Methodological Naturalism and the Supernatural (1997) with post-conference notes (updated 4-7-1997) Mark I. Vuletic   [The following paper was presented on Saturday, February 22, 1997, 9:15 a.m., at Naturalism, Theism, and the Scientific Enterprise – an interdisciplinary conference at the University of Texas, Austin.] Supernatural forces, if they exist, cannot be observed, measured, or recorded […]

Methodological Naturalism and the Supernatural (1997) with post-conference notes (updated 4-7-1997) Mark I. Vuletic   [The following paper was presented on Saturday, February 22, 1997, 9:15 a.m., at Naturalism, Theism, and the Scientific Enterprise – an interdisciplinary conference at the University of Texas, Austin. Please consider this paper a work-in-progress. Although its reception at the […]

Book Review: Michael J. Denton. 1998. Nature’s Destiny: How the Laws of Biology Reveal Purpose in the Universe. New York: The Free Press. xix+454 pages. Mark I. Vuletic 1. Introduction. Michael J. Denton argues for many things in his most recent book, but the thesis which occupies center stage is the thesis that the cosmos […]

The Yoga-Sutras of Patanjali and The Cloud of Unknowing: A Preliminary Step in Assessing the Ontological Accuracy of the Mystical Experience (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] Proponents of mysticism sometimes offer the […]

Notes on Christianity and the Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics (1998) Mark I. Vuletic   Philip Dorrell (1995) makes a number of claims about Christianity and “Many Worlds Interpretation” (MWI) of quantum mechanics. I find some of those claims objectionable, and some of them worth adding to. Rejection of MWI as Christian Doctrine? Dorrell […]

Is Atheism Consistent With Morality? (2001) Mark I. Vuletic This paper replaces “Against the Moral Argument” (1997). As should be clear to those familiar with the earlier paper, my approach to theistic moral arguments has changed considerably over the past five years. Is atheism consistent with morality? Many religious believers tend to think it is […]

  The Moral Foundations of Atheism and Christianity (1996) Mark I. Vuletic   The following article originally appeared (without the postscript) in The Free Mind: The Newsletter and Forum of the University of Minnesota Atheists and Humanists 2(5), January 1996.] Related: The Indispensability of Theological Meta-ethical Foundations for Morality: An abortive attempt by philosopher William […]

Giving the Jehovah’s Witnesses a Broadside (1994) by Mark I. Vuletic   [Note: The following document was written in 1994, at which time its criticisms of Jehovah’s Witnesses doctrine was valid. However, the Jehovah’s Witnesses have since abandoned the end-times prophecy dealt with in this article. On the plus side, this means they have abandoned […]

A Representative Example of Intellectual Dishonesty in the pathlights.com Creation-Evolution Encyclopedia (1997) Mark I. Vuletic   The pathlights.com Creation-Evolution Encyclopedia may very well have the dubious honor of being the worst piece of creationist literature ever written. In this paper, I will examine a passage representative of the lack of integrity and low intellectual caliber […]

The Tale of the Twelve Officers (2002) Mark I. Vuletic   Previously “The Five Officers” (2000), and then changed to “The Nine Officers” (2001), Vuletic has now made the final update to this essay to include a total of twelve points of view. It was, of course, sad to hear that Ms. K had been […]

A Critique of Michael Denton’s Evolution: A Theory in Crisis (1995) Mark I. Vuletic   Note: This document is undergoing modification. Also, the author intends to eventually produce a revised and expanded version of this review. [A previous version of this document has been published in Apologia: The Journal of the Wellington Christian Apologetics Society, […]

REVIEW OF “EVOLUTION: A THEORY IN CRISIS” BY MICHAEL DENTON Keith B. Miller Department of Geology Kansas State University Manhattan, KS 66506-3201 There is much confusion in the popularized literature about the evidence for macroevolutionary change in the fossil record. Unfortunately, the discussion of evolution within certain parts of the Christian community has been greatly […]

Response to Massimo Pigliucci’s Review of The Design Inference Mark I. Vuletic   Massimo Pigliucci’s review of William Dembski’s The DesignInference puzzles me. What puzzles me most is lack of substantive comment about the book itself–Pigliucci’s "review" reads for the most part like an extended diatribe against the intelligent design (i.e. creationist) movement. Do not […]

In Defense of Evolution (2003, updated 2006) Mark I. Vuletic   Introduction[1] The world presents to us vast evidence confirming the evolutionary history of life, and nothing even remotely resembling a disproof of it. This is an inexplicable mystery if, as creationists insist, God created the variety of life through a means other than evolution. […]

Lori’s Coffee Tip(s) of the Month by Lori Watson June, 1997 Store your coffee beans in an airtight opaque container at room temperature. It is a common miconception that one ought to store them in the freezer. However, this potentially exposes the beans to light, and moisture, which causes spoilage. There are two kinds of […]

Cataract (2009) Mark Vuletic “I firmly declare,” averred the pious Dr. M, “that the existence of horrendous suffering does not count in the slightest against the existence of an all-powerful, all-knowing, and infinitely benevolent God.” “How do you figure?” replied the skeptical Dr. X. “Think of all of the horrible things in the world we […]

Does Big Bang Cosmology Prove the Universe Had a Beginning? (2000) Mark I. Vuletic There are a number of arguments for the existence of God which depend, at least in part, upon the notion that the universe had a beginning. Sometimes apologists appeal to Big Bang cosmology to support that notion. For instance, according to […]

Faith and History A Critique of John Warwick Montgomery’s Apologetics Mark Hutchins Introduction This paper will offer a critical view of John Warwick Montgomery’s approach to Christian apologetics, specifically his attempt to show skeptics that history provides a credible basis for belief in the New Testament Jesus. While Montgomery has not been the only Christian […]

Best-Selling Errancy An Essay on Inconsistencies in the Bible Mark D. Ball, Ph.D. Introduction The Goodness of God The Requirements for Salvation Vowing The Relationship Among Fear, Love, and Punishment Endnotes Bibliography Introduction “The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason,” says Thomas Paine in the preface to his treatise on religion, […]

Immortality The question of survival of bodily death concerns whether some aspect of an individual (usually one’s personality or consciousness) continues to exist after the death of one’s normal physical body. Immortality concerns whether that surviving aspect continues to exist forever. While evidence for survival is not necessarily evidence for immortality, evidence against survival is […]

Life After Death Immortality  

Solution to the Jehu Problem (2006) Leonard Jayawardena The Problem It is alleged that that there is a contradiction between 2 Kings 10:30 and Hosea 1:4 because the former commends Jehu for massacring the house of Ahab, whereas the latter pronounces judgment upon the house of Jehu for the “blood of Jezreel.” Taking the latter […]

MessiahGate A Tale of Murder and Deception by Larry A. Taylor Originally printed in HUMSIG newsletter, Number 7, August 1987; Larry A. Taylor, ed. Lecture delivered at Humanist Society of Friends (Los Angeles), August 27, 1987. Larry A. Taylor 5671 S. Newlin Ave. Whittier, CA 90601 Copyright HUMSIG, 1987. Jerusalem; it’s a tough town, but […]

Is the Weak Anthropic Principle Compatible With Divine Design? A Response to Craig (1997) Kyle Kelly   The teleological argument, or argument from design, is considered by many to be one of the strongest arguments for the existence of god(s). Many proponents of this argument point to the improbability of a universe existing with properties […]