Are All Christians Dumb?

A few weeks ago, I ran the following poll on Twitter:

What is the most persuasive argument against Christianity?  Those participated could choose from the following:

1. Divine Hiddenness

2. The Problem of Evil

3. Christian Behavior

4. Other (Please share!)

I was very happy with the participation (1,119 votes)!  And much of the feedback was helpful.  For example, one reader pointed out that the problem of Divine Hiddenness often falls under the umbrella of the Problem of Evil (POE).  And while I totally agree, they are often addressed separately in the literature.

However, I found some of the feedback to be most disappointing.  While I freely confess that the numerous comments demonstrated a noted amount of ignorance on both sides of the aisle, it was most troubling to see those who simply said that the best argument against Christianity is "common sense," "a functioning brain stem" or "someone with an IQ above 50."  From these comments, one can safely infer that these skeptics are claiming that those who believe Christianity are dumb.  They lack, "common sense," "a functioning brain stem" and "an IQ above 50."  Is that really a rational claim?  Are skeptics such as these really willing to say that the following individuals are dumb?

Richard Swinburne
Alvin Plantinga
Francis Collins
J.P. Moreland
William Lane Craig
Ed Feser
John Lennox
Peter van Inwagen

And I could name many more!  Skeptics typically pride themselves on arriving at conclusions and beliefs based upon rationality.  However, from my perspective, it seems that the only way to conclude that these men (and others like them) are dumb, one must deny the very rationality they claim to champion.  

For more on this topic, see here.

Courage and Godspeed,
Chad

Comments

Kate M. said…
Good post. It's true, before I was a Christ follower I was an atheist and I thought this exact thing.