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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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bullshit

A Case Where I Spend WAY TOO MUCH Time Analyzing a Snide Atheist Meme

August 18, 2017 by Randal

Here is a tweet from the folks at “Atheist Republic”. Call it a meme if you want. (Might as well since the word “meme” seems to apply to most anything that gets retweeted.) So here’s the meme: pic.twitter.com/AduwjnloUq — Atheist Republic (@AtheistRepublic) August 16, 2017 I’m not sure what definition of “bullshit” the folks at […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: atheism, bullshit, evil, falsification, problem of evil, providence, rhetoric

False Witness, Lies, Delusions, and Bullshit … and Why the Difference Matters

June 26, 2017 by Randal

A couple days ago the New York Times published an opinion piece grandly titled “Trump’s Lies.” The article purports to chronicle  “nearly every outright lie he has told publicly since taking the oath of office.” The reader is then treated to a chronicle of dizzying length and breadth chronicling all the public instances where the POTUS […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: bullshit, delusion, Donald Trump, lying, truth

Politicians, fascists, and used car salesmen

November 21, 2015 by Randal

In the last two days Donald Trump has “crossed a new line” by endorsing the suggestion of a reporter that the government should begin to compile lists of Muslims living in the United States. Here is a transcript of one of the relevant exchanges courtesy of MSNBC: NBC: Should there be a database system that […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: bullshit, civil discourse, Donald Trump, politics, truth

Has Boghossian’s bulldog been neutered?

June 3, 2014 by Randal

I have noted in the past that John Loftus has come out as a vocal defender of Peter Boghossian. So it was with great interest that I read Loftus’ comments on the McGrew/Boghossian debate. In his response, Loftus keeps up his bravado, even throwing in the proverbial chest-thump as he dubs himself “Boghossian’s bulldog”. In my response, “Boghossian’s […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: bullshit, faith, John Loftus, Peter Boghossian

Loftus admits Boghossian doesn’t care about truth. I call that bogusian!

February 21, 2014 by Randal

In the discussion thread to “John W. Loftus defends Peter Boghossian” Mr. Loftus provided yet another “defense” of A Manual for Creating Atheists. He writes: “Boghossian does indeed use rhetoric to his advantage. I like it because I agree with him that Christianity is baseless. He’s writing to motivate those of us who agree with […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: bullshit, ethics, John Loftus, Peter Boghossian, rhetoric, truth

Tell me sweet little lies: evidence that people like being lied to

January 6, 2013 by Randal

Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies While I was a Fleetwood Mac fan when the song “Little Lies” was released back in 1987, I must admit the lyrics didn’t make a lot of sense to me. Who wants to be told lies? Don’t we all want the truth? Now that I’m older and […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: baloney, bullshit, lies, truth

I’ll pray for you (and other Christian baloney)

January 2, 2013 by Randal

This morning I found this Non Sequitur cartoon in my files. And it got me to thinking how often I’ve engaged in Christian baloney where I’ll say something not because I intend to do it but simply because saying it is the right and proper social expectation to fulfill.  A few years ago a friend of […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: baloney, bullshit, Christianity, truth

Is theology baloney? Reflections on the latest Sokal-styled hoax

September 28, 2012 by Randal

I an indebted to Ray Ingles for making me aware of this blog post which chronicles a clever Belgian philosopher’s appropriation of Alan Sokal’s modus operandi. (Sokal, you may recall, was a scientist who famously submitted a nonsensical article to the postmodern journal “Social Text” which passed peer review. He did so as a way […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Alan Sokal, bullshit, Maarten Boundry, philosophy, theology

Is Daniel Dennett a conspiracy wingnut?

November 6, 2011 by Randal

You were raised a good conservative who faithfully listened to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity with your parents. You read all Ann Coulter’s books. You considered Michael Moore and all his ilk to be mealy-mouthed liberals. Then you enrolled in university and attended a public lecture from an articulate political scientist on the state of the economy. […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: bullshit, conspiracy, Daniel Dennett, Harry Frankfurt, philosophical theology, philosophy of religion

What is Patrick Chan really up to?

September 23, 2011 by Randal

It is with a heavy heart that I must announce Patrick Chan was not, in fact, satirizing the triabloguers. So then what was he really up to? Well in response to my article he said he was satirizing me: Sorry, Randy! I know I took a great risk satirizing you like I did. Initially I […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: bullshit, Patrick Chan, Triablogue, truth

Has Stephen Law been sucked into an intellectual black hole? A Review of Law’s “Believing Bullshit”

August 1, 2011 by Randal

Stephen Law. Believing Bullshit: How Not to Get Sucked into an Intellectual Black Hole. Prometheus, 2011, 271 pp. ISBN: 978-1-61614-411-1. In the vein of Carl Sagan’s The Demon Haunted World (Ballantine, 1997) and Michael Shermer’s Why People Believe Weird Things (Holt, 2002), comes this new book by Stephen Law, senior lecturer in philosophy at Heythrop […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: atheism, Believing Bullshit, bullshit, critical thinking, epistemology, indoctrination, rationality, reason, skepticism, Stephen Law

Back from the New York Groove (Part 2)

March 29, 2011 by Randal

Here continues the first person account of Randal’s extensive tour of the Eastern seaboard in which he was the center of attention at tickertape parades in New York, New Brunswick, and Princeton. Day 5 On Monday evening I led a discussion on the doctrine of hell at the “Philosophy on Tap” meeting at a local […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: bafflegab, bullshit, eternal conscious torment, G.A. Cohen, Harry Frankfurt, hell, Princeton Theological Seminary

Car salesmen do it. Lawyers too. And politicians. And also academics.

February 28, 2011 by Randal

It was summer, 1989. I was a sixteen year old standing on the Ford lot completely dazzled by the 1988 Ford Mustang 5.0 sitting hunched down and ready for action. It didn’t take long for the salesman to emerge from the air-conditioned showroom, doing his best to appear to be on an aimless stroll through […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: bullshit, Harry Frankfurt, lying, Mustang, truth

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