Anyone who has (or had) a loving father in their lives did not spend their time studying abstract, philosophical arguments for the existence of their father. In fact, the whole idea of “father-ist apologetics” as a thing seems weird as soon as you think about it.

Compare theistic apologetics. I suspect that many people — or at least many theists — don’t think there is anything odd about the idea of theistic apologetics. But I think the idea of theistic apologetics is odd for the same reason I think “father-ist apologetics” is odd.

For the theists who are reading this, I want to clarify my point. I am not saying that theistic apologetics is incompatible with God’s existence; on the contrary, I think theistic apologetics is logically consistent with God’s existence. Nor am I saying that, on theism, theistic apologetics is necessary for belief in God’s existence. On the contrary, I’m aware that many people believe that God exists wholly apart from or in the absence of exposure to apologetics. Rather, my point is this. If theism — especially Abrahamic theism — is true, then it is surprising that theistic apologetics exists for the same reason it would be odd if people were to engage in apologetics regarding the existence of their own (earthly) father.