In my recent video review of God’s Not Dead with Capturing Christianity, I criticized the film’s uncharitable stereotyped portrayal of Muslim families. Predictably, conservative Christians pushed back. One fellow on YouTube replied, @Randal Rauser Usually, that “reason” is that one person makes a superficial outside observation and reads too much into it, then makes up a straw […]
Islam
Muslims and Christians Pray to the Same God
I’ve addressed this question before (on several occasions) but I thought this brief tweet I posted might be of interest to some to carry the conversation forward: Muslims & Christians both refer to the same being when they say “God”. If they weren’t, then they wouldn’t be disagreeing about whether that being is triune or […]
Is Islam more violent than Christianity? Is the Qur’an more violent than the Bible? Who decides?
The other day I tweeted a link to my 2014 review of God’s Not Dead. One fellow responded by saying that I was “nit-picking.” But alas, he then noted that Twitter is not a good medium to explain why. How ironic, I noted, that Twitter is sufficient to make a charge of nit-picking but not sufficient […]
Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God? And what does that mean, anyways?
As many of you know, in 2013 I published an apologetics debate book with atheist John Loftus titled God or Godless. I thought Loftus did a good job in that book because he can handle short, pithy debates. (And a mere $7 for a paperback is a great deal!) However, when it comes to his blog, […]
An Argument against Islam and Calvinism
I was recently asked by a friend to watch and respond to this short clip in which William Lane Craig offers an argument against God as defined in Islam: In that clip, Craig appears to present an argument like this: (1) If God exists, God is the greatest conceivable being. (2) For any being to […]
Islam and Christianity: A Dialogue
A few weeks ago, I was privileged to moderate an evening of discussion on the similarities and differences between Christianity and Islam at my home church, Greenfield Community Church in Edmonton, AB. The two esteemed guests were Ms. Christa Eisbrenner and Dr. Hassan Masoud. Christa Eisbrenner has an MA in Muslim Studies from Columbia International […]
Would you rather be a Muslim who acts like Jesus or a Christian who doesn’t?
Would you disciple a Muslim child against his parents’ wishes?
Yesterday on Twitter I posed the following question: Your 15-year-old Muslim neighbor is really interested in Christianity, but his parents have forbidden him from going to church. He just asked you to help him defy his parents' wishes by secretly taking him to church youth group. Do you agree? — Tentative Apologist (@RandalRauser) February 19, […]
No true Christian would subjugate and oppress other faiths
Christianity subjugates & oppresses other faiths when it is NOT true to its principles; Islam does it when it IS true to its principles. — Dr. Michael L. Brown (@DrMichaelLBrown) June 22, 2017 Is this true? More specifically, what kind of evidence could be brought to bear to sustain or falsify Brown’s assertion? Let’s begin […]
“A fundamentalist radical Christian is just as misguided and frightening as a fundamentalist radical Muslim.” Discuss
Yesterday political analyst Matthew Dowd posted the following tweet: A fundamentalist radical Christian is just as misguided and frightening as a fundamentalist radical Muslim. No difference. — Matthew Dowd (@matthewjdowd) August 10, 2017 The tweet prompted a variety of responses including this one from Chad of Truthbomb Apologetics: This is a astonishingly ignorant comment. It […]
Islamophobia? Secular Bernie Sanders meets the Conservative Evangelical
A couple weeks ago Bernie Sanders undertook a provocative line of questioning during the confirmation hearing of a fellow named Russell Vought. You may have heard of this feisty exchange. It certainly got the attention of Christian conservatives who consider it solid evidence of secular incredulity toward and persecution of orthodox Christians. Here is a three […]
Should Christians be afraid of Islam?
In my review for God’s not Dead 2 I pointed out that the religion currently under greatest threat in the United States is not Christianity. Rather, it is Islam. That claim received a response from readers both in the discussion thread and via email who argued that Islam is a threat. When the concern was initially raised by Walter […]
Do Calvinists and Arminians worship the same God?
We’re going to address Calvinists and Arminians in a moment. But first let’s begin with the catalyst for the discussion which is a February 2016 episode of William Lane Craig’s venerable Reasonable Faith Podcast titled “Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God?” In this podcast Craig addresses the controversial question that was first raised as […]
Muhammad Ali on the contrast between Islam and Christianity
I had a great time speaking this past weekend at Daylight Church in Louisville, KY. During my time there, the favorite son of Louisville, Muhammad Ali, passed away at the age of 74. (But you already knew that.) And so, after my talks on Saturday we braved the crowds and visited the Muhammad Ali Center […]