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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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naturalism

A Thought Experiment for Skeptics, Naturalists, and Atheists

October 6, 2022 by Randal

Last night, your roommate brought home a Ouija board. You, as a skeptic and atheist, do not believe in such things, but you agreed to play with it. You both put your hands on it and your roomate calls out to the spirits. Suddenly, the board jerks out of your hands and you both are […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: naturalism, skepticism

The Religion of Ricky Gervais

May 20, 2022 by Randal

In this video, I analyze Ricky Gervais’ naturalistic worldview and its religious identifying marks. ?

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: atheism, naturalism, religion, Ricky Gervais

My Kennenth Copeland Argument Refutes Naturalism!

January 3, 2022 by Randal

Here is a novel argument to refute naturalism (i.e. the view that only natural things exist). If a person is demon-possessed then naturalism is false. Kenneth Copeland is demon-possessed. Therefore, naturalism is false. Premise 1 is analytically true and the argument is valid, so all I need is a defense of premise 2. And here […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Kenneth Copeland, naturalism

A Skeptic has a Conversation with His Inner Christian

October 5, 2020 by Randal

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: atheism, historiography, Matthew Hartke, methodological naturalism, naturalism, resurrection

Methodological Naturalism as a Wet Firecracker: A Response to Ian N. Mills

September 2, 2020 by Randal

Ian N. Mills of the New Testament Review Podcast offered a critique of my critique of methodological naturalism. Here’s the video with a few points of critique below: First, a quick observation: if Mills can play clips from my video at 1.5x speed (or whatever it is) then why doesn’t he record himself at 1.5x […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: historiography, history, methodological naturalism, naturalism

Religion After God: A Review of Progressive Atheism

July 3, 2020 by Randal

J.L. Schellenberg. Progressive Atheism: How Moral Evolution Changes the God Debate. Bloomsbury, 2019.  “Atheism, we’ll say, for all we know may come at the beginning of religion rather than the end.” (173) That is not the kind of quote you’d expect to find in a typical book defending an atheistic perspective. But then again, J.L. Schellenberg did not […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: atheism, J.L. Schellenberg, naturalism, Progressive Atheism

If Naturalism Functions as a Religion, Does it Follow that Naturalism is a Religion?

April 28, 2020 by Randal

In my experience, self-described naturalists tend to get irritated when you point out that naturalism often functions as a religion. Perhaps it is because they recognize that there is little space between functions as religion and is a religion just as there is little space between functions as a house and is a house. Granted, for purposes of city […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: naturalism, religion

What’s wrong with the scientific study of morality? An interview with Paul Rezkalla

October 14, 2019 by Randal

Paul Rezkalla has an MA in Philosophy and Ethics from the University of Birmingham and an MA in theology from St. John’s University. He is currently working on a PhD in philosophy at Florida State University (with the esteemed Michael Ruse) and an MSc in cognitive and evolutionary anthropology from Oxford University. In this conversation, […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: ethics, interview, metaethics, naturalism, Paul Rezkalla, philosophy of science, scientism

Turning an atheist argument on its head

June 13, 2019 by Randal

Today, I came across this Twitter profile. So of course, I had to reply: “‘Non-believers CANNOT justify their godless beliefs, making theism the JUSTIFIED POSITION. Prove me wrong.’ I should try reasoning like ‘Artie’ more often. It makes things so easy!” This prompted a reply from “Jeffrey” followed by my rejoinders: Jeffrey: “How is this […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: atheism, justification, naturalism

Naturalism in a Tweet

May 24, 2019 by Randal

Adapted from a tweet I posted this morning: Christian: You call yourself a “naturalist”? Naturalist: Yup! Christian: And what is that? Naturalist: Only nature exists. Christian: And what is “nature”? Naturalist: Whatever science says exists. Christian: And what does science say exists? Naturalist: That’s to be determined. Christian: So what you believe exists is to […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: naturalism

Wow, P.Z. Myers really doesn’t like the new atheism

February 1, 2019 by Randal

A few days ago, P.Z. Myers published his assessment of new atheism: “The train wreck that was the New Atheism.” It’s nothing short of an evisceration, including a scathing takedown of the four horsemen. (Myers saves his choicest criticisms for Sam Harris.) To all that, I say yea and amen. Though I should think Myers […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: atheism, naturalism, new atheism, P.Z. Myers

On Spurious Attempts to Favor Naturalism over Theism

September 14, 2018 by Randal

In this article, I want to consider a spurious attempt to favor naturalism over theism. To be clear, I don’t take issue with the general maxim in the meme posted below. What I do dispute is the facile attempt to favor naturalism over theism based on the maxim: In my rebuttal, I point out that if […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: apologetics, epistemology, naturalism, Ockham's razor, solipsism

Ten Years After the Atheist Bus Campaign: Some Reflections

August 6, 2018 by Randal

It may be hard to believe, but it has been ten years since the Atheist Bus Campaign posted ill-conceived signs on European buses with the trite caption: “There’s probably no god. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” Note to atheists: when you finally grab the microphone, try to have something more profound to say […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: atheism, meaning, naturalism

Naturalism and Faith

July 28, 2018 by Randal

For those who don’t follow me on Twitter, my morning salvo against naturalism: Few things are as ironic as a naturalist chiding a Christian about having "faith". — Tentative Apologist (@RandalRauser) July 28, 2018 I then added: “Footnote: by “naturalist” I mean a person who believes (i) all that exists is matter or supervenes on […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: faith, naturalism

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