I am going to invite into our investigation a wise and gentle man named William James. Although he lived a century before us, through his works and the power of his ideas, he will join us to help bring this issue to fruition. James hit upon a new chord in the way people ought to […]

We must not ignore atheism at this time, especially at this time. It is easy to become overwhelmed by God and questions about his existence when you’re tackling this issue, because there’s so much more literature, history, and living human beings walking around on this Earth with God on their minds rather than Godlessness. Now […]

Considering these arguments, assessments, and refutations, do they really play a crucial role in the acceptance or rejection of the belief in God? I do not think they do. One of the things I hope you take away from these arguments is a feeling that somehow they are all missing the point. Doesn’t it seem […]

It seems only fair to flesh out a few of the more traditional arguments against the existence of God. Once again, I will not dwell very long on any one of them, and I will add my personal assessments to each of them in turn. Contrary to what some might think, I find disastrous flaws […]

Thomas Aquinas made this argument famous in the 13th century, though Aristotle had his own version of it centuries earlier. This argument appeals to such notions as cause and effect, and it addresses that which can be as confounding as a Zen koan. It seems certain that the world exists and we exist in the […]

The simple definition for a theist is someone who believes that God exists. Put the letter "a" before it to denote "not," and you get an atheist: someone who does not believe in the existence of God. If atheism were that simple, there might be a lot less confusion, but alas, that is far from […]

The concern I have about the preceding discussion is that it makes the nonrational aspects of our religious beliefs sound like these ideas that we just "shop" for or choose easily, as if beliefs automatically obeyed the will. But oftentimes it is not at all clear that we can just pick and choose certain beliefs; […]

The last main need for a world view, as I see it, is a conception of good and evil. Evil is an especially challenging concept, one that theists often use more than atheists. But perhaps it can be broken down into more commonly understood terms as wrongness, badness, negativity, or perhaps even as the more […]

I want to discuss some emotional issues that religious beliefs serve to address and accommodate. Although it seems obvious that a belief should be concerned with the truth, it is less obvious to some that a belief’s implications help determine its worth. It is even less obvious that a belief needs to conform to one’s […]

I want to discuss some emotional issues that religious beliefs serve to address and accommodate. Although it seems obvious that a belief should be concerned with the truth, it is less obvious to some that a belief’s implications help determine its worth. It is even less obvious that a belief needs to conform to one’s […]

An important distinction that must now be made is the difference between an agnostic and an atheist. The atheist asserts a belief that God does not exist, and the agnostic asserts that it is not known (perhaps not even knowable) whether God exists or not. A criticism I frequently hear against atheism comes from agnostics. […]

Now I will address a very sensitive point in this book, but one I feel very heartfelt about. I am going to make a bold, arguably arrogant assertion: Atheism better reflects the world we live in than theism. Now let me explain. Let me illustrate what I mean through the use of a potent example. […]

Now we should assess atheism pragmatically. Theism has proven to be a fairly good pragmatic theory, but maybe not quite as attractive as it would superficially seem. Still, it survives despite its harshest criticisms and remains resilient to this day. I want to briefly mention some views typically held about atheists and the atheistic lifestyle. […]

Introduction Living without a god isn’t easy. But living in general, with or without a god, is an undertaking that challenges and frustrates the best of us. As humans, we are special in that we lead our lives and treat our lives in a relatively cognizant, rational manner. We are naturally reflective creatures. We have […]

Gentle Godlessness A Compassionate Introduction to Atheism (1995) Paul O’Brien Introduction Part One: Atheism Part Two: The Cosmological Argument Part Three: Arguments for the nonexistence in God Part Four: Real Arguments Part Five: Atheism Reassessed Part Six: William James Part Seven: The Pragmatic Theist Reassessed Part Eight Part Nine: Pragmatic Atheism Part Ten: Atheism Part […]

A Tribute to Steve Allen By Dr. Paul Kurtz With the death of Steve Allen, American culture has lost a unique Leonardo, an exceptional man of thought and action – and the humanist and skeptical movements in particular have suffered the grievous loss of an heroic supporter. Steve Allen’s talents were many-dimensional. He has been […]

Addressing Those Colossal Misunderstandings: A Response to Doug Krueger (1999) Paul Copan Ravi Zacharias International Ministries   Having read Doug Krueger’s critique[1] of Ravi Zacharias’ book A Shattered Visage,[2] I was shocked at his vitriol and unwarranted sarcasm. However, I am grateful to the powers that be at the Secular Web/Internet Infidels website, who have […]

New Testament Contradictions (1995) Paul Carlson [Editor’s note: As with all lists of alleged biblical contradictions, there will be disagreement in at least some specific cases as to whether a given “contradiction” is a genuine contradiction. It is therefore up to the reader to decide for him/herself whether to accept that a listed “contradiction” is, […]

Magic and Witchcraft From Simbas to Ninjas: Congo’s Magic Warriors (2003) by Richard Petraitis Despite History’s long record of defeats for those who embrace magic as martial strategy, young African men still line up as recruits in answer to the witch doctor’s siren call for magic wars. Despite the promises of village witch doctors, the […]

  Faith Healing Archive of Medical Expert Gary Posner’s Essays on the Paranormal [ Index ] Can Science Prove that Prayer Works? by Hector Avalos (1997) (Off Site) Florida woman’s “miraculous” cure featured on “Unsolved Mysteries” by Gary P. Posner (Off site) God in the CCU? by Gary P. Posner If Looks Could Kill and Words Could […]

Apparitions and Hauntings Ghostly Photos by Joe Nickell (1996) (Off Site) Investigative Files: Miracle Photographs by Joe Nickell (1996) (Off Site) Investigative Files Paranormal Lincoln by Joe Nickell (1999) (Off Site) “Miracle Photo” at Medjugorje by Patrick Fitzgerald (updated 1998) (Off Site) Did God send a shaft of light through the heart of a Medjugorje […]

Magical Thinking & the Paranormal “Paranormal” is one of those adjectives that admits of many different definitions, as it entails somehow being “above” or “outside of” the norm when what constitutes “the norm” does not exactly admit of a clear definition. Despite this ambiguity, it is useful to think of paranormal phenomena as occurrences whose […]

Secular Humanism Humanist Manifesto I Humanist Manifesto II Humanist Manifesto 2000 Humanist Manifesto III Corliss Lamont Page (Off site) 10 Myths About Secular Humanism (1997) by Matt Cherry & Molleen Matsumura Includes responses to claims like, “The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that secular humanism is a religion” and “Secular humanism is the official religion of the public education […]

Pluralistic Naturalism There are two main kinds of naturalism: materialism and pluralistic naturalism. Materialism, or physicalism, is a “monistic” form of naturalism in that it maintains that only one basic kind of stuff exists–physical stuff. Pluralistic naturalism, by contrast, combines naturalism with ontological pluralism, the idea that there is more than just one basic kind […]

Materialism Materialism (or physicalism) can signify either a broad metaphysical view, or, more narrowly, a type of theory of mind. Metaphysical materialism is a specific kind of naturalism which contends that everything that exists is either physical or dependent upon the physical. Broadly understood, reductionist materialism maintains that everything is strictly physical; more narrowly, it […]

Naturalism As defined by philosopher Paul Draper, naturalism is “the hypothesis that the natural world is a closed system” in the sense that “nothing that is not a part of the natural world affects it.” More simply, it is the denial of the existence of supernatural causes. In rejecting the reality of supernatural events, forces, […]

Why Should Atheists Be Moral? Does the Christian Theism Advocated by J.P. Moreland Provide a Better Reason to be Moral than Secular Humanism? (1998) by Richard C. Carrier Carrier refutes Moreland’s claim that theism offers more and better reasons to live a moral life than atheism or secular humanism. Doing the Right Thing (1998) (Off Site) […]

Transcendental Argument for the Nonexistence of God The atheism section of the Modern Library is maintained by Jeffery Jay Lowder <Jeff Lowder>. Butler’s Defense of TAG and Critique of TANG (1996) by Michael Martin Michael Butler in a recent paper published on the Internet has attempted to defend The Transcendental Argument for the Existence of […]

Book Reviews Lively Answers to Theists: Review of Robin Le Poidevin’s Arguing for Atheism (1998) by Keith Parsons The Many Forms of Atheism (Off Site) by Massimo Pigliucci Review of Antony Flew’s God, Freedom, and Immortality (1985) by Michael Martin Review of George H. Smith’s Atheism: The Case Against God (1982) Michael Martin Review of Gordon Stein’s […]

The Biological Role of Pain and Pleasure The argument from the biological role of pain and pleasure is an evidential argument from evil that focuses on a specific type of “natural evil”: the biological role of pain and pleasure. Inspired by Hume and formulated by philosopher of religion Paul Draper, the argument uses Bayesian confirmation […]