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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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bioethics

Debating Abortion with Trent Horn

September 12, 2022 by Randal

In this episode of the Counsel of Trent Podcast, Trent Horn has me on to discuss a gradualist position on the moral status of the embryo/fetus in utero in contrast to Trent’s absolutist position.

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: abortion, bioethics, ethics, interview, Trent Horn

An Embryo isn’t a Baby: A Response to Trent Horn

July 1, 2022 by Randal

In my article “The Absolutist Prolife Position: A Critique,” I argue against the view that a human being should be granted full ontological status from the point of conception. (Conception isn’t actually a point, of course, it’s an extended process. But let’s leave that aside for this discussion.) My argument centers on two scenarios: Scenario […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: abortion, bioethics, ethics, Trent Horn

Euthanasia in Canada: A Panel Discussion

April 17, 2021 by Randal

In this video, I have a discussion with four medical practitioners/caregivers in Canada about euthanasia, palliative care, and Canada’s MAID (Medical Assistance in Dying) legislation. To let your political representatives know about your concern with MAID, visit the website https://www.canadiansforconscience.ca/. ?

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: bioethics, euthanasia, interview, medical ethics, palliative care

Babies Aren’t Tapeworms and Real Feminists Don’t Revile Fetuses

February 18, 2020 by Randal

There are prochoice people who take seriously the moral weight of killing a human fetus and nonetheless side with the right of the mother to do so. And then there are prochoice people who dehumanize and objectify the human fetus, recasting him/her as a “parasite”. This is the same rhetoric used to eradicate populations in […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: abortion, bioethics, ethics, feminism

Is abortion a genocide?

January 4, 2020 by Randal

Dear fellow Pro-Lifers, Please do not refer to support for elective abortion as a “genocide”. The word “genocide” has a specific meaning in international law: it refers to the attempt to destroy an ethnic, religious, or cultural identity. To be sure, genocidaires may use abortion as a means to destroy an ethnic, religious and/or cultural […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: abortion, bioethics, genocide, rhetoric

Elective abortion as the right to kill your children

January 26, 2017 by Randal

There are few political and social issues as controverted and fraught with mutual animus as the debate over abortion rights. Unfortunately, the heat is only multiplied by the common retreat to unfortunate and misleading rhetoric. Consider, for example, the practice among some prolifers of referring to abortion as a genocide. This is language that I’ve […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: abortion, bioethics, ethics

The Fight over the Fetus: Abortion, Ethics, and Politics

October 12, 2016 by Randal

Today Norman Geisler apparently defended his continued support for Donald Trump by claiming that Hillary Clinton is worse than Adolf Hitler. The reason? Her support for abortion. I first learned about this from Hemant Mehta’s blog and so I’m going to quote the relevant passage from his article “Christian Theologian: I Still Support Donald Trump Because […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: abortion, bioethics, ethics, Hemant Mehta, Hillary Clinton, Norman Geisler, politics

Fetus as Parasite? A disturbing trend in pro-choice rhetoric

June 28, 2016 by Randal

Throughout history attempts to justify killing members of outgroups has been carried out by invoking labels for members of the outgroups. David Livingstone Smith chronicles this lamentable aspect of human history in his book Less Than Human: Why We Demean, Enslave, and Exterminate Others (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2012). And so, for example, the Nazis called Jews and […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: abortion, bioethics, ethics, pro-choice, pro-life, rhetoric

88. Euthanasia, Death, and the Good Life: A Conversation with Heidi Janz

March 15, 2016 by Randal

“Euthanasia.” The word derives from the Greek prefix “eu” or good, and “thanatos” or death. Hence, euthanasia promises a good death. But what is a good death? And what right do medical practitioners have to bring it about? These questions press themselves upon us with increasing urgency as various jurisdictions consider the adoption of new […]

Filed Under: Podcast-The Tentative Apologist, The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: bioethics, ethics, euthanasia, Heidi Janz, problem of evil, problem of suffering, suffering, theology

The right to die? You don’t know Jack. A review

November 29, 2013 by Randal

My earliest memory of Jack Kevorkian came with a feature article in Cornerstone Magazine. The year was 1990 and Dr. Kevorkian had just entered the national spotlight after assisting in the suicide of Alzheimer’s patient Janet Adkins. The magazine’s feature interview left quite the impression. And it was deeply unsettling. Here was a man who was calling for […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Al Pacino, bioethics, euthanasia, HBO, physician-assisted suicide, review, You Don't Know Jack

Why are you laughing? Reflections on the ethics of gallows humor

December 7, 2012 by Randal

Fads come and go. And thirty years ago the fad on the playground was collecting stickers. So I followed the herd and got my photo album which I promptly filled with scratch and sniffs and various other stickers. I had quite a collection (indeed, I still have that album packed away somewhere). While the scratch […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: bioethics, ethics, Hastings Center, speech act

Till death do we part? Ethical reflection on marital vows

September 18, 2011 by Randal

In my previous post I found myself in the surprising situation of defending Pat Robertson’s widely panned commentary on the morality of divorce in the case of advanced Alzheimer’s. I was not necessarily agreeing with Pat’s view, but I was certainly sympathetic to it.   Not everyone was in agreement. A couple people offered reasonable […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: bioethics, divorce, ethics, marriage, pvs

Abortion and the old Coat hanger Argument

August 22, 2011 by Randal

“We tried universal illegal abortion and the results were quite horrific.” That statement was written by one of my faithful readers named Beetle and it is worth some reflection. It is worthy of that reflection because it provides a handy rehash of that most venerable and visceral of pro-choice arguments: the coat hanger argument. That argument seems […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: abortion, bioethics, coat hanger argument, deontology, ethics, euthanasia, suicide, utilitarianism

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