Randal Rauser

Home of progressively evangelical, generously orthodox, rigorously analytic, revolutionary Christian thinking (that's what I'm aiming for anyway)

theism

Are there sufficient reasons to believe in God? My Opening Statement

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In May, 2020, I participated in a debate on this question: Are there sufficient reasons to believe in God? My debate partner Sam and I divvied up the labor as follows: I argued that there are sufficient ‘reasons’ (i.e. properly basic grounds) to believe in God. Meanwhile, Sam argued that there are sufficient non-basic reasons […]

Debating Against God’s Existence: The Devil’s in the Details

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A couple of months ago, Joe Schmid of the Majesty of Reason blog and YouTube channel invited me to participate in a devil’s advocate debate in which I defend atheism and Joe, an agnostic, defends theism. After some twists and turns, it ended up that the debate was hosted by Cameron Bertuzzi of “Capturing Christianity”. […]

A Quick Word on the Total Evidence for Theism

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Occasionally, I hear people make claims about how the “total evidence” does or does not support theism. Those people are incorrect: *nobody* has considered all the expansive evidence for/against that claim. Nor is it feasible that any person ever will. The total evidence includes not only thousands of publicly available arguments and lines of evidence […]

Being Religious Does Not Make You a Theist

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Almost a month ago, I published an incredible, awesome article titled “Being a Theist Does Not Make You Religious.” The point was to desynonymize “theism” and “religion,” to break the easy conflation of these terms, to show that a person may be one without being the other. And so, in that article, I established that […]

Being a Theist Does Not Make You Religious

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Time and again in conversation with atheists I find them insisting that theism is an essential component of religion. Indeed, it is not uncommon for them to conflate the two as if theism and religion were straight-up interchangeable. They are wrong. Flatly wrong. Being a theist and being religious are two very different things and […]

Christian and Atheist Fairyology

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Many atheists find the study of God to be equivalent to the study of fairies, that is, a misbegotten enquiry into a fantasy reality. These folk seem to take much satisfaction in invoking this equivalence. But before they take too much satisfaction, they should realize that many Christians view the study of a world without […]

If you came to believe that Christianity is false, you would become a…

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Here is a survey I posted the other day, with some interesting results… Christians, please answer this question. If you came to believe that Christianity is false, you would become a… — The Tentative Apologist (@RandalRauser) June 27, 2019 Like 42% of respondents, I would remain a mere theist. I also understand those who would […]

Why the problem of evil is the ultimate theist/atheist standoff

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In this article, we are going to take a hard look at the problem of evil. We begin with an excerpt from my book You’re not as Crazy as I Think. I then offer some additional thoughts. On April 15, 1989, Ramon Salcido took his three daughters—Teresa, age two; Carmina, age three; and Sofia, age four—out […]

“Nihilism is false iff theism is true”: Let’s Discuss

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When people say atheism entails nihilism they're more than likely saying "I'll be really sad if I couldn't believe I'm immortal and will eventually live in paradise." — Counter Apologist (@CounterApologis) January 13, 2019 I like Counter Apologist, but this is akin to saying “When people say ‘God doesn’t exist’ they’re more than likely saying […]

The Scattershot Atheist: The Dan Barker/Trent Horn Debate: A Review (Part 2)

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Here’s part 1 of my review where I provide a summary and critique of Trent Horn’s opening statement. You can also click that link to watch the debate itself. I now turn to my review of Dan Barker’s opening statement. As I said, in part 1, I undertook a detailed summary of Horn’s opening statement followed […]

The Dan Barker/Trent Horn Debate: A Review (Part 1)

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A couple of months ago, Catholic apologist Trent Horn debated atheist Dan Barker on the question, “Does the Christian God exist?” I am going to post a two-part review of the debate which focuses on their opening statements. In this first installment of the review, I will summarize and critically engage with Horn’s 15-minute opening statement. A […]

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