I have long been interested in the way that Bibles interact with the violent portions of scripture. In “How do you teach God’s genocide to children?” I noted how the Zondervan Adventure Bible for children deals (or doesn’t deal) with the genocidal mandate in Deuteronomy 20. Here below I have another example, this one drawn […]
genocide
Outraged at homosexuality, but unaware of genocide, and not angered by poverty?
You have to wonder how World Vision could be so out of touch with their constituency that they would think any policy change regarding homosexuality would be anything less than catastrophic? As soon as they lifted the ban on hiring practicing homosexuals, the response was swift as conservative evangelicals across North America vocally expressed their outrage […]
William Lane Craig on genocide as a sign of purity
This is the tenth installment of my ongoing critique of William Lane Craig’s defense of the Canaanite genocide. For part nine, “The Canaanite genocide as cruel and unusual punishment in extremis,” click here. We rejoin the podcast at (14:16). Just prior to this point Craig had argued that God did not wrong the Canaanite adults […]
The Canaanite genocide as cruel and unusual punishment in extremis
We’ve now arrived at the ninth installment of my ongoing critique of William Lane Craig’s podcast “Richard Dawkins and Driving out the Canaanites.” And you’re thinking to yourself: “Geez, isn’t this overkill? Move on Rauser.” And I’m thinking: “That pun was in poor taste. And I’m not moving on, because there is just so much […]
William Lane Craig thinks the Canaanites should’ve run! (And too bad if they didn’t.)
This is the eight installment of my ongoing critique of William Lane Craig’s podcast “Richard Dawkins and Driving out the Canaanites.” In this installment we’re going to return to an excerpt from the podcast which I transcribed originally in part 5. In this section Craig argues that the Canaanites had time to “get out of […]
William Lane Craig on killing the Canaanite infants
This is the seventh installment of my ongoing critique of William Lane Craig’s podcast on “Richard Dawkins and Driving out the Canaanites.” You can find the sixth installment here. As in previous installments, we’ll begin with Craig’s own words as we join his discussion at 10:57 into the podcast: “So the only moral question that […]
Could the punishment for legalized abortion be a national abortion?
In my article “William Lane Craig’s defense of genocide based on a reprobate culture” I pointed out that the “reprobate culture” rationale provided for slaughtering all the Canaanites could apply equally well to the United States based on the argument provided by Clay Jones. Bilbo replied by suggesting that one could plausibly argue for the […]
William Lane Craig’s defense of genocide based on a reprobate culture
This article is the sixth installment in my series “On William Lane Craig’s defense of the Canaanite genocide”. (You can find part five here.) At this point we join the conversation at 10:32 into the podcast when Craig observes: “When you think how utterly corrupt these Canaanite cultures were — practicing child sacrifice to their gods, […]
On William Lane Craig’s defense of the Canaanite genocide (Part 5)
In the fourth installment of my critique of William Lane Craig’s podcast defending the Canaanite genocide, Matthew Flannagan reiterated an objection he had posted in response to an earlier installment of the series, namely that Craig does not understand himself to be defending genocide. Matt writes: “Craig has repeatedly explicitly denied that the command was to […]
Evangelicals who redefine genocide? A response to Justin Taylor
A few days ago Matt Flannagan took issue with my claim that William Lane Craig is defending biblical genocide. In Matt’s view, what Craig is defending is not genocide at all. It soon became evident that Matt and I disagree over how the word “genocide” is to be defined. This is an important issue and […]
On William Lane Craig’s defense of the Canaanite genocide (Part 4)
In this article I continue my critique of William Lane Craig’s “Reasonable Faith” podcast episode “Richard Dawkins and Driving out the Canaanites.” In this fourth installment I will critique Craig’s appeal to Israel’s status as a theocracy. We join the podcast in progress as it approaches the 6 minute mark and Craig states: “This is not a […]
Putting God in the Dock? A response to Justin Taylor
Thanks to Adam Omelianchuk and Walter for making me aware of Justin Taylor’s posted defense of biblical genocides. As Walter noted in his comment, there isn’t anything new here. But after giving it a brief read I did decide to comment on one section that reflects a very common error in thinking. Here’s what Taylor […]
On William Lane Craig’s defense of the Canaanite genocide (Part 3)
In the second installment of this series I argued that we have excellent reasons to believe that genocide is a moral atrocity and that God, being morally perfect, would not command people to commit a moral atrocity. In addition, I developed an analogy between genocide and rape by noting that Christians would widely accept that […]
On William Lane Craig’s defense of the Canaanite genocide (Part 2)
In my first installment in this series I argued that conservative Christian apologists like William Lane Craig and Paul Copan are at their weakest when they argue that God commanded putative moral atrocities like genocide. And I noted that the interlocutor for my critical discussion would be William Lane Craig’s defense of the Canaanite genocide in […]
