Randal Rauser

Home of progressively evangelical, generously orthodox, rigorously analytic, revolutionary Christian thinking (that's what I'm aiming for anyway)

The Tentative Apologist

Should You Sign a Card for a Gay Marriage? The Conservative Christian’s Dilemma

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A conservative Christian told me he was invited to sign the card for a newly married gay couple in his office. He avoided doing so because he doesn’t believe in gay marriage. I suggested just signing “Best wishes!” because Christians are called to wish the best to everyone. He was worried that this would be […]

Are Progressive Christians Christian? My Debate with Doug Groothuis

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I was really grateful for Doug Groothuis’s willingness to debate the topic of progressive Christianity with me on Unbelievable though I was admittedly disappointed (but not surprised) that he declined to defend Alisa Childers’ thesis that progressive Christianity is another religion. ?

No, the “Mainstream Media” is Not Trying to “Gaslight” You

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One of my Twitter followers, Matthew, directed me to a new article posted yesterday by Christian apologist Natasha Crain titled “How Mainstream Media Gaslights Christians (and Everyone Else Who Disagrees with Them).” In the article, Crain points out that the “mainstream media” is biased. While that is true as far as it goes, Crain doesn’t […]

Progressive Christians Don’t Care About Doctrine? Rebutting Evangelical Misinformation

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There is arguably no religious community that talks more about “truth” and “defending truth” than evangelical Christians. And yet, from Trump’s big lie and QAnon to the ubiquity of urban legends, evangelicals have shown themselves to be fatuous and often culpably complicit in spreading harmful misinformation. Alas, the falsehoods they spread about progressive Christians are […]

Why Alisa Childers’ Slurs Against Progressive Christians Deserve No Charity

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Someone asked me: “taking Childers’ claim that ‘Progressive Christianity is another religion,’ do you think it’s possible to ‘fix’ it somehow to make it something you could agree with?” I understand the spirit of the question: we should definitely strive to find agreement where we can. However, Childers’ thesis is not salvagable. As I demonstrate […]

The Problem of Canaanite Genocide and Michael Heiser’s Solution

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Since Jesus Loves Canaanites was released, I have been asked on several occasions about Michael Heiser’s claim that the Canaanite conquest should be viewed as an attempt to eradicate subhuman descendents of the nephilim. Here is Heiser’s own summary of the view: “My view is that it wasn’t indiscriminate at all, and that wholesale genocide wasn’t the […]