Originally Posted by kerry

I have a fair number of evangelical and conservative Christian friends, especially on Facebook. I've noticed that a fair number of the apologists resort to insult as a tactic quite frequently. I don't think this is just bad manners or an accident. There have been intellectual developments within Evangelicalism which has produced this tendency. At one time, evangelicals were 'evidentialist', that is people who attempted to provide convincing reasons for their beliefs. But, as a result of the influence of an Evangelical philosopher named Alvin Plantinga, their intellectual tactics changed. He argues that instead of proving the truth of religious beliefs, one only needs to prove that they are 'properly basic'. A properly basic belief is a legitimate belief which cannot be proven, such as the existence of other minds. According to him, people are entitled to hold 'properly basic' beliefs without evidence. This amounts to a 'weak' defense of religious beliefs. They're not 'true' but 'unprovable yet ok to be believed'.
In these circumstances, there is little the apologist can do except see if he or she (not likely to be a 'she' though) can do except try to find claims in the opponents views that are not true and then hope for the best. So if you can't establish positive reasons for religious beliefs, it's easy to resort to hurling insults at the enemy.