Is the Atheist My Neighbor?: Rethinking Christian Attitudes toward Atheism

by Randal Rauser

Overview

Do atheists hate God? Many Christians seem to think so. For the last three centuries Christians have widely assumed that atheism is always a result of a rebellious, sinful rejection of God. According to this view, at some level atheists really do know there is a God, but they sinfully suppress this knowledge because they want to live independently of God. But what if that is not correct? What if some folks are atheists not because they're sinful and foolish but because they've thought hard, they've looked carefully, and they have simply not found God? What if the common Christian assumptions about atheism are little more than an indefensible prejudice? What if the atheist really is our neighbor?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781498217170
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	06/04/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	116
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Randal Rauser is Professor of Historical Theology at Taylor Seminary in Edmonton, Alberta. He is the author of many books, including The Swedish Atheist, the Scuba Diver, and Other Apologetic Rabbit Trails (2012) and You're Not as Crazy as I Think: Dialogue in a World of Loud Voices and Hardened Opinions (2011). Rauser blogs and podcasts as The Tentative Apologist at randalrauser.com.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction: The Parable of the Good Samaritan Atheist xi

1 The Pastor said, "Atheists are brain dead" 1

2 April 1st is Atheist Day: Christian attitudes toward atheists 10

3 Does the Bible say atheists are fools? 32

4 Do atheists have an axe to grind? 47

5 What about the atheists who say they don't want there to be a God? 65

6 The atheist as neighbor 85

Bibliography 99