William Alston's Perceiving God argues that some mystical experiences should be regarded as perceptions of God analogous to the perception of physical objects in sense experience. I conclude that there are several reasons for doubting that mystical experience generally—or Christian mystical experience specifically--can be a form of perception, even given Alston's epistemic commitments.

(1999) In submitting this, my last installment, I wanted to make sure that I thanked Dr. Drange adequately for a very stimulating debate. Throughout he has conducted himself both as a scholar and gentleman, and this, despite the fact that both callings are currently against federal law. Before writing this section, I sat down and […]

(1999) In my opening statement I presented two arguments for the nonexistence of the Christian God. They were the Argument from Nonbelief (ANB) and the Argument from Confusion (AC). Pastor Wilson attacked them in his first rebuttal, I defended them in my second, and then he raised some further criticisms in his third. I shall […]

The Anthropic Coincidences, Evil and the Disconfirmation of Theism (1995) by Quentin Smith“The anthropic principle or the associated anthropic coincidences have been used by philosophers such as John Leslie (1989), William Lane Craig (1988) and Richard Swinburne (1990) to support the thesis that God exists. In this paper I shall examine Swinburne’s argument from the […]

(1999) In my first rebuttal, I took Pastor Wilson’s argument to be what I called “the Argument from Rational Thought” (ART). However, in his reply, Wilson indicated that I had misinterpreted his opening statement and that he was not actually putting forward an argument for the existence of God. What a bummer! It had certainly […]

(1999) In his second rebuttal Dr. Drange devotes himself to defending his two initial arguments against the existence of God, these being the Argument from Non-Belief (ANB) and Argument from Confusion (AC). Consequently, this seems as good a place as any to return once again to these arguments. What the ANB amounts to is the […]

(1999) Pastor Wilson divided his first rebuttal into two parts, one in which he attacked my opening statement and another part in which he supplemented his own opening statement by dealing further with his Transcendental Argument for God (TAG). I shall here address only the first part. The second part will be taken up when […]

(1999) Dr. Drange commented that I had not provided “any clear statement of the argument.” By this I suppose he means that I did not number my premises and end with a “therefore.” Nevertheless, despite the obstacles I placed in his way, Dr. Drange did quite a good job placing my argument in a form […]

(1999) My task here is to critique Pastor Wilson’s opening statement and in particular his formulation of the Transcendental Argument for God (TAG). He has made that difficult by not providing any clear statement of the argument. Nowhere does he identify any premises. Nowhere does he conclude “Therefore, God exists” (or anything equivalent). The reader […]

(1999) Dr. Drange began his Argument from Confusion (AC) by noting that Christians differ among themselves. This is certainly true, and I am afraid I shall have to begin by providing him with yet another example of it. Fortunately for my case, this particular disagreement among Christians provides an answer to his Argument from Nonbelief […]

I am very grateful for this opportunity to debate the existence of the living God. Of course I am grateful to those who arranged all of this, and to Dr. Drange who has graciously agreed to debate with me. But fundamentally all thanks must always go to the God and Father of the Lord Jesus […]

My aim here is to show that there are two bits of good objective evidence that the God of Christianity does not exist. I call them the Argument from Nonbelief and the Argument from Confusion.[1] The Argument from Nonbelief (ANB)[2] Consider, first, these two definitions: The gospel message = the following two propositions: (a) There […]

The topic for this debate is, "The Arguments from Nonbelief and Confusion for the Nonexistence of God vs. The Transcendental Argument for God's Existence."

The theory of government presented in the Declaration of Independence represents a radical break with Judeo-Christian traditions that went back thousands of years. Government, it asserts, derives its powers not from the will of God but from the consent of the governed.

The Canon of the Bible (1999) Larry A. Taylor Criteria for Canonicity | Old Testament | OT Aprocrypha | Consistence for the NT | NT Canon | NT Apocrypha | Conclusion | Anachronisms in Daniel | Bibliography | Related Resources But in regard to the Canon itself, which they so superciliously intrude upon us, ancient […]

She spent her short life fending for her gender, and children and animals. She was a freethinker who championed the supremacy of reason over any tradition or dogma that was unjust.

Voltaire (1694-1778) was the most brilliant writer of all time. His influence in securing liberty for humanity is inestimable. He changed his world and ours. Many founding fathers spoke of his influence in securing separation of State from Church in America.

Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895) was a towering genius of the 19th Century. In 1859 Charles Darwin gave Huxley an advance copy of the Origin of the Species for critical comment. Huxley, upon completing the small book, declared: "How exceedingly stupid not to have thought of that."

Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1850-1902) was the most famoust freethinking woman of her day. She spent her life fighting for equal rights for all humanity.

Pope John Paul II has recently informed the world that Purgatory is still there and he's made arrangements with the powers that may be to let us out early when we die.

Percy Bysshe Shelley was a sad genius who tried to live a happy life. He mastered Latin and Greek, pondered the great philosophers, and, suddenly he was reborn--he became an amalgam of Lucretius, Pliny, Hume, Locke, d'Holbach, Bacon, Voltaire, Spinoza, Franklin, Paine, and a host of other giants whose thoughts were melded into his flashing mind.

Henry Louis Mencken (1880-1956) was a compound of brilliance, wit, grit, gumption, and humor who became one of the great writers and social critics of this fading century.

All that we know comes to us from our five senses. All that we know and all that we have found, from quarks to quasars, are part of the natural world. Freethinkers can only share their ignorance of the alleged supernatural for we have no knowledge of it.

James Madison (1751-1836), the Father of our Constitution and our fourth president went to Princeton at 18 with the idea of becoming an Anglican minister, and came back to Virginia a freethinker. At age 22, he wrote, "Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise, every expanded project." He then fought for religious liberty for all, believer and disbeliever, which was no easy task-then or now.

The history of the world is the battle between intelligence and superstition. Take a look at the Scopes "Monkey Trial."

Christian prelates say they can't understand why they lose so many of their own to Islam, and gain so few converts, from Islam,in return. Murphy asks, "Do you think they're thick, or are they having us on?"

Ethan Allen was a freethinker who thought Judeo-Christian-Islam-anity was a calamity. He is another of the founders the religious right doesn't speak about when they tell us of our "Christian nation."

Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) recognized no power greater than Nature, and spent his life investigating the nature of Nature. His truculent agnosticism is not generally known, but it resulted from his investigation into the alleged supernatural.