A discussion of the position of atheism within today's society--including how it affects people's day-to-day relationships. Particularly recommended if you're an atheist or agnostic.

Carl Sagan's struggle against superstition.

Judaism and Jewish Apologetics (1997) Guido G.B. Deimel “Those who wish to seek out the causes of miracles, and to understand the things of nature as philosophers, and not stare at them in astonishment like fools, are soon considered heretical and impious and proclaimed as such by those whom the mob adore as the interpreters […]

The Uniqueness of the Bible (1997) What Does Uniqueness Prove? | Continuity | Circulation, Translation, and Survival | Teachings | Influence | Related Resources In ETDAV, McDowell begins his defense of the Bible with the claim that it is unique. He parades before us an array of “scholars” to testify to various features of the […]

That Colossal Wreck A Review of Zacharias’s A Shattered Visage: The Real Face of Atheism (1997) by Doug Krueger Related documents: “Addressing Those Colossal Misunderstandings: A Response to Doug Krueger” (1999) Paul Copan’s response to this essay. “Copin’ with Copan” (1999) Krueger’s reply to Copan’s response. “An Emotional Tirade Against Atheism” (1999) by Jeffery Jay […]

Several contemporary philosophers of religion have offered 'solutions' the problem of evil which insist that the world would actually be worse off than it currently is if there were no evil in it. Although John Hick's soul-making theodicy is the most prominent example of such a solution, Clement Dore has recently offered a theodicy that Weisberger dubs "the pollution solution." According to this response, evil is a necessary consequence of the 'polluting' natural machinery of the world. But as Weisberger points out, Dore fails to answer the critical question: Why couldn't God have created "nonpolluting" natural machinery? On the face of it, there is no reason to believe that such a world is logically impossible, and Dore offers no evidence to the contrary.

[This essay is from a lecture given to the Atheist Students Association at the University of Maryland, College Park, on November 14, 1996.] Materialism is the oldest philosophical tradition in Western civilization. Originated by a series of pre-Socratic Greek philosophers in the 6th and 5th centuries before the Christian era, it reached its full classical […]

Bigotry ruled the "moral" 1950s.

A backlash against fundamentalists in the GOP.

Religious atrocities in the daily news.

Almost all evangelical Christians believe that the writing of the Bible was divinely inspired and represents God's main revelation to humanity. They also believe that the Bible contains special features which constitute evidence of its divine inspiration. This would be a use of the Bible to prove God's existence within natural theology rather than within revealed theology, since the book's features are supposed to be evident even to (open-minded) skeptics. Furthermore, since a divinely inspired work must be true, those features are thereby also evidence of the Bible's truth, and thus can be used in support of Christianity as the one true religion. When expressed that way, the reasoning can be construed as an argument both for God's existence and for the truth of the gospel message from the alleged special features of the Bible. We may refer to it as 'the Argument from the Bible.

When God is conceived of as an all-powerful and all-loving deity, many arguments for his nonexistence can be raised. Two of the main ones are the Argument from Evil (hereafter abbreviated AE) and the Argument from Nonbelief (hereafter abbreviated ANB). In what follows, I shall provide precise formulations of those two arguments, make some comments about them, and then try to refute the main defenses (of God's existence) that might be put forward against ANB, which I consider the stronger of the two. I take ANB to be a sound argument establishing the proposition that God (conceived of in a certain way) does not exist.

Concerning Theodore Drange's Argument from Evil for the Nonexistence of God (2002) by Shandon Guthrie

"In the recent past, Professor Theodore Drange of West Virginia University has launched a twofold attack on traditional views of the existence of God. In a seminal article reproduced on the Secular Web's site entitled "Arguments from Evil and Nonbelief," Dr. Drange mounts a case against classic theism predicating its notion of an omnibenevolent God. His shorter articles have been subsequently maturated in his book, Nonbelief and Evil: Two Arguments for the Nonexistence of God. Although I find Drange's approach to be erudite, I believe that his argument is dubious. This article explores the Argument from Evil as presented by Dr. Drange and suggests that the conclusion that God does not exist is not warranted.

Reply to Guthrie (2003) by Theodore Drange

Theodore Drange responds to Guthrie's critique. Drange finds Guthrie's essay "unclear," and contends that Guthrie "erred in many ways," including "misstating my views in many ways (and continuing such misstatements even in his concluding paragraph), ... in trying to argue that God (were he to exist) is unable to reduce human suffering, and ... in his attempt to formulate a divine desire that conflicts with God's desire to reduce human suffering."

The Argument from Nonbelief : A Rejoinder (2003) by Paul Pardi

In Nonbelief and Evil, Theodore Drange presents what he calls the Argument from Nonbelief against the existence of God: the fact that not all people believe the gospel message before they die provides grounds for denying that the Christian God exists. Pardi contends, however, that there are good reasons to deny that this inference goes through; he argues that given the nature of free persons, it is not within the set of logically possible states of affairs that God is able to actualize. Further, Pardi contends that Drange has an inadequate understanding of religious belief that should be rejected and replaced with a more robust formulation.

A Rebuttal to Pardi's Criticism of ANB (2004) by Philip Kuchar

"I argue that Pardi's criticisms of Drange's version of the argument from nonbelief (ANB) do not refute ANB, although they may or may not require peripheral corrections or clarifications on Drange's part. I focus not so much on Drange's formulation, but on what I take to be the central intuitions of ANB and on the inadequacy of Pardi's objections. I assume some familiarity with Pardi's paper and with ANB, although I present what I consider to be ANB's central claims."

Is Atheism Logical? (1996) Mark I. Vuletic [This article originally appeared in The Free Mind: The Newsletter and Forum of the University of Minnesota Atheists and Humanists 2(7), May/June 1996.] In his brief article “Is Atheism Logical?”, Hank Hanegraaff [1] tries to show that atheism is not rationally justifiable. For the most part, Hanegraaff’s article […]

Another fanatic thinks God said "Thou shalt kill."

Forces of the universe don't include magical spirits.

Famous people who doubted religion.

Related Sites Americans United for Separation of Church and State (Off Site) Americans United is dedicated to maintaining separation of church and state. The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State (Off Site) Critique of David Barton’s “America’s Godly Heritage” (1996) by the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs (Off Site) David Barton, in his taped presentation […]

The Separation of Church and State Church, State, and Creationism [ Index ] Flag Desecration Amendment [ Index ] Government Endorsement of the Boy Scouts [ Index ] Is America a Christian Nation? [ Index ] Pledge of Allegiance [ Index ] Religious Discrimination and Government Promotion of Religion [ Index ] School Prayer [ Index ] Supreme Court Decisions [ Index ] Vouchers [ Index ] Related Sites [ Index ] Article Titles Church […]

Stephen Hawking and the Mind of God (1996) Antony Flew Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time [1] has been a record breaking best seller. A note in his later collection, Black Holes and Baby Universes [2] reveals that A Brief History remained on the bestseller list of The New York Times for fifty-three weeks, […]

Arguments to Design (1996) Antony Flew A fresh look at an old family of arguments It is high time and overtime to take a fresh, open-minded, sceptical look at arguments to design. It has to be to not from because such arguments–which have been and remain the most widely employed and effectively persuasive of all […]

(1995) Jim Perry Related documents: Was Jesus Mad, Bad, or God? … Or Merely Mistaken? (2004) by Daniel Howard-Snyder (Off Site) (PDF) A critique of the trilemma argument by a Christian philosopher. The Trilemma on Trial (Off Site) by James Patrick Holding Holding’s rebuttal to this essay. (Strangely, Holding does not provide a link to this […]

The Horner-Till Debate Did Jesus Rise Bodily From the Dead? (1995) Michael Horner and Farrell Till About This Transcript Synopsis of Horner’s Position (from the debate program) Synopsis of Till’s Position (from the debate program) Introductory Remarks (Jeff Lowder, Debate Organizer) Introductory Remarks (Lee Moriwaki, Debate Moderator) Mr. Horner’s Opening Arguments [25 min], Cross-Examination by […]

Here is the story of my intellectual development, and the consequences which followed. I apologize for the length, but I think all of the information is important to the story. I also apologize for the informal style, as much of the stuff here is very emotional to me and nobody besides myself proofread it before I submitted it.

Make life better, in spite of the craziness.

Crackpot militias: guns against "the Antichrist."

Planet positions don't dictate people's lives.

Index of pages in the Craig-Washington Debate: Does God Exist?

This is a transcript of a debate on the existence of God, between Dr. William Lane Craig and Dr. Corey Washington, which took place on 9 February 1995 at the University of Washington, before an audience well over 1500 people.

I want to say a couple things about atheism and about the kind of evidence that I think one has to give in support of that, or theism. Tonight I'm going to be defending atheism, the view that God doesn't exist. I'm going to try to give you good reasonable, rational arguments for atheism. At the same time, I'm going to give you what I take to be good, solid arguments against the thesis that God exists.