Larry Sanger (PhD)

Larry Sanger, an internet project developer and philosopher, helped found Wikipedia with Jimmy Wales, then president of the funding company .  Born in Bellevue, Washington, he grew up in Anchorage Alaska developing a deep interest in philosophy, that led to a Ph.D. from Ohio State University.  His high school debate experience shaped his stance on “neutrality” emphasizing both sides of an argument.  Raised a Lutheran, he became a skeptic and for 35 years was a non-believer.  At Reed College, he saw the internet’s potential as a publishing tool and was later hired as Nupedia’s editor-in-chief to build a free knowledge repository.  Wikipedia then emerged to speed up content creation, but Sanger soon left due to philosophical disagreements over Wikipedia's net neutrality. Throughout his adult life, Sanger identified as a skeptic, influenced by his training in analytic philosophy, a field dominated by atheists and agnostics. However, in February 2025, he publicly announced he now considers himself a Christian when he stated: “It is finally time for me to confess and explain, fully and publicly, that I am a Christian… aiming to reach rational thinkers who are open to the idea of faith but remain unconvinced.”  (NOTE: Just a note to Larry Sanger  and Jimmy Wales.  The Christian Decisions website references hundreds of Wikipedia links to related authors by name, as well as "Ghostwriter".  We appreciate Wikipedia as a valuable tool for research.)