That’s the question I posed in a recent Twitter poll. And here are the results: Can an atheistic worldview support the concept of the holy or sacred? — Tentative Apologist (@RandalRauser) December 29, 2017 Of course, the answers people provide depend on how they define the terms in question. So as I prepare to offer […]
Archives for December 2017
Hellrazed? A Review
Kevin Miller, ed. Hellrazed? (Kimberley, BC: Kevin Miller XI Productions, 2017). In 2012, filmmaker Kevin Miller released his documentary Hellbound?, a provocative and thought-provoking exploration of the doctrine of hell and how it impacts our understanding of Christian faith. Like most documentarians, Miller had a point of view on the subject of his film. Hellbound? was concerned not only to challenge […]
Does atheism require more faith than Christian theism?
On Christmas Eve Lee Strobel tweeted that he didn’t have enough faith to be an atheist: To continue in atheism, I would need to believe that nothing produces everything, non-life produces life, randomness produces fine-tuning, chaos produces information, unconsciousness produces consciousness, and non-reason produces reason. I simply didn't have that much faith. — Lee Strobel […]
Debating the Virgin Birth: A Christian/Atheist Conversation
For this Christmas Eve, I repost my 2013 Reasonable Doubts debate on the virgin birth with Jonathan Pearce. This debate was prerecorded and as a result, it doesn’t have the same crackle as a live debate (the heated repartee; the gotcha moments; the laughter and applause of a fired-up audience). On the upside, being scripted and […]
Have aliens visited earth? Is the idea worth taking seriously? A response to Sean Carroll
Today I came across this tweet courtesy of Counter Apologist: Okay there are far too many people here in the 21st century giving nontrivial credence to the idea that there are alien spacecraft flying around in our skies. — Sean Carroll (@seanmcarroll) December 23, 2017 I assume by “giving nontrivial credence to x” Carroll is meaning […]
Is belief in God like belief in Santa Claus?
In this 2014 podcast, now adapted into a new video, I provide the answer, and all in under a minute!
Pew Sitting as Performance
As a seminary professor I’m very adept at judging church performance: I’m at home formulating detailed critiques of the exegetical and homiletical quality of a preacher’s sermon and the relevance of the service’s liturgical form; I’m even happy to opine on the quality of the music … an area rather distant from my formal education. […]
How to argue without seeming like a crazy person
Check out my interview on Matt Fradd’s great podcast Pints with Aquinas:
No true Christian would subjugate and oppress other faiths
Christianity subjugates & oppresses other faiths when it is NOT true to its principles; Islam does it when it IS true to its principles. — Dr. Michael L. Brown (@DrMichaelLBrown) June 22, 2017 Is this true? More specifically, what kind of evidence could be brought to bear to sustain or falsify Brown’s assertion? Let’s begin […]
Is the virgin birth an essential doctrine?
Since we’re in the midst of Advent, it would seem to be a good time to pose a question about the relative importance of the doctrine of the virgin birth. (By the way, the term is infelicitous since the doctrine in question is really about whether Jesus was virginally conceived. Be that as it may, the […]
Best of Enemies: A Review
As the old wisdom goes, there are two topics not fit for polite conversation: religion and politics. If you ever need an illustration of why, you might return to the famous live televised debates between William F. Buckley and Gore Vidal which unfolded during the 1968 Republican and Democratic National Conventions. It would be hard […]
Spending a Day at Frank’s House: A Review of Letter to Lucy
Frank Schaeffer and EJG2, Letter to Lucy: A Manifesto of Creative Redemption in the Age of Trump, Fascism and Lies, A Multi-Touch Book, 2017. (E-book) When I started reading Letter to Lucy I assumed it was a book. I was quickly — and very pleasantly — disabused of that assumption. It turns out that it is something far better: an […]
Transgender Washrooms or Climate Change?
Which ethical issue is more important? Transgender washrooms (“washroom” is a Canadian term for “bathroom”) or climate change? If you care to chime in, I’ve got the survey right here: Which ethical issue is more important? — Tentative Apologist (@RandalRauser) December 15, 2017 If we can discern the relative import of ethical issues by what […]
