On Universes and Firing Squads or “How I Learned To Stop Worrying About the Origin of the Cosmos” Michael J. Hurben   “Men think epilepsy divine, merely because they do not understand it. But if they called everything divine which they do not understand, why, there would be no end of divine things.” – Hippocrates […]

Review of “Beyond the Cosmos” (2nd Edition) by Hugh Ross (1999) Michael J. Hurben   Introduction Beyond the Cosmos is the most recent in a series of religious books by Hugh Ross (The Fingerprint of God, The Creator and the Cosmos) which attempt to demonstrate that science is not only compatible with Christianity, but that […]

Review of The Resurrection of Christ (2008) Matthew Green   Review: Gerd Lüdemann. 2004. The Resurrection of Christ: A Historical Inquiry. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books. 248 pp. I am always pleased to read of people who have left the Christian faith and why they have left it. Of particular fascination are scholars who once considered […]

The Revelation Game mathew [ Traducción al Español / Spanish translation ]   The Revelation Game is an interesting abstract analysis, though not quite a game theory version of Pascal’s Wager. The players are H, a human, and G, a superior being. Each player has two strategies. H can either believe or not believe in […]

The Argument Clinic mathew   A reception desk in a sort of office building. Receptionist: Yes, sir? Man: I’d like to have an argument please. Receptionist: Certainly, sir, have you been here before…? Man: No, this is my first time. Receptionist: I see. Do you want to have the full argument, or were you thinking […]

More Research concerning Atheist Morality mathew [ Traducción al Español / Spanish translation ]   This article appeared in the “Living” section of the September 11, 1993, edition of the “San Jose Mercury News.” It is a summary of a study which shows that religious belief and ethical behavior have little to no correlation. NOT […]

More on Huxley and the Definition of Agnosticism mathew [ Traducción al Español / Spanish translation ]   Huxley describes how he came to originate the term “agnostic” as follows: When I reached intellectual maturity, and began to ask myself whether I was an atheist, a theist, or a pantheist; a materialist or an idealist; […]

More on Hitler’s Religious Beliefs mathew [ Traducción al Español / Spanish translation ]   Adolf Hitler, in a speech delivered April 12, 1922, and published in his My New Order: My feeling as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in […]

More on Einstein and Quantum Mechanics mathew [ Traducción al Español / Spanish translation ]   There is nothing inherent in Quantum Theory which requires randomness. In the 1950s, Bohm developed a deterministic nonlocal theory which is consistent with all the predictions of quantum mechanics. Einstein sought a theory which was “locally causal” or “locally […]

More on Definitions of Atheism mathew   Oxford English Dictionary (OED), Second Edition Here is how the OED defines “atheism”: atheism Disbelief in, or denial of, the existence of a god. disbelieve 1. trans. Not to believe or credit; to refuse credence to: a. a statement or (alleged) fact: To reject the truth or reality […]

Definition of a ‘Cult’ mathew   What makes some religions “cults” and others “mainstream”? This is taken from Margot Adler’s book Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America, a guide to contemporary neopaganism. She quotes P.E.I. Bonewitz on what to look for and avoid in any organization that promises wisdom […]

Why alt.atheism Exists mathew   [Editors note: Usenet newsgroups were once very popular venues for discussion of topics of interest. In the intervening years since the writing of this article, however, they have become less and less popular, primarily because they tend to be overrun with spammers. In the meantime, discussion boards, such as the […]

Media & Reviews Movies Movies with an overtly atheist perspective are rare; it’s too easy for fundamentalists to picket cinemas and put economic pressure on movie companies. The Handmaid’s Tale Based on Margaret Atwood’s novel and set in the near future in the Republic of Gilead, an America where something has gone very, very wrong. […]

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אתאיזם: טיעונים נפוצים (1997) mathew המאמר המקורי כאן   מבוא המסמך הזהמכילתגובות לטיעונים שעלו לעתים תכופות בקבוצות דיון המוקדשים לדיון באתאיזם.התשובותהמובאות כאן אינן מתיימרות להיות מקיפות או סופיות. מטרת המסמך אינו לסייםאתהדיון, אלא להרים את רמתו.   הערה לגירסה העברית חלקמהתשובותהעוסקות בטיעונים שנוגעים רק לנצרות ו\או בארצות-הברית לא תורגמו לעברית,מתוךמחשבה שנושאים אלה לא יענינו את […]

Rationally Speaking A monthly e-column by Massimo Pigliucci Department of Botany, University of Tennessee N. 2, September 2000 – "The Place of Science" This column can be posted for free on any appropriate web site.  If you are interested in receiving the html code, please send an Further reading: Unweaving the Rainbow by Richard Dawkins […]

Rationally Speaking A monthly e-column by Massimo Pigliucci Department of Botany, University of Tennessee N. 3, October 2000 – "Whence Natural Rights? – A Dialogue" This column can be posted for free on any appropriate web site.  If you are interested in receiving the html code, please send an Further reading: The Cambridge Companion to […]

Rationally Speaking A monthly e-column by Massimo Pigliucci Department of Botany, University of Tennessee N. 4, November 2000 – "Intelligent Design – the Classical Argument" This column can be posted for free on any appropriate web site.  If you are interested in receiving the html code, please send an email Further reading: Dialogues Concerning Natural […]

Rationally Speaking A monthly e-column by Massimo Pigliucci Department of Botany, University of Tennessee N. 1, August 2000 – “The Rationalistic Fallacy” This column can be posted for free on any appropriate web site.  If you are interested in receiving the html code, please send an email Further reading: Howthe Mind Works by Steven Pinker  […]

Rationally Speaking Massimo Pigliucci Whence Natural Rights? – A Dialogue (October 2000) (Off Site) Dr. Pigliucci examines the question of human rights through an interesting dialogue between two characters: Hypatia and Simplicia. The Place of Science (September 2000) Dr. Pigliucci examines anti-science sentiment and the false assumptions made with respect to the arrogance and force to […]

Columns for Massimo Pigliucci Rationally Speaking (Off Site) A monthly column of thoughts about skepticism, humanism, science, and pseudoscience.

Creation ex nihilo – without God (1997) (Updated 2011) Mark I. Vuletic   The first version of this article, which I wrote all the way back in 1997, merely compiled a list of quotes from physicists affirming that something can indeed come from nothing through entirely natural processes, and that the entire universe might be […]

Stace and the Question of Objectivity in Mysticism (1996) Mark I. Vuletic   [This paper was written for a seminar in mysticism taught by Neal Grossman at The University of Illinois at Chicago in Spring, 1996] In Chapter 3 of Mysticism and Philosophy, W.T. Stace considers the question of whether the mystical experience is objective […]

Internet Infidels receives quite a bit of mail, as is evident to anyone who peruses our feedback section. To reduce clutter in the feedback section, we are now instituting a series of conditions for the printing of mail. In order to have your letter printed by Internet Infidels, it must meet the following critieria: Your […]

Book Review: Dialogue on Good, Evil, and the Existence of God (2000) Mark I. Vuletic Book Review: John Perry. 1999. Dialogue on Good, Evil, and theExistence of God. Indianapolis: Hackett. ix+71 pp. In 1978, philosopher John Perry published a well-received little book in which three fictional friends engaged in a series of stimulating but easy-to-understand […]

Deontological Objections to Consequentialism (1994) Mark I. Vuletic   One can imagine a deontologist attacking a consequentialist with the following invective: It is you, not we, who are concerned with your own moral purity. Your position has the effect of absolving you of all personal responsibility for the things you do. There’s no element of […]