Last year I addressed the topic of shunning fellow Christians in an article titled “Should we shun Christians that we believe are living an immoral life?” The crucial excerpt comes in Paul’s comments on church discipline in 1 Corinthians 5. The essence of his directive is summarized in verse 11: “But now I am writing […]
Archives for March 2017
How the atheist rhetoric of “reason” undermines reason
I opened my 2011 book You’re not as Crazy as I Think by chronicling some of the myriad ways that evangelical Christians invoke the rhetoric of truth as a way of reinforcing binary in-group out-group oppositions. In our age of marketing identities, I noted that evangelicals have attempted to brand themselves and their communities with “truth”. And […]
The Conditional Premiss of the Moral Argument – Peoples, Rauser, Hannestad, Moore
{UN}APOLOGETIC Interview
{UN}APOLOGETIC | Dr. Randal Rauser from Riverwood Church on Vimeo.
Evangelical and Atheist Communities: Closer than you might think
Over the years I’ve had the privilege of visiting several atheist/humanist/skeptic communities, most recently the three groups I visited in Arizona. And over that time, I’ve noticed some striking similarities between (evangelical) Christians and the atheists, groups that you might otherwise think are the evangelicals’ polar opposites. Let’s note some similarities. We can start here: […]
The Moral Argument: A Discussion and Debate
Today I appeared along with Glenn Peoples, Lance Hannestead, and Graham Seth Moore on Cameron Bertuzzi’s YouTube show Capturing Christianity. The topic: the moral argument for God’s existence. You can watch it below:
Does God exploit individuals for the benefit of others?
Yesterday I had a Twitter exchange with Justin Schieber regarding his claim that allowing person A to suffer for the benefit of person B constitutes an exploitative use of person A. Although Justin doesn’t define “exploitation” he presumably means something like “selfish or immoral utilization”. I don’t share that intuition. Consider a simple illustration. Mrs. Jones has […]
Apologetic Dialogue Today: A Discussion on The Brew Podcast
Back in January Drake De Long-Farmer and I joined forces to deliver a seminar on “Apologetic Dialogue in a Post-Christian World” at the Break Forth conference in Edmonton. Drake recorded the session and it is now featured as the latest episode of The Brew Podcast. You can listen to the event below and join the discussion here. http://www.boldcupofcoffee.com/uploads/2/6/0/2/26023817/apologetic_rabbit_trails.mp3
Atheism in Arizona: Debriefing the Book Tour
This morning at 2 am I arrived back in Edmonton having completed the second leg of our modest book tour for An Atheist and a Christian Walk into a Bar. Part 1 unfolded over a couple days (March 10-11) with three events in Edmonton and Sherwood Park, Alberta. Part 2 also unfolded over a couple days […]
On accusing a brother or sister in Christ of heresy
A couple weeks ago I posted an article on the new Shack movie titled “To See or Not to See The Shack Movie: That is the Question“. Today somebody named “Sven” posted a comment in which they charged author Paul Young with a long list of egregious doctrinal errors: “God is not a gender fluid goddess. The Shack teaches […]
Justin Schieber and Randal Rauser at Sherwood Park Alliance Church
Rauser v. Schieber-The 2017 Debate
On Friday, March 10th I met Justin Bieber Schieber for our second public debate. (The first one unfolded exactly two years ago on the campus of the University of Alberta. You can watch that match-up here.) This second debate occurred at Stencel Hall on the campus of Taylor Seminary in Edmonton. It also differed from […]
An Atheist and a Christian in Church
On March 11th, Justin Schieber and I had the privilege of taking over the Saturday evening service at Sherwood Park Alliance Church (SPAC) in Sherwood Park, Alberta. Some large suburban churches can feel a bit cold, but SPAC had a beautifully welcoming vibe. For an hour Pastor Greg Hochhalter fielded questions from the audience (via […]
Should people have the freedom not to have medical coverage?
Yesterday in an interview on Face the Nation Paul Ryan was asked how many people will lose coverage if the American Health Care Act is passed. His non-answer answer: “I can’t answer that question.” Ryan continued: “It’s up to the people.” He then went on to explain: “Here’s the premise of your question. Are you going to stop mandating […]
