Steve Jobs, the late American billionaire and co-founder of Apple Inc., made headlines not only for his groundbreaking innovations but also for a profound personal decision. According to Walter Isaacson’s bestselling authorized biography, Jobs renounced Christianity as a teenager due to his reaction to the tragic events in Biafra.
In 1968, at the age of 13, Jobs confronted his Lutheran pastor after seeing a harrowing image of two starving Biafran children on the cover of *Life* magazine. This image deeply disturbed the young inventor, leading him to question his faith. Jobs asked his pastor if God was aware of the suffering of these children. Upon hearing that God was indeed omniscient and aware of their plight, Jobs made a life-changing decision: he declared that he could no longer believe in or worship such a God and stopped attending church.
The following excerpt from Isaacson’s biography reveals the pivotal moment:
*”Even though they were not fervent about their faith, Jobs’s parents wanted him to have a religious upbringing, so they took him to the Lutheran church most Sundays. That came to an end when he was thirteen. In July 1968, *Life* magazine published a shocking cover showing a pair of starving children in Biafra. Jobs took it to Sunday school and confronted the church’s pastor.”*
Jobs passed away at his home in California on October 5, 2011, due to complications from a rare form of pancreatic cancer. He spent his final moments surrounded by his wife, children, and sisters.
Read more on how this significant event in Biafran history shaped the beliefs of one of the most influential innovators of the 20th century.
