I Sold My Soul on eBay

Infobox Book
name = I Sold My Soul on eBay
title_orig =
translator =


author = Hemant Mehta
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
subject = Christianity, Atheism
genre = Non-fiction
publisher = WaterBrook Press
release_date = 17 April 2007
media_type = Paperback
pages = 224 pp
isbn = ISBN 1-4000-7347-2

"I Sold My Soul on eBay" is a non-fiction book by atheist Hemant Mehta that describes his visits to a variety of Christian churches. These visits initially occurred as a result of an eBay auction Mehta created where he offered to visit the worship services of the winning bidder's choosing. The media later branded this auction as Mehta "selling his soul."

eBay auction

In January 2006, atheist Hemant Mehta posted an auction on eBay where he explained his background in atheism and offered to go to the worship services of the winning bidder's choosing. [cite web | title=Mehta's original eBay auction | url=http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5660982226] The auction ended on February 3, 2006 with a final bid of $504 from Jim Henderson, a minister from Seattle, Washington. Mehta later donated that money to the Secular Student Alliance, a non-profit organization in which he serves as Chair of the Board of Directors. [cite web | title=Wall Street Journal article, reprinted on Off-the-map.org | url=http://www.off-the-map.org/idealab/articles/wsj_ebay_atheist.html]

Henderson asked Mehta to visit a variety of churches and write about the experiences on Henderson's website, off-the-map.org. Mehta eventually wrote about his visits at nine different churches as well as two additional pieces dealing with atheist conventions and Christian media.

Media coverage

Nearly a month after the auction, an article about Mehta's experiences appeared on the front page of The Wall Street Journal, leading to a flurry of media coverage. Mehta appeared on the front pages of the "Chicago Sun-Times", the "Daily Southtown", the "Seattle Times", and "DNA". He was also a guest on several radio shows and was featured in many Christian magazines.

Book

An editor at WaterBrook Press, a Christian book publisher and an imprint of Random House, read Mehta's writings and asked him to visit additional churches for the purposes of a book. "I Sold My Soul on eBay" contains Mehta's observations and critiques of the churches along with background on how he became an atheist. It was released on April 17, 2007.

Mehta visited churches across four states: Illinois, Michigan, Texas, and Colorado. The churches profiled in the book include New Life Church (Pastor Ted Haggard), Mars Hill Bible Church (Pastor Rob Bell), and Lakewood Church (Pastor Joel Osteen).

The foreword for the book was written by Rob Bell.

References and notes

Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.otmatheist.com/category/read-hemants-surveys/ Archive for Hemant's Church Surveys] , from the website "the eBay atheist" ( [http://www.otmatheist.com/ otmatheist.com] )