In January Justin Schieber and I engaged in a written debate featured at Strange Notions on the topic of whether we should expect God to create only perfect creatures. Schieber argued that we should, and thus the fact that something other than perfect creatures (e.g. us) exists provides evidence against God. I objected that we have […]
Justin Schieber
An Atheist and a Christian Walk into a Book Tour (sort of)
A book tour? Well, maybe that’s stretching it. But Justin Schieber and I do have a few events scheduled for March. Edmonton, Alberta To begin with, Justin is flying up to Edmonton on March 9th courtesy of the Society of Edmonton Atheists. While he is in Edmonton, we’ve scheduled a couple events thus far. To begin […]
Does the hostility of the universe toward life support atheism?
Justin Schieber argues that it does. I disagree. And then we argue our positions for an hour. And things get heated. Harsh words are spoken. Tears are shed. (Just kidding about that last bit.) But we do argue. For an hour. Still sound interesting? Check out our moderated informal debate on the Serious Inquiries Only […]
Does doctrinal agreement constitute evidence against God’s existence?
Justin Schieber and I debate this question in our book An Atheist and a Christian Walk into a Bar. We recently took the show on the road with an in-depth and spirited debate on this question at Unbelievable with Justin Brierley. Click here to listen to the show with Randal, Justin, and Justin. And then join the discussion.
Some Unbelievable Reflections
A couple days ago Justin Schieber and I appeared on an episode of Unbelievable with Justin Brierley in which we debated the question of whether widespread religious (or theological) disagreement constitutes evidence that God does not exist. More on that in a moment. This is my sixth appearance on Unbelievable. Over the years I have been on the show debating with […]
Do imperfect creatures count against God?
I’ve long been a fan of the popular Catholic blogsite “Strange Notions” for its brand of irenic and rigorous dialogue and debate. I’ve also written a few articles for Strange Notions in the past. (See “An Atheist in Church? Why Christians Should Listen to Their Atheist Neighbors” and “Do Atheists Simply Repress Their Knowledge of […]
An Atheist and a Christian on Bob Dutko’s Show
Yesterday Justin Schieber and I were interviewed by Bob Dutko of WMUZ in Detroit to discuss An Atheist and a Christian Walk into a Bar. While I recorded the show via online audio stream, unfortunately I cut the recording too soon after we hung up. (I didn’t realize the show is on what seems to be […]
God and Answered Prayer: A response to Justin Schieber
I guess this is the week of responding to tweets. Our latest helping comes from my coauthor Justin Schieber: When somebody thanks God for helping them find their keys they betray their belief in a God with some profoundly misaligned priorities. — Real Atheology Podcast (@RealAtheology) December 21, 2016 Before I proceed to offer a […]
An Atheist and a Christian Walk into a Podcast
Justin Schieber and I were recently interviewed on the storied Storymen Podcast hosted by the culturally savvy trinity of geek-cool, JR Forasteros, Clay Morgan and Matt Mikalatos. I’ve been on the podcast before and I always enjoy the exchanges. This was no exception. You can listen to the interview here.
Two Atheists (both friendly), One Theist, and a Discussion of Religion and Violence
Today the highly esteemed Friendly Atheist (Hemant Mehta) posted an announcement of the publication of An Atheist and a Christian Walk into a Bar complete with an except in which Justin Schieber and I discuss the relationship between religion and violence. Check it out: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/12/06/atheist-christian-discuss-whether-religion-leads-violence/
An Interview on Atheist/Christian Dialogue
Atheist, secular celebrant, and blogger Galen Broaddus has just posted an interview with Justin Schieber and myself discussing dialogue and An Atheist and a Christian Walk into a Bar. You can check it out here.
An Atheist and a Christian Dialogue Review of An Atheist and a Christian Walk into a Bar
Now this is a clever idea for a book review. Dan Wilkinson at Unfundamentalist Christians just published a review for An Atheist and a Christian Walk into a Bar. But he did so in a dialogue format with his friend, atheist Nick Bradford. Both gentlemen read the book and then they talked about it. They even got their […]
Big news on An Atheist and a Christian Walk into a Bar
First, I’m happy to report that at Amazon.com An Atheist and a Christian Walk into a Bar is now no. 1 in new releases for religion and philosophy. Let’s keep it there! Second, today An Atheist and a Christian Walk into a Bar was listed as one of the top ten December new releases in non-fiction at Bustle.com. Finally, […]
Do average Christians believe in the God of classical theism?
In his review of An Atheist and a Christian Walk into a Bar John Loftus claimed that Justin Schieber and I are debating “a belief system no one holds”. Loftus is referring there to the alleged irrelevance of God as defined in classical theism to God as understood in Christian devotion. We can summarize Loftus’ claim with the […]