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Randal Rauser

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

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agnosticism

Agnosticism and Ignosticism: A Quick Word

November 23, 2021 by Randal

Weak agnostics are simply without belief in God. They make no claim and thus have nothing to defend. Strong agnostics claim that nobody can have rational belief in, let alone knowledge of God’s existence or non-existence. That is a robust claim in need of supporting arguments. I meet a lot of ignostics on social media […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: agnosticism, ignosticism

Do Lacktheists have a Burden of Proof?

October 19, 2021 by Randal

One of my many pet peeves: self-described atheists who are at pains to insist they have no burden of proof. That also applies to those who claim they ‘lack belief’: ?

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: agnosticism, burden of proof, epistemology, lacktheism

A Conversation on Atheism Etc. with Caffeine Corner

February 15, 2021 by Randal

?

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: agnosticism, atheism, interview, new atheism

Militant Agnosticism

December 29, 2020 by Randal

Michael Shermer describes his own disbelief in God as follows: “I once saw a bumper sticker that read ‘Militant Agnostic: I don’t know and You Don’t Either.’ This is my position on God’s existence: I don’t know and you don’t either.”[1] Shermer is right to call that position “militant”. To claim that nobody can know […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: agnosticism, Michael Shermer

Why do some agnostics call themselves atheists? And should we care?

September 23, 2020 by Randal

Over the years, I’ve written several articles on this unfortunate semantic innovation. Now here is my definitive video statement on why agnostics shouldn’t call themselves atheists.

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: agnosticism, atheism

A simple way to rate the skepticism of atheists and agnostics

August 17, 2019 by Randal

Ask your atheist or agnostic friend to consider the following scenario and then consider at what point she would conclude that God had answered the prayer and thus that God exists. So here’s the scenario. Your friend calls you up to say that she just received an unexpected bill for $4353.43 which must be paid […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: agnosticism, atheism, doubt, miracle, skepticism

Agnostic Atheists?

June 2, 2019 by Randal

I find a significant lack of clarity these days among self-described atheists and agnostics about the use of these terms. With that in mind, I tweeted this morning about the importance of an atheist being able to articulate what it is they don’t believe in and why. This spurred some conversations, as you can imagine. I am […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: agnosticism, atheism

Sweeping agnostic claims are anything but humble … or wise

April 19, 2019 by Randal

Yesterday, The Atheist Missionary posted the following comment on my blog in which he declared his commitment to metaphysical agnosticism: “Agnosticism with respect to metaphysical truths is not only the ‘smart’ position, it’s the only logical conclusion. That is why the only thing I believe with religious certainty is that there are dimensions, truths and […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: agnosticism, epistemology

96. Those Without Religion: Cory Seibel on the Nones

June 18, 2016 by Randal

When they are asked to provide their religious affiliation, they reply “none”. Religious free agents, free to be secular or spiritual. But they definitely aren’t religious. And their ranks are growing. Over the last two decades the numbers of people disaffiliating with any religious tradition has continued to rise. But what should we think of the […]

Filed Under: Home Posts, Podcast-The Tentative Apologist, The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: agnosticism, atheism, Cory Seibel, nones, religious skepticism, spirituality

Why I don’t like agnostics calling themselves atheists

August 29, 2015 by Randal

These days, a growing number of self-described “atheists” describe their cognitive state not as the belief that God doesn’t exist, but rather as the lack of belief that God exists. The problems begin with the fact that this definition effectively collapses atheism into agnosticism, and that represents a deviation from historical usage. Here’s Paul Edwards from the entry […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: agnosticism, atheism

Debating God: The Rauser/Schieber Debate is Up!

April 11, 2015 by Randal

Big thanks to the University of Alberta Atheists and Agnostics for funding the video and to Epicurus for volunteering untold hours to edit the raw footage. Here is the debate:

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: agnosticism, atheism, debate, God, Justin Schieber, theism, University of Alberta

The Assertive Agnostic. The Dogmatic Doubter. The Sure Skeptic.

October 31, 2014 by Randal

Ed Babinski emailed me a link to a message board discussing the topic “Most annoying Christian and atheist claims”.  On the board Ed offered his own two cents and it starts like this: “The most annoying Christian and Atheist claims occur whenever a particular Christian or Atheist discusses subjects concerning the distant past, everlasting future […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: agnosticism, dogmatism, Ed Babinski

Peter Boghossian’s Manual for Wasting Paper (Part 6): Defining Agnosticism

February 24, 2014 by Randal

Thus far we have seen Peter Boghossian to be utterly inept at defining basic terms: “deepity”, “faith” and “atheism”, he’s flubbed ’em all. So it is little surprise that his incompetence continues when he attempts to define “agnosticism”. Before we consider Boghossian’s proposed definition, and the problems with it, let’s consult a few philosophical dictionaries to […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: A Manual for Creating Atheists, agnosticism, definition, Peter Boghossian, review

Neil deGrasse Tyson’s incredibly confused comments on atheism and agnosticism

September 10, 2013 by Randal

Tyson begins by noting that he is often asked if he is an atheist. He then offers a reply: “You know, the only ‘ist’ I am, is a scientist.” He then goes on to say he has nothing to do with movements and he thinks for himself. Hmmm, one might think that makes him an […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: agnosticism, atheism, Neil deGrasse Tyson

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