Other Theistic Arguments Various articles related to general and other arguments for the existence of God(s). In addition to the articles below, see also related Debates, Reviews, and Links. To purchase related reading, go to the Secular Web Book Store. Argument from Confusion [ Index ] An atheological (i.e., argument for the nonexistence of a God) from […]

Ontological Arguments Ontological arguments contend that we can know that God exists in the same way that we know that 2 + 2 = 4: through reason alone. In other words, they claim to show that God exists without ever consulting experience or observation. Anselm provided the first ontological argument for the existence of God […]

The Bible in the Book of Mormon (1999) by Curt van den Heuvel “The Book of Mormon was written by someone who either had a KJV Bible in front of him, or was intimately familiar with its contents. When we add to this phenomenon other Book of Mormon problems, such as the lack of any […]

Joseph Smith “Prophet Puzzle” Revisited by Dan Vogel (Off Site) Joseph Smith’s Civil War Prophecy (Off Site) Did Joseph Smith make an accurate prophecy or was his ‘prophecy’ just a product of his environment? Joseph Smith biography by C. Clark Julius (Off Site) Joseph Smith’s various First Vision accounts (Off Site) compiled by W. V. […]

Book of Mormon The Bible in the Book of Mormon (1999) by Curt van den Heuvel “The Book of Mormon was written by someone who either had a KJV Bible in front of him, or was intimately familiar with its contents. When we add to this phenomenon other Book of Mormon problems, such as the […]

Mormonism Book of Abraham Book of Mormon Joseph Smith Blacks Receive LDS Priesthood (1978) (Off Site) by Jerald and Sandra Tanner (Evangelical Christians) “Since we have probably printed more material critical of the Mormon antiblack doctrine than any other publisher, the new revelation comes as a great victory and a vindication of our work.” The […]

Moral Argument and Divine Command Theory: Reviews/Critiques "Why I Believe in Moral Absolutes" (1995) from Commentary on D. James Kennedy’s "Why I Believe" by Anachronist Anachronist critiques Chapter 7 of D. James Kennedy’s book, Why I Believe, which makes a "fairly good case, with only a few glaring weaknesses, for the moral system offered by […]

Moral Argument and Divine Command Theory: Related Links   The American Humanist Association (Off Site) A national organization founded in 1941 to promote humanism in the United States, the AHA represents both secular and religious naturalistic humanism and promotes, among other things, that the derivation of "the goals of life from human need and interest […]

Moral Arguments Moral arguments for theism include attempts to establish the existence of God from some (alleged) fact about morality. Many people hold that objective moral values are required to make sense of certain facets of human life, for instance, and that God is the only possible source of such values. The metaethical moral argument […]

Argument from Miracles The occurrence of miracles is frequently purported to be evidence of the supernatural, and therefore of the existence of a God.  In addition to the articles below, see also related Debates, Reviews, and Links. To purchase related reading, go to the Secular Web Book Store.   Resurrection [ Index ] Selected articles on the […]

Theistic Arguments: Links to Other Resources Formal debates between theists and nontheists on topics relating to the theistic arguments: Cosmological Design Miracles Moral Ontological Scripture Transcendental Wager Other To purchase related reading, go to the Secular Web Book Store. Argument from Holy Scripture: Biblical Criticism [ Index ] Selected articles on modern Biblical criticism and scholarship. Biblical […]

Judaism and Jewish Apologetics 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 of […]

Judaism Elucidation of Genesis 1 (Off Site) by Shlomi Tal This article is a secular-minded elucidation of the first chapter of the book of Genesis based on the original Hebrew text, with translation and commentary. Genealogical Saga of Judaism (2001) by Shlomi Tal According to Orthodox Judaism, nothing has value unless it is for the sake […]

Related Sites The Holy Koran (Off Site) A searchable English translation of the Koran provided by the University of Virginia. Apostates of Islam (Off Site) “We are ex-Muslims. We committed the ultimate sin of thinking and questioned the belief that was imposed on us and we came to realize that far from being a religion of truth, […]

Islam General Islam A Declaration of Women’s Rights in Islamic Societies (1997) (Off Site) Ibn Warraq on the World Trade Center Atrocity (2001) (Off Site) by Ibn Warraq The Terrors of Islam (1994) (Off Site) by Antony Flew Jihad and Civilization – Part 1 (The Battle of Badr) (1999) (Off Site) by Anwar Shaikh Negationism and the Muslim Conquests […]

Hinduism Induced Religious Conversions: An Affront To Hindus (2002) by Balgrim Ragoonanan Ragoonanan explores some typical misunderstandings of Hinduism, provides useful information for both Christians and Hindus on the nature of Hinduism, and explains why Christian proselytizing is an affront to Hindus. [Editor’s note: This article is presented as an article of interest regarding Hinduism. […]

Religious Experience Craig’s Holy Spirit Epistemology (1998) by Michael Martin “In Reasonable Faith, William Lane Craig makes a sharp distinction between knowing that God exists and being able to show this. He maintains that one knows that Christianity is true ‘by the self-authenticating witness of God’s Holy Spirit.’ … I will argue that Craig fails […]

Religious Experience According to the argument from religious experience (ARE), the “self-authenticating witness of God’s Holy Spirit” or other mystical experiences constitute direct evidence of communion with God or other supernatural beings. In “The Will to Believe” (1896) William James distinguishes between strong and weak versions of the argument. The strong version contends that religious […]

Divine Command Theory The divine command theory (DCT) of ethics holds that an act is either moral or immoral solely because God either commands us to do it or prohibits us from doing it, respectively. On DCT the only thing that makes an act morally wrong is that God prohibits doing it, and all that […]

Argument to Design: Reviews/Critiques Behe’s Empty Box [ Index ] (Off Site) An index of articles, both pro and con, on Michael Behe’s argument from irreducible complexity and his recent book, Darwin’s Black Box. Critiques of Michael Behe [ Index ] A collection of critical reviews of Behe’s Darwin’s Black Box. A Critique of Michael Denton’s Evolution: […]

Argument to Design: Related Links Atheistic Teleological Arguments [Index] From the II Modern Library. Boston Review: Articles on Evolution [Index] (Off Site) Critiques, responses to critiques, and responses to responses, from Dennett to Behe to Orr. Design in God’s Creation (Off Site) This online creationist resource from the U.K. features ?? items such as “Creation […]

Argument to Design According to the argument from design, or teleological argument, the design or order found in the universe provides evidence for the existence of an intelligent designer (or orderer) usually identified as God. A classic version of this argument appears in William Paley’s 1802 Natural Theology, where Paley compares the complexity of living […]

Theistic Arguments: Debates These are formal debates between theists and nontheists on topics relating to the theistic arguments: Scripture, Miracles, Design, Cosmological, Moral, Transcendental, and Other. To purchase related reading, go to the Secular Web Book Store. See also Atheism: Debates Argument from Holy Scripture: The Barker-Horner Debate: Did Jesus Really Rise From the Dead? […]

Cosmological Arguments Incorporating Aristotle’s notion of a “prime mover” into Summa Theologica and elsewhere, Thomas Aquinas famously formulated his version of the cosmological or “first cause” argument. According to this argument, the things which we see around us now are the products of a series of previous causes. But that series cannot go back in […]

Cosmological Arguments: Reviews/Critiques Bad Science, Worse Philosophy: The Quackery and Logic-Chopping of David Foster’s The Philosophical Scientists (Book Review) (2000) by Richard Carrier The errors in David Becks’ arguments for God in the book In Defense of Miracles are examined. The first of three arguments is the modern incarnation of the cosmological “first cause” argument, which […]

Cosmological Arguments: Related Links Atheistic Cosmological Argument [Index] From the II Modern Library. Craig, William Lane [ Index ] An index of articles confronting the arguments of the well-known Christian apologist. Evolution and Chance FAQ (Off Site) “Two matters that critics of evolutionary theory can be relied upon to misunderstand are the notions of chance […]

Ex-Christians Testimonials Why I Am Not a Christian Why I Am Not a Christian (2006) by Richard Carrier In this explanation of why he is not a Christian, Richard Carrier outlines the top four reasons why he rejects Christianity: God’s silence, God’s inactivity, lack of evidence, and the overt conflict between discovered reality and Christian […]

Richard Swinburne An Analysis of Richard Swinburne’s The Existence of God (2010) by Gabe Czobel On first appearance, Richard Swinburne’s The Existence of God offers a highly structured, coherent, and rigorous argument for God’s existence grounded in Bayes’ theorem, inductive reasoning, confirmation theory, the intrinsic probability of simple hypotheses, substance dualism, and moral realism. But […]

Shroud of Turin Special thanks to Steven Schafersman, author of the Skeptical Shroud of Turin Website for inspiring this page. New “Shroud” Claims Challenged as Spurious (Off Site) (1996) (CSICOP) Replies of skeptical scientists and investigators to “The Authentication of the Turin Shroud” (Off Site) Shroud of Turin Exhibition Renews False Claims of Authenticity (Off […]

Jesus Seminar Jesus Seminar Forum (Off Site) [ Index ] The Westar Institute (Off Site) (Off Site) by Robert J. Miller Robert J. Miller assesses this 1995 criticism of the Jesus Seminar & the author’s claims that Jesus was an apocalyptic preacher & embodiment of divine wisdom [Journal of Higher Criticism 4.1 (Spring 97) 120-137]. […]