and that this does not qualify him to say he was a visiting scholar at Cambridge University.

After I informed Mr Ravi Zacharias that I thought he was lying about Cambridge, he deleted the reference from his website. But it remains in his autobiography, and in countless Internet pages, and it will remain there for a long time.

3. If any of you chooses to confront Mr Ravi Zacharias about these matters, you should expect him to turn the matter towards you. It is a standard sophomoric move of his to suggest that atheists who are offended about moral issues are in fact committed to the existence of God. (There can be no immorality without God, so if you really are an atheist, why are you bothered by my alleged misconduct?)

My reply to this would be to simply state something like the following: “I see that you are trying to divert attention from the message to the messenger. My question really is whether you feel you have been misleading your followers and your donors.”

If you would like to know what an incredible egomaniac Mr. Zacharias is, check out his bio.

Please feel free to contact Steve Baughman aka the Friendly Banjo Atheist with any questions.

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