Modern Library

Parsons argues that the question, 'Why be moral?,' is no more of a problem for the nontheist than for the theist.

A thorough and detailed critique of Lee Strobel's The Case For Faith: A Journalist Investigates the Toughest Objections to Christianity. This review actually ranges across almost all the issues between Christians and atheists, and Gerkin directs readers to all the relevant sections of the Secular Web, making this an excellent introduction to our website and arguments for unbelief.

Still Failing the Bar Exam (2002) by J. P. Holding (Off Site)

J. P. Holding responds to Gerkin's critique of Lee Strobel's The Case for Faith.

Holding Overruled (2002) by Kyle J. Gerkin

Gerkin responds to Holding's critique, "Still Failing the Bar Exam."

Objection Dismissed on Appeal (2006) by James Hannam

Though Kyle J. Gerkin's critique of Lee Strobel's The Case for Faith has a great deal to recommend it, and probably even represents the conventional wisdom in skeptical circles, his reply to objection #7 contains a number of factual errors. While earlier historians would have agreed with many of Gerkin's points, current research in the history of science and religion that has yet to percolate into the public consciousness casts doubt upon much of what he says. In this essay Hannam outlines Gerkin's various errors of fact, distinguishing his own views from the relatively uncontroversial conclusions of historians.

(2000) Richard Carrier Copyright 2000, all rights reserved. Introduction What follows is an ongoing project, of which only the first installment is now available, but more will be added as promised over the coming years. In the end, what you will find here is a complete summary of the rise and development of philosophy, and […]

(2000) Richard Carrier Copyright 2000 all rights reserved The earliest civilization that could be called “Greek” was the sophisticated bronze-age empire of Mycenae, an inheritor of the more near-eastern Minoan society that preceded it. The downfall of the Mycenaean culture in 1200 or 1100 B.C.E.–to war, famine, or disease, or some combination thereof–left an ensuing […]

Atheism in the Third Millennium by Kim Walker A second generation atheist, Kim Walker explores the distinguishing characteristics of two common perspectives within the atheist community: that resulting from being born and bred with religion and later suffering a crisis of faith and the perspective of those who are raised as freethinkers from the onset. […]

Media & Reviews Fiction Books The following are selected works of fiction which may be of interest. Many of the books are available from BarnesAndNoble.com. If you follow the links provided to buy books from Barnes And Noble, you’ll be helping to support Internet Infidels and The Secular Web. Atwood, Margaret The Handmaid’s Tale A […]

Bush Abandons the People By Richard Carrier Everyone knows the popular axiom that the most taboo topics of conversation are sex, religion, and politics.  This, of course, is because most people don’t think and make no effort to be informed.  Instead, all too often people wield blind, passionate opinions, and adamantly refuse to listen to […]

Tabash asks that nonbelievers overcome any shyness and reticence that they may have and boldly chime in with their own "me too-ism." If gays can lament loudly and nationwide about the outrageousness of the Boy Scouts exclusion of them, nonbelievers must identically learn how to publicly protest the discrimination of their lifestyle and worldview by the Boy Scouts of America.

In a powerful and informative essay, Tabash discusses the arguments being raised in the secular community for and against the election of Al Gore as President. He also comments on the growing support for Ralph Nader and how it may actually lead to increased support for George Bush. Throughout the article, Tabash paints a very frightening picture of the effects upon nontheists, and the state of affairs within the US at large, should the Republicans take the House.

"Theistic philosophers have perennially cited mystical experiences—experiences of God—as evidence for God’s existence and for other truths about God. In recent years, the attractiveness of this line of thought has been reflected in its use by a significant number of philosophers. But both philosophers and mystics agree that not all mystical experiences can be relied upon; many are the stuff of delusion. So they have somehow to be checked out, their bona-fides revealed."

Is such a slogan inclusive, pluralistic, non-elitist, and consistent with the American doctrine of separation of church and state? Are there citizens who have no god to trust, or citizens who have a god, but don't trust him? If so, then who is included in the pronoun 'We'?"

A review of Whatever Happened to the Soul? edited by Warren Brown, Nancey Murphy, and H. Newton Malony. The book attempts to reconcile Christian theology with the scientific evidence against the existence of a soul.

Jeffery Jay Lowder Updated: May 21, 2000 Related documents: “That Colossal Wreck” by Doug Kruege “Ravi Zacharias’s A Shattered Visage: The Real Face of Atheism is an unsuccessful attempt to refute or discredit atheism. He concentrates on some of the more prounounced problems with atheism, as he perceives them, and in the course of this […]

Josh McDowell’s “Evidence” for Jesus Is It Reliable? Jeffery Jay Lowder Last Updated: May 15, 2000 Overview: Christian Sources: New Testament | Church Fathers Non-Christian Sources: Josephus | The Talmud | Pliny the Younger | Tacitus | Suetonius | Thallus | Phlegon | Mara Bar-Serapion | Lucian | Hadrian Miscellaneous: Notes | Related Documents In the fifth chapter […]

3/16/00 – SILVERMAN SCHOLARSHIP ESTABLISHED College of Charleston Mathematics Professor Dr. Herb Silverman has contributed funds to establish an endowed student scholarship at the school. Dr. Silverman, who has taught at the College of Charleston since 1976, has created the Silverman Secular Humanist Scholarship to recognize and encourage students who are secular humanists. “Secular humanism […]

Thomas Paine is the Viet Nam vet of our Founding Fathers. While Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, et al, are memorialized on our coin and currency, in parks, schools, mountains, and rivers, Thomas Paine is largely ignored. He gave his all for our freedom, but abuse and scorn have been his reward. Even his American grave was desecrated and his body taken, allowing an English bishop to scornfully display his skull.

On February 22, the day of the Michigan state Republican primaries, Christian Coalition Founder Pat Robertson taped a telephone message for a “shadow” campaign in support of Presidential candidate George W. Bush. The message, which went out on phone banks to thousands of Christian Coalition supporters in Michigan, warned that Bush’s rival John McCain was […]

In a bit more than a fortnight Pope John Paul II will make a request for forgiveness for the conduct of his church over the centuries. The infirm pontiff has prepared a list of the murders, tortures and horrors the papacy has caused to humanity. It reportedly takes 50 pages to lay it all out--things like the papal pogroms against the Jews, the crusades against Islam, and the Inquisitions that went on for centuries. Will 50 pages be enough?

G. A. Wells Replies to Criticisms of his Books on Jesus My views on Christian Origins have met with a number of adverse criticisms on the Internet. I am not on-line and have not seen them all, but a sympathizer has kindly sent me printouts extracted from “The Errant Skeptics Research Institute” (errantskeptics.org). They comprise “Who is […]

How did Jesus of Nazareth live? How was he raised from the dead? How did he become God? These questions are raised and answered by Professor Thomas Sheehan of Stanford University in this original and provocative narrative of Jesus and first-century Christianity. Sheehan argues that Jesus thought of himself not as God or Christ but as God's eschatological prophet proclaiming God's kingdom, that the resurrection had nothing to do with Jesus coming back to life, and that the affirmation that Jesus was divine first arose among his followers long after his death. Employing the best of contemporary historical-critical scholarship, Sheehan paints a plausible picture of a very human Jesus who came to reform Judaism rather than to found Christianity, who met a tragic end at the hands of the Roman Empire, and who in a matter of decades was proclaimed by his followers to be Christ, Lord, and God. This is an electronic reproduction of the Random House book by the same name.

For the first two years of its existence, 1996 and 1997, Camp Quest , the only secular humanist summer camp in the United States, rented the camp facilities of the Bullittsburg Baptist Assembly in Boone County, Kentucky. Edwin and Helen Kagin, the founders and leaders of Camp Quest, also live in Boone County. From the […]

by mathew If you’ve ever engaged in debate with a creationist, you’ll know that they can be extremely slippery. One of their favorite tactics is to claim that evolution is “just a theory” because it cannot be scientifically demonstrated. (Of course, it’s not as if any of the stuff they believe can be scientifically demonstrated, […]

          Mention computer simulations, and most people will think of SimCity. The Maxis computer game (now sold by Electronic Arts) became an instant classic, and has inspired many imitators. But there’s a less well known Maxis game called SimEarth, which simulates the emergence and evolution of life on Earth. You are […]

        Imagine a grid of squares that stretch away in all directions. Imagine the grid is infinite–or at least, so large that you’ll never find the edge of it. Let’s pretend that each square can either contain life–be “alive”–or contain nothing and be “dead”. We’ll show the “dead” squares as empty white […]

        Early computers were so expensive that it was unthinkable that you would have an entire computer to yourself. Instead, many people would use a single “timesharing” computer system. Unfortunately, early primitive operating systems lacked technologies like memory protection. If a program accidentally malfunctioned, it would sometimes end up crashing other programs, […]

        After the unexpected success of Tierra, computer scientists began to explore whether similar techniques could be used to evolve real, useful code. Today, the state of the art is Genetic Programming or Evolutionary Programming, invented (and patented) in 1992 by John R. Koza of Stanford University. Like Tierra, the “DNA” of […]

World Of Dawkins: Information about the work of Richard Dawkins. Includes a list of available Biomorph software. Morph Lab: Explore Biomorphs right now, if you have a Java-capable web browser. King Of The Hill: A Core War web site. Core War Pages: Including the complete Core War resource list. The Tierra Home Page: Tom Ray’s […]

A critical notice of David Noebel's book, Understanding the Times. I assess in detail Noebel's objections to atheism and biological evolution. Along the way I discuss such diverse topics as the argument from reasonable nonbelief, cosmic vs. personal meaning, methodological naturalism, abiogenesis and the origin of life, whether natural selection is a tautology, beneficial mutations, the fossil record, and punctuated equilibrium.

Several patrons have made claims or asked questions regarding the use of "Polonium halos" in granites as evidence of instantaneous creation. In response, the Secular Web contacted geologist and petrologist Lorence Collins who had already tackled this complicated issue, and following is his reply for the benefit of our readers.

(1986-electronic edition 2000) Introduction: How Christianity Came Into Crisis Today at the dawn ofher third millennium, the Christian church is undergoing a theological crisis in what she thinks and believes about Jesus of Nazareth. The crisis grows out of a fact now freely admitted by both Protestant and Catholic theologians and exegetes: that as far […]