Larry Sanger is known to some of us as the co-founder of Wikipedia. And while Wikipedia needs no introduction to anyone seeking information on the internet, it would be good to be introduced to the man who gave it its name, and who conceived the enduring philosophies that drive the collaborative encyclopedia’s popularity. Sanger grew up in a liberal Christian home, but considered himself an agnostic – friendly to God, but doesn’t really think much about Him. He made his way through school, obtaining a PhD in Philosophy and plunging into the world of the Internet with both feet in. But early in the formation of Wikipedia in 2001, Sanger was disturbed that there was a prevalent assumption that truth could be arrived at collaboratively. He began to see that the anonymity allowed in Wikipedia was harbouring bad actors that sought to shape truth with false information, and instead of supporting his own brain child, he began to be its strongest critic. It set him at odds with his friend and co-founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales. Sanger sought truth, and his spiritual journey took him to consider the New Age movement, then to the work of new atheists such as Dawkins and Harris. By 2011, he concluded that atheism was intellectually shallow, and started defending Christianity from a philosophical point of view. In 2019, Sanger picked up the Bible for the first time and began reading it not as an act of faith but as an intellectual exercise. But God had other plans. By 2023, Larry Sanger declared that he had become a Christian, and after years of internal debate he came to the firm conclusion that the Bible is true, God is real, and that Jesus is the Saviour of the world. When interviewed in February 2025 about the foundation of his faith, Sanger replied, “It’s very simple. Everybody should read the Bible.”
Everybody should read the Bible, indeed. The Psalmist puzzled over the terrible influences of his world and asked, “How shall a young man keep his way pure?” (Psalm 119:9) Good question. The answer to that question follows immediately, “By taking heed to Your Word.” That is Sanger’s contention. Read the Bible. We all know that bad actors stand in every information street corner. When we read that more civilian Palestinians had died than lived in the area, we wonder about the veracity of the news that we are given. When we hear reports of the active protests supporting gender diversity and subsequently discover that they actually comprise less than a handful of very vocal people, we wonder about the narrowness of the lens that represents information we are told as being true. Jesus taught us that the kingdom of darkness is founded on lies while the Kingdom of Heaven is founded on Truth. And it is Truth, not collaborative information, that sets us free. So the next time you Google an answer to something, remember not to read Wikipedia more than you read the Bible. In fact, “everybody should read the Bible.” And that includes us.
Just Church
At Just Church, our message is the truth that Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the world, and that the Bible is the inerrant, infallible Word of God. “The vision of Just Church is to establish a church in just the way Christ called the church to be – true to His Word, loving Him, loving one another, and loving the lost.”
