[ Author Index | Subject Index ]
The Modern Library contains material written during or after 1970, which tends to be more scholarly than Kiosk material.
Theism Wager
Pascal’s Wager In the seventeenth century the mathematician Blaise Pascal formulated his infamous pragmatic argument for belief in God in Pensées. The argument runs as follows: If you erroneously believe in God, you lose nothing (assuming that death is the absolute end), whereas if you correctly believe in God, you gain everything (eternal bliss). But […]
Thomas Sheehan Firstcoming Two
The First Coming: How the Kingdom of God Became Christianity (1986–electronic edition 2000) Thomas Sheehan II How Jesus Was Raised From the Dead Soon after Jesus died, something dramatic happened to his reputation: His followers came to believe that he had been raised from the dead and was alive with his heavenly Father. This enhancement […]
Tyler Wunder Davis 4
IV. Support for the Core Facts of Core Facts Before considering the inevitable confrontation between these two most persuasive cases, I will briefly describe some of the evidence marshalled by Habermas in support of the premises of his abridged apologetic. Identifying these supports is extremely important, for apart from sheer authority-approval and appeal to “shared […]
Alvin Plantinga Against Evil
Objections to Draper’s Argument from Evil (2007) Alvin Plantinga I. The Argument II. Challenges III. Is a Challenge a Problem? I. The Argument In his interesting and challenging paper, Paul Draper proposes to set out a “serious argument from evil against theism in which evolutionary theory plays a significant role.” He takes theism to […]
Were Humans Intelligently Designed?
Were Humans Intelligently Designed? Science Says No! by Bill Schultz Table of Contents Introduction Why You Can’t Exactly Copy Christy Brinkley Electronic Chips: Design vs. Evolution The Human Genome Is A Mess Correlating Evolutionary and Geological History My Conclusion: Science Denies “Intelligent” Design Further Reading Acknowledgements Footnotes Introduction As an officer of the Internet Infidels, […]
Brian Pietruszewski Gish
Some Questions for Duane Gish (1998) Brian Pietruszewski [Note: The following questions were written in preparation for a visit by Duane Gish to Rice University. They are meant to be confrontational and asked face-to-face with Gish.] 1. Why does your web page tout “research” that attempts to dispute potassium argon (K-Ar) dating at Mt. […]
Church State Flag
Flag Desecration Amendment Although the issue of flag desecration is normally thought of as a free speech topic, it is also a church-state separation topic. Proposals to outlaw desecration of the U.S. flag may reasonably be viewed as blasphemy laws. Is the American flag a secular symbol or a sacred icon? (1998) by Edward Tabash […]
Dave Matson Young Earth Additional Topics Problems
A5. A Couple of Ice Age Problems Dr. Hovind believes that there was only one ice age which began sometime after Noah’s flood ended, that being around 4300 years ago by his reckoning. Thus, the world moved from a warm, tropical climate to an ice age only a few thousand years ago. There are […]
Dave Matson Young Earth Geologic Column Out Of Place
Hovind (G4): Polystrata fossils, missing layers, layers out of order, misplaced fossils, and layers in reverse order all invalidate the geologic column. G4. None of these charges amount to a hill of discarded beans. We can’t examine every claim that has been made, but we can look at a few examples. a) Polystrata fossils. By […]
Dave Matson Young Earth Specific Arguments Moon Isotopes
Young-earth "proof" #6: The Moon contains considerable quantities of U-236 and Th-230, both of which are shortlived isotopes that would have expired long ago if the Moon were 4.5 billion years old. Thorium-230 is an intermediate decay product of uranium-238 which has a half-life of about 4.468 billion years (Strahler, 1987, p.131). Thus, it will […]
Dave Matson Young Earth Specific Arguments Topsoil
Young-earth "proof" #16: Topsoil takes only a few thousand years to form. The present thickness of topsoil indicates a young earth. 16. Those "scientific" creationists who trot this plum about must be delirious! Do they really believe that we should wind up with x miles of topsoil (or some such nonsense) after billions of years? […]
Debates Secularist Abortion
First Rebuttal Jennifer Roth In his opening statement, Mr. Carrier identified two sources of disagreement on moral issues: disputes over facts, and disputes over values. I agree with his assessment; however, some disputes do not lend themselves to easy categorization. Take, for example, the question of when a human individual comes into existence. The answer […]
Debates Secularist Euthanasia Debators
Meet the Debators The topic for this debate is: Is There a Rationalist Case Against Euthanasia? Arguing For A Rationalist Case Against Euthanasia is Joseph Eiche Brief Bio Coming! Arguing Against A Rationalist Case Against Euthanasia is Jim Bruce Brief Bio Coming! Go to the Debate Forum for lively discussion on the issue of Euthansia […]
Debates Secularist Proselytize
On Whether Atheists Should Proselytize: Many non-theists believe their worldview is a worthwhile one and they hope that others adopt their disbelief in God and religion. Should atheists actively seek to spread their message? Should they work to convince people of the validity of their position? Or, should they simply be content keeping their ideas […]
Edwin Wilson Manifesto Ch13
Chapter 13 Publication of "A Humanist Manifesto" In desperation to meet the deadline for The New Humanist in which "A Humanist Manifesto" would first appear publicly, I crossed the last "t" and dotted the final "i," making some purely minor typographical corrections, and sent it to the printer. I did this even though Bragg and […]
Emmett Fields Religion
The Higher Religions (1996) Emmett F. Fields I must take issue with Dr. Paul Kurtz and Free Inquiry magazine (Fall 1996) in concluding that Humanism is not a religion. If there were religious liberty in America the question of the religious status of Humanism, and the other Higher Religions, would be simply a matter […]
Farrell Till Geisler Till Information
1994 Used by Permission of Dr. Norman L. Geisler Southern Evangelical Seminary 5801 Pineville-Matthews Road Charlotte, NC 28226-3447 (704) 543-9475 and Farrell Till, Editor The Skeptical Review P.O. Box 717 Canton, IL 61520-0717 (309) 647-4764 Prepared by Apologetics Press (230 Landmark Drive, Montgomery, AL 36117) in cooperation with Farrell Till.
Farrell Till Horner Till Till1
Time is always an enemy of the debater, so I’m going to be just as brief as I can in the preliminaries so that I can say as much as I can possibly say in the twenty-five minutes that I have. I assume everybody understands that I’m happy to be here. I always consider it […]
Features 2000 Schultz1
Disclaimer: Bill Schultz is Secretary of The Internet Infidels and a long-time activist in the third party movement. Since 1982, he has been looking for a viable third party to emerge which is compatible with his views. This year, he is supporting Ralph Nader for President, but not necessarily the whole agenda of the Green […]
Frank Palmisano Faith Or Emotionalism
Justified Faith or Emotionalism: The Christian Prerogative on Authority, Conversion, and Spirituality (1998) Frank S. Palmisano III [Editor’s note: The author wants to make known that he no longer holds the views and opinions expressed herein in any meaningful, personal context. He feels “the need to distance himself from these views as such, and to […]
Fred Edwords Myth
Myth and Symbol in the Pattern of Truth (1994) Frederick Edwords The same myths, the same symbols, can have vastly different meanings at different times and places. Myths and symbols need not be viewed as unchanging. They might better be seen as vehicles for helping people understand and communicate new ideas. Now, when I use […]
Gerald Larue Otll Chap20
Old Testament Life and Literature (1968) Gerald A. Larue Chapter 20 – From the Fall of Nineveh to the Fall of Judah FOR three years Ashurbanipal’s successor held the Assyrian throne and at his death Sin-shar-ishkin became king. In the summer of 612, Nabopolassar, a Chaldean leader, aided by Medes and northern nomads, […]
Gerald Larue Otll Chap6
Old Testament Life and Literature (1968) Gerald A. Larue Chaper 6 -The People, from the Paleolithic to the Chalcolithic Periods OUR study will concentrate on the biblical period which embraces less than two millennia of human history, but long before the Hebrews entered the historical scene there were people living in the Fertile Crescent […]
Weak Agnosticism Defended
Weak Agnosticism Defended[1] Graham Oppy Agnosticism has had some bad press in recent years. Nonetheless, I hope to show that agnosticism can be so formulated that it is no less philosophically respectable than theism and atheism. This is not a mere philosophical exercise; for, as it happens, the formulated position is–I think–the one to which […]
Graham Oppy Reply
Reply To Professor Craig (1995) Graham Oppy [This article was originally published as “Reply To Professor Craig”, Sophia 34, 2, December 1995, pp.15-29] [1] I hold that the considerations adduced in kalam cosmological arguments do not embody reasons for reflective atheists and agnostics to embrace the conclusion of those arguments, viz. that the universe […]
Ilhan Arsel Din Adamlari Bolum09
Kadin’i “Aklen ve Dinen Dun” Nitelikte Göstermek ve Her Hususta Küçültmek Suretiyle Toplumsal Geriliklerimize Neden Olan Seriat Düzeni’nin Uygulayicisi Olarak Din Adami. I) Din adamlari seriat’in kadini “Aklen ve dinen dun” ve “iradece kit” yaratilmis ve bu nedenle “amme velayeti islerine getirilemez” seklinde gören hükümlerinin en kararli uygulayicsidirlar. II) Kadin sinifini küçültücü, özgürlükten yok edici […]
Who Was the Historical Jesus?
The Pre-Canonical Synoptic Transmission: Who Was the Historical Jesus? The biblical tradition places Jesus’ birth in Palestine at the town of Nazareth “in the days of Herod, king of Judea” (Lk. 1:5). We do know that Herod reigned from 40 BCE to his death in 4 BCE, so Jesus was born no later than 4 […]
Jeff Lowder Jesus Resurrection Chap1
Introduction I am an agnostic at a Christian university. Since enrolling at Seattle Pacific University, I have been challenged by several of my Christian friends to investigate the historical evidence for Christianity. In particular, they challenged me to investigate the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, as a historical event. Although I was […]
Jeff Lowder Jury Chap8
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Jim Meritt Bible Contradictions
Note: Jim Meritt’s “A List of Biblical Contradictions” is no longer available. It has been superseded by Donald Morgan’s “Bible Inconsistencies – Bible Contradictions.” You will be automatically redirected there in a few seconds–or click here to go there now.