Post tagged with rationality

  • How should we interpret the religious skepticism of elite scientists?

    September 19th, 201105:43 PM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    There have been many surveys of the religious belief (or lack thereof) of scientists. While certain factors vary, the overall pattern is strikingly consistent: scientists on the whole are less likely to be religious than the general population. And elite scientists (e.g. members of the NAS or Royal Society; nobel laureates, etc.) are less likely to...

  • Is doubt good? Is skepticism a virtue?

    September 14th, 201103:33 PM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    While reading through Michael Shermer's enjoyable book How We Believe: Science, Skepticism and the Search for God (New York: Henry Holt, 2000) I came across the following passage: "Doubt is good. Questioning belief is healthy. Skepticism is okay. It is more than okay, in fact. Skepticism is a virtue and science is a valuable tool that makes s...

  • From Jerusalem to Salem: A Conversation with Matt McCormick

    September 06th, 201111:05 AM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    After being ignored by all the essayists of The End of Christianity for so long it's nice finally to get a little attention. And now Matt McCormick has responded to my critique ... promptly ... on a holiday (Labor Day) ... courteously ... with arguments. Looks like I hit the jackpot. Thanks for joining us Matt! Now down to business. Matt has not ...

  • Can we rationally believe in an atonement we don’t understand?

    August 18th, 201103:02 PM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    Having surveyed Ken Pulliam's discussion of the PST, I have now been asked by Robert: "How do the other theories fare? I'm guessing they have problems too, since men like Luther and Calvin rejected them in favor of PST." First off, Luther actually is associated with the Christus Victor model rather than PST, though Calvin most definitely is an adv...

  • Has Stephen Law been sucked into an intellectual black hole? A Review of Law’s “Believing Bulls**t”

    August 02nd, 201111:04 AM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    Stephen Law. Believing Bullshit: How Not to Get Sucked into an Intellectual Black Hole. Prometheus, 2011, 271 pp. ISBN: 978-1-61614-411-1. In the vein of Carl Sagan's The Demon Haunted World (Ballantine, 1997) and Michael Shermer's Why People Believe Weird Things (Holt, 2002), comes this new book by Stephen Law, senior lecturer in philosophy ...

  • A great “godless” book

    April 15th, 201109:34 AM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    Pete Hautman. godless. Simon Pulse, 2004. 198 pp. ISBN: 10: 1416908161 It is summer in St. Andrew Valley and Jason Bock is fifteen, awkward, disenfranchised and bored. Needless to say the Catholic Church he is forced to attend by his parents doesn't add much in terms of excitement. Father Haynes is "a thousand years old at least" (33) and his serm...

  • Does extraordinary uncleanliness require extraordinary soap?

    March 30th, 201103:28 PM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    Once again the claim has surfaced: "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." And once again I have had to shoot it down. Now what could be the problem with a principle so symmetrically reasonable? Grey days produce grey moods. Cold weather requires a cold weather jacket. Why wouldn't extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence?...

  • I have an interstellar spacecraft in my basement. Come take a look!

    September 06th, 201012:44 PM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    Let’s talk about testimony some more in dialogue with Silver Bullet. In a recent comment SB quotes little ole’ me as I observe: “So it is testimony that wears the trousers (to be politically incorrect) and it is through testimony that we can gain all sorts of properly basic beliefs ... Absent defeaters we are justified in holding those belie...

  • Assorted Replies to the Faith, Reason, and Believing the Bible is the Word of God Discussion

    July 02nd, 201011:04 AM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    Tentative Apologist: "I have just completed a two day jaunt in the mountains and am now deep in the wilds of southern British Columbia (the westernmost Canadian province). Hence, the radio silence for the last couple days. I offer here scattered replies to the discussion in The Tentative Apologist Reader on Faith and Reason. I will catch up with ot...

  • Methodological Naturalism and the Case of the Waving Statue

    June 30th, 201010:19 AM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    I have noted the case of Michael Shermer twice now and I thought I would return to it and provide the full transcript. This is very instructive because Shermer, a well known skeptic and agnostic/atheist, shows just how recalcitrant so-called open-minded skeptics can be to evidence. The excerpt comes from a program on miracles which was broadcast a...
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An exploration of faith, knowledge, reason and doubt (with the occasional trite pop culture reference thrown in for good measure).