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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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new atheism

A Conversation on Atheism Etc. with Caffeine Corner

February 15, 2021 by Randal

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Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: agnosticism, atheism, interview, new atheism

Atheist Polemic for Pastor Dan: A Review of God: The Most Unpleasant Character in All Fiction

December 21, 2020 by Randal

Dan Barker. God: The Most Unpleasant Character in All Fiction. New York: Sterling, 2016. At the beginning of chapter 2 of his bestselling book The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins infamously describes God as “jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: biblical violence, Dan Barker, new atheism, review

Is the Christian God Worthy of Worship?

December 10, 2020 by Randal

I will be debating Dan Barker right before Christmas on the topic “Is the Christian God Worthy of Worship?” Barker’s recent book God: The Most Unpleasant Character in All Fiction will undoubtedly be a big part of the discussion. 

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: atheism, biblical ethics, biblical hermeneutics, Dan Barker, debate, new atheism

On this sad little quip: “When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.”

November 15, 2020 by Randal

“I contend we are both atheists, I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.” —Stephen F Roberts Some years after first penning those words, Roberts provided this modest retrospective: “Yep, that’s me! I am the […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: new atheism, Stephen Roberts

When atheists compare God to Santa Claus, leprechauns, and flying spaghetti monsters

July 2, 2020 by Randal

In this video, I survey five rhetorical categories of comparison that village atheists/new atheists make with belief in God. And I explain why each one of them is little more than an ignorant attempt to poison the well.

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Flying Spaghetti Monster, new atheism, parody, Santa Claus, satire, village atheism

“Religion Flies Planes into Buildings.” And My Response.

May 5, 2020 by Randal

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: apologetics, new atheism, religion, rhetoric

A Look at Sam Harris and His Atheist Indoctrination

February 27, 2020 by Randal

One of my favorite examples of atheist indoctrination comes from Sam Harris (Letter to a Christian Nation, (2006), 51). He begins: “Atheism is not a philosophy; it is not even a view of the world; it is simply an admission of the obvious.” Equating your beliefs with “an admission of the obvious” is indoctrinational in nature […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: atheism, indoctrination, new atheism, Sam Harris

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

My Latest Article on Atheism at “The Christian Post”

April 26, 2018 by Randal

“New Atheism May Be Finished, but Its Sad Legacy Lives On“

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: atheism, new atheism

New Atheism as a failed exercise in incivility and anti-intellectualism

October 28, 2017 by Randal

One might reasonably identify the advent of the so-called New Atheism with the publication of Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion and Bobby Henderson’s The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster in 2006. Or perhaps Sam Harris, The End of Faith in 2004. One thing is clear: the movement — if one might indeed call it a “movement” — has been […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: new atheism

Irrational? Faith from Ignatius of Loyola to Carl Sagan

March 30, 2016 by Randal

The philosopher Wilfrid Sellars famously distinguished between the “manifest image” of the world — i.e. the way the world presents to the average person — and the “scientific image” — i.e. the way the world presents to the scientist. Evolutionary biologist Richard Lewontin wonderfully captured the chasm between the manifest and scientific images in an influential […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Carl Sagan, faith, Ignatius of Loyola, new atheism, reason, Richard Lewontin

Did the Church of England troll Richard Dawkins?

February 14, 2016 by Randal

Following reports of Richard Dawkins’ minor stoke this past Friday, the Church of England promptly tweeted a call for church goers to pray for Dawkins: According to an article in The Guardian, several of Dawkins’ followers promptly accused the church of “trolling”. (“Trolling” involves making online posts that are intentionally offensive in order to anger […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Church of England, new atheism, prayer, Richard Dawkins, trolling

Victor Stenger, religion and violence

September 2, 2014 by Randal

Victor Stenger, retired particle physicist and new atheist polemicist, passed away suddenly on August 27th at the age of 79. While I rarely agreed with Dr. Stenger, I enjoyed reading his writings and found them to be engaging and provocative. So how to recognize the man’s passing? When a comedian dies, you honor her by […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: new atheism, religion, rhetoric, Victor Stenger, violence

Atheism deserves better than the New Atheists

July 2, 2013 by Randal

The other day I had just started reading Jonathan Sacks’ recent book The Great Partnership when I came across this fine quote: “Atheism deserves better than the new atheists whose methodology consists of criticizing religion without understanding it, quoting texts without contexts, taking exceptions as the rule, confusing folk belief with reflective theology, abusing, mocking, […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: atheism, Jonathan Sacks, new atheism

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