theism :: The Tentative Apologist

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The Edsel of Christianity?

August 17th, 201107:25 PM ET

By Randal Rauser

I have now completed Part II of The End of Christianity, a section which aimed through the essays of Hector Avalos, Jaco Gericke and Valerie Tarico, to establish on biblical grounds why Christianity needs to end. At this point I'd like to take a look back at the section by identifying a set of assumptions that appear to lie behind the three essays ...
The End of Christianity? A Skeptical Review (Part 7)

August 17th, 201112:58 AM ET

By Randal Rauser

Chapter 6 of The End of Christianity brings us to Valerie Tarico's essay "God's Emotions: Why the Biblical God Is Hopelessly Human". While the argument of the essay is not altogether clear, it would appear that Tarico hopes to extend Jaco Gericke's assault on the biblical portrayal of God by arguing that the presence of "human" emotions in the bib...
Does a really old universe show that human beings are not important?

July 05th, 201110:07 AM ET

By Randal Rauser

Mark Twain thought so. In one of his finest rhetorical moments (in a career sparkling with them) he wrote: "Man has been here 32,000 years. That it took a hundred million years to prepare the world for him is proof that that is what it was done for. I suppose it is. I dunno. If the Eiffel Tower were now representing the world's age, the skin of pa...
Can an atheist hate God?

June 28th, 201109:36 AM ET

By Randal Rauser

One of my readers, the irrepressible Beetle, thinks not. Beetle writes: "The fundy stereotype of the atheist has the latter hating God. But that is absurd of course, because one would not waste so much emotion on something which one did not believe in." But is it really absurd? Not according to protest atheism. This is a type of atheism which affi...
Do Atheists discriminate?

May 25th, 201112:25 PM ET

By Randal Rauser

Of course. More exactly, some do and some don't. Just like some Christians discriminate and some don't. (I chronicle both types of discrimination in You're not as Crazy as I Think.) The real question for the present moment is this: how do atheists commonly discriminate? In the last couple weeks I've been focusing on some key examples of discrimi...
Everybody's gotta god

September 23rd, 201007:55 PM ET

By Randal Rauser

A new/old visitor to the Tentative Apologist, whatifitstrue, asks: "When does a belief system (including , perhaps atheism) become a religion...?" So what is religion? Perhaps belief in God, an authoritative revealed text, and a set of sacred rituals? In Bob’s garage is a cherry 70’ Chevelle 454. On the shelf beside the car is a well worn cop...
Why Richard Dawkins can't be the world's leading atheist

September 10th, 201005:59 PM ET

By Randal Rauser

Richard Dawkins is widely touted as the world’s leading atheist. Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t. I suppose there’s no easy way to settle the matter. (Counting numbers of books sold or google hits seems a bit arbitrary, no?) But then again, maybe there is a way to settle the matter... William Lane Craig is generally acclaimed as the world’s l...
You ain't convinced me yet!

April 29th, 201006:48 PM ET

By Randal Rauser

It is a common theme. AcesLucky observes (in the thread to "Believe propositions p and q and thou shall be saved"): "I have asked you before to demonstrate knowledge of such a supreme being. Of course you could not, I knew that and so did you, and yet you ACT as an authority of such knowledge." This reminds me of Kent Hovind. Back before he was i...
“Prove God exists lowly theist, or prove yourself a fool!”

February 20th, 201001:11 PM ET

By Randal Rauser

We've all heard stories about the lone American soldier, stranded on a South Pacific island, who was discovered decades later still believing that World War II was in full swing. The image provides a fine metaphor for people who remain inexplicably locked in the past in their understanding of reality. It is with that background that I note my...
Atheists are smart and theists are stoopid, right?

February 15th, 201011:31 AM ET

By Randal Rauser

In my last post I made the point that atheists can evince indoctrinational elements in their thinking as surely as anybody else. Indeed, the myth of the "free thinking" atheist can sometimes make them more liable to this danger. The primary evidence of indoctrination is found in dependence upon untenable binary oppositions between good and bad, rig...

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About this blog

An exploration of faith, knowledge, reason and doubt (with the occasional trite pop culture reference thrown in for good measure).