That’s the question I posed in a recent Twitter poll. And here are the results: Can an atheistic worldview support the concept of the holy or sacred? — Tentative Apologist (@RandalRauser) December 29, 2017 Of course, the answers people provide depend on how they define the terms in question. So as I prepare to offer […]
worldview
Want to control guns? Change people’s minds
This morning I watched the opening segment of Fareed Zakaria GPS. The topic was guns in America. Zakaria gave some statistics. The United States, with liberal gun laws, suffers approximately 30,000 gun deaths a year. Japan, with the strictest gun laws in the world, has as few as two gun deaths annually. In fairness, the United States has […]
Worldviews and “Defending the Truth”
The other day I came across this tweet: Treat other worldview graciously as you defend the truth: An Intellectual Code of Conduct, Part 1 #Apologetics https://t.co/OxiCOyUNyl — Lisa Quintana (@LisaQthinks) June 3, 2017 I agree that one ought to treat those who hold other worldviews graciously. I also agree with the advice as it is explained […]
Christian apologists need to lead by example and stop caricaturing their opponents
Let’s begin with a tweet from Christian apologist Andy Bannister: Andy’s a great guy and I very much enjoyed meeting him this past spring and doing several interviews/events with him (including our Islam discussion on Bold Cup of Coffee, my interview on Bold Cup with Andy on his book, his debate/dialogue on Islam that I […]
81. Robin Parry on the Biblical Cosmos
In 1993 I spent a summer teaching English in Japan. It was an unforgettable and somewhat unsettling litany of new discoveries: they drove on the wrong side of the road; they wore slippers indoors; and at night they slept on the floor on futons. For goodness sake, they even slurped their noodles at the table. […]
Logically incoherent and frankly silly
In response to my article “The Humanist Chaplain,” Adam Hazzard wrote the following comment: “If we live in a cosmos in which, as asserted in some varieties of Christian doctrine, an omnipotent creator sorts out surviving human soul-stuff and metes out punishment or reward according to whatever ontological or metaphysical beliefs the subject found most […]
You Don’t Own Yourself: Christianity Against Culture Part 1
Several weeks ago, blog commenter extraordinaire Luke Breuer posed the following question to me in a discussion thread: “What are some of the ways you think Christianity [strongly?] contrasts with contemporary culture?” It’s an interesting question, not least because I spend a lot of my time emphasizing the points of continuity between Christianity and contemporary […]
What chance has she?
Richard Dawkins begins his famous 1991 essay “Viruses of the Mind” with the following words: “A beautiful child close to me, six and the apple of her father’s eye, believes that Thomas the Tank Engine really exists. She believes in Father Christmas, and when she grows up her ambition is to be a tooth fairy. […]
The Myth of the Free Thought Parent
Some years ago while I was delivering a lecture on faith and reason at a secular university, I informed my audience that I had taught the Apostles’ Creed to my daughter, who was four or five at the time. I then noted that as a family we recited the creed every day during our family […]
Reductionism Propaganda? On the wily ways of the open-minded dogmatist
One of my readers, Mark, forwarded this short video “What is life? Is death real?” and asked for my comment. It’s well worth your time to invest the five minutes to watch it: This is a slickly produced video with a lot of good information. But it is not simply a neutral recounting of the […]
A Primer to my Reader’s Journey Through God or Godless
In retrospect, this primer should have come before I started my series on God or Godless. But better late than never, right? So why write the primer now? I realized I needed it after writing the third installment in the series which is based on the first chapter and was itself titled: “If there is […]
Is the problem of evil a matter of interpretation?
The significance (if any) of events is not always readily appreciable to the observer. Conversely, if it is appreciable, it is only because it is being interpreted. Indeed, the unsettling reality is that reasonable people can offer a reasonable interpretation of the same event which differs markedly from yours. Even as we recognize this fact we may also […]
Do you have enough faith to be a theist? Or an atheist?
Joe Six-Pack atheist is proud to say he doesn’t have enough faith to be a Christian. Norman Geisler and Frank Turek responded with a nice Judo technique in their book I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist. Alas, neither has it right. It isn’t about how much faith one has, but rather what kind […]
Why I don’t take young earth creationism seriously (even though I do take young earth creationists seriously)
A little while ago I posted a podcast with young earth creationist Terry Mortenson. Since then I have had a respectful exchange with Dr. Mortenson via email. At one point Dr. Mortenson asked me whether I have read any recent young earth creationist literature. I thought it might be worthwhile to post my response here: […]
