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Randal Rauser

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creationism

Rethinking Origins: The Evolution of a Young Earth Creationist

December 4, 2019 by Randal

In this article, I share a dialogue with David MacMillan, a former young earth creationist who has since come to a very different opinion. MacMillan currently lives in Washington DC with his wife and their children, where he works as a paralegal while studying for his J.D. at Columbus School of Law. He is featured […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Answers in Genesis, creationism, David MacMillan, evolution, fundamentalism, interview, Ken Ham, Neo-Darwinism, science

Ain’t Gonna Make a Monkey Out of Me! Is Darwinism Compatible with Human Dignity?

April 7, 2018 by Randal

Over the years, I’ve encountered many objections to the reconciliation of Christianity to Neo-Darwinian evolution. One of the most common and forceful objections pertains to the alleged loss of human dignity that comes with a biology of common descent. As Christian rock singer Larry Norman sang in “God Part III,” “I don’t believe in evolution. I […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: anthropology, creationism, Darwinism, evolution, image of God

Natural Evil and Young Earth Creationism

December 1, 2017 by Randal

In this short discussion (short being a relative term: it’s under ten minutes) I explain why young earth creationists have a problem of natural evil that they need to explain. Music Credit: Apero Hour Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: creationism, evolution, natural evil, problem of evil, theodicy, young earth creationism

The Not-So-Intelligent Designer: A Review

February 3, 2017 by Randal

Abby Hafer, The Not-So-Intelligent Designer: Why Evolution Explains the Human Body and Intelligent Design Does Not. (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2015).  If you love intelligent design, you’ll (probably) hate this book. If you hate intelligent design, you’ll (probably) love this book. If you’re somewhere in-between in your assessment of intelligent design, you’ll probably find yourself somewhere […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Abby Hafer, creationism, Darwin, Discovery Institute, evolution, intelligent design, Neo-Darwinism, review

57. Terry Mortenson on Creationism

January 5, 2015 by Randal

When I was in high school I gave my science teacher a copy of Paul Ackerman’s book It’s a Young World After All. The book aimed to show that evolution was false and the earth was a mere six to ten thousand years old. My science teacher politely received the gift and then, for all I […]

Filed Under: Podcast-The Tentative Apologist, The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Bible, creationism, evolution, Genesis, hermeneutics, science, six day creationism, Terry Mortenson, young earth creationism

You can’t judge a book by its cover: A Review of “Death Before the Fall”

May 21, 2014 by Randal

Ronald E. Osborn. Death Before the Fall: Biblical Literalism and the Problem of Animal Suffering. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2014. This book suffers from a serious identity crisis. On the face (that is, the cover) of it, the book purports to provide an in-depth theological analysis of the problem of natural evil generally and animal […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: animal suffering, creationism, evolution, fundamentalism, hermeneutics, natural evil, review, Ronald Osborn, theodicy, theology

God? Science? Evolution? Historical Adam? Explore the issues with Denis Lamoureux

April 8, 2014 by Randal

Great news for those of you interested in the discussion of Christianity and science generally, and evolution and Christianity in particular. My friend, Professor Denis Lamoureux (whom I interviewed on my podcast here), is going to be hosting a two hour online free webinar for those interested in the discussion on April 14th. Professor Lamoureux […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Bible, creation, creationism, Denis Lamoureux, evolution, historical Adam, science, theology, webinar

A defense of Ken Ham’s fake Noah’s Ark

March 1, 2014 by Randal

Ken Ham, that Australian-accented l’enfant terrible of North American fundamentalist Protestant 6-day young earth creationist Christianity, has achieved his goal of raising the first $14 million to begin construction on an ambitious life-size replica of Noah’s Ark for the people of Kentucky and indeed the citizens of the world. (Whew! That’s quite the opening sentence!) […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: creationism, evolution, fundamentalism, Ken Ham, Noah's ark, satire

Bill Nye the Science Guy gives very strange commentary and bad advice to creationists

August 28, 2012 by Randal

Over the last few days Bill Nye the Science Guy’s two minute video of advice to creationists has gone viral. I must say I have a soft spot for Bill Nye since I watched his science guy schtick on Seattle’s “Almost Live” (which was broadcast in Southern British Columbia) back in the eighties when I […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Bill Nye, creationism, evolution

Should we “teach the controversy”?

April 18, 2012 by Randal

In “Monkeying around with common sense” I offered a critique of Tennessee’s new bill for teaching scientific controversies in school. My critique consisted of pointing out that this kind of method would be frowned upon in other knowledge discourses like history and English. So it seems inappropriate for this bill to single out science as […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: creationism, Discovery Institute, evolution, intelligent design, Teach the Controversy, Tennessee

Monkeying around with common sense: Tennessee’s anti-evolution bill

April 12, 2012 by Randal

According to the Huffington Post,  a bill is about to be enacted into law in Tennessee which intends to offer protection to teachers who want to encourage their students to explore “controversial” scientific perspectives. I’ll quote Huff Post quoting sections of the bill and then offer some commentary: In an effort to cultivate “intelligent, productive, […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: creationism, evolution, intelligent design, public school, Tennessee

Was “Expelled” intelligently designed? A Review

August 25, 2011 by Randal

Expelled was released three years ago to great fanfare (at least in the evangelical subculture). Here was a film hosted by a famous comedian (okay, not really; it was actually Ben Stein) which claimed to take on the evolution bullies in the name of God, intellectual freedom, and intelligent design. I did this belated review […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Ben Stein, creationism, Darwinism, evolution, expelled, intelligent design

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