Randal Rauser

Wildly improbable? Some background reading

Posted on 05/21/13 45 Comments

For those interested in some background reading for my article “How to confound Christians with bad arguments: #4 Believe what is probable, not merely possible” I recommend my two-part critique of John Loftus’ essay “Christianity is wildly improbable,” titled “The End of Christianity? (Part 4)” and “John W. Loftus and a Swede named Mario“. Those [...]

The (somewhat) Godly speaks with the proudly Godless: Randal’s interview with John W. Loftus

Posted on 03/19/13 83 Comments

On April 15th God or Godless, a book of twenty short debates that I wrote with atheist John W. Loftus, will be released on an unsuspecting population. In recognition of the book’s impending release — and the cataclysmic social impact that is sure to follow — I decided to invite John into a brief conversation. [...]

Randal launches The Tentative Apologist Podcast … soon

Posted on 03/07/13 9 Comments

Yes folks. My own podcast! At present I’m planning to do The Tentative Apologist Podcast once a month. The format will consist of an interview with somebody smart and interesting and will probably run 45 minutes to an hour (because it takes at least that long to get into depth on any issue). I even wrote [...]

God or Godless in the hands of the barbarians

Posted on 12/10/12 2 Comments

Today I was copied an email that John Loftus sent to our contact at Baker. In the email John requested that the blurbs for God or Godless be prominently displayed at Amazon.com. John explained, ”That way, if no-name idiots unfavorably reviews [sic] them they will be seen disagreeing with credentialed scholars who say otherwise.” This is how [...]

John W. Loftus and the Ideologue Barometer

Posted on 12/08/12 74 Comments

A few days ago I emailed John Loftus to invite him up to Edmonton in May for an event to promote the publication of God or Godless, the biggest thing to hit the world of apologetics since More than a Carpenter (actually, make that Summa Contra Gentiles; better yet, Dialogue with Trypho). But I didn’t just [...]

Intellectual excuses come later? Reflections on Craig and Loftus

Posted on 11/05/12 99 Comments

John Loftus wrote an interesting post in response to a Bill Craig interview in which Craig attributes Loftus’ apostasy to adultery and pornography addiction. You can read Loftus’ response here: http://debunkingchristianity.blogspot.ca/2012/11/william-lane-craig-is-shamelessly.html While Loftus notes that adultery was a factor in his deconversion, he emphatically denies that pornography addiction ever was. If this is true (and [...]

John Loftus, his Outsider Test for something or other, and Skepticism

Posted on 09/04/12 104 Comments

A year ago I wrote a series of essays criticizing The End of Christianity, a book edited by John W. Loftus. A couple days ago I suggested that he consider responding to the essays I wrote in the series relevant to his work and he obliged mere hours later. (My initial anticipation quickly dissipated when I [...]

John Loftus admits he uses exaggerated, slanted and/or misleading language

Posted on 09/03/12 16 Comments

Last year I wrote a series of essays critiquing the book The End of Christianity edited by John Loftus. The series was called “The End of Christianity: A Skeptical Review” and it included more than fifteen installments (including sidebar essays). Sadly, John Loftus was largely absent in terms of providing a response, though he did [...]

The first blurb for “God or Godless” … and the reaction of John Loftus

Posted on 08/14/12 40 Comments

Yesterday John W. Loftus posted the first blurb for our forthcoming debate book God or Godless: One Atheist. One Christian. Twenty Controversial Questions (Baker). The blurb comes from David Marshall, author of The Truth Behind the New Atheism and editor of the forthcoming Faith Seeking Understanding (in which I have an essay). Here’s the blurb. [...]

Skeptics in-fighting

Posted on 07/02/12 17 Comments

Currently there is a war of words unfolding between John W. Loftus and his minions at “Debunking Christianity” and the folks over at his old stomping grounds, “Freethought Blogs”. The war concerns the essence of skepticism and the way that skeptics should be seeking to advance their agenda. As I observed at his blog, if this [...]