[ Author Index | Subject Index ]
The Modern Library contains material written during or after 1970, which tends to be more scholarly than Kiosk material.
Michael Martin Xtianity Absurd
Is Christianity Absurd? Michael Martin Introduction For the purpose of my argument I will understand Christianity to mean the religious view that is characterized by doctrines such as Salvation through Christ, Heaven, the Atonement, the ethical views of Jesus, and belief in God.[1] So understood is Christianity absurd? This question is seldom asked, let alone […]
Nontheism Atheism Cosmological
Atheistic Cosmological Argument [ Român / Romanian ] In recent years, Quentin Smith has tried to turn the tables on theists by arguing that Big Bang cosmology, if true, is evidence for atheism. This page highlights the relevant articles that are available online. Atheism, Theism, and Big Bang Cosmology (1991) by Quentin Smith Smith […]
Nontheism Atheism Logical
Logical Arguments Logical arguments for atheism attempt to show that the concept of God is self-contradictory or logically inconsistent with some known fact. In the jargon of the philosophy of religion, the former type of logical arguments are sometimes called incompatible-properties arguments. These arguments attempt to demonstrate a contradiction in the concept of God. If […]
Nontheism Secularhumanism
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 […]
Paul Draper Intro4
Introduction to Section Four: Faith and Uncertainty (2008) Paul Draper In the first three sections of this book, naturalists have debated theists about the evidence for and against naturalism and theism. Some philosophers (like me) think that the evidence, taken as a whole, is not conclusive—that while it may justify leaning in one direction, […]
Paul Obrien Gentle Atheism2
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 […]
Peter Kirby Tomb Fictional
Fictional Characteristics in Mark With the previous section, this section aims to provide a likely explanation for how the empty tomb story came to be without a historical basis. This section does more to discredit the story because indications in Mark will be used to suggest the fictional, legendary, or redactional character of the first […]
Quentin Smith Cause
Can Everything Come to Be Without a Cause? (1994) Quentin Smith Western Michigan University The following article was originally published in DIALOGUE: CANADIAN PHILOSOPHICAL REVIEW in 1994 (Volume 33, pp. 313-323). It is rare to find an argument for the principle that it is impossible for the universe to come to be without a […]
Radio 2001
§ Our Philosophy: Infidel Interview with Richard Carrier The Secular Web is the definitive resource for online atheists, humanists, agnostics and freethinkers. We’ve grown tremendously over the last five years as more and more people have come to see that metaphysical naturalism is a worldview that makes sense. In this interview, Editor-in-chief Richard Carrier describes […]
Richard Carrier Addendad
Bad Science, Worse Philosophy: the Quackery and Logic-Chopping of David Foster’s The Philosophical Scientists (2000) Addendum D: Precedents Richard Carrier Since I wrote this, I discovered that a real expert, Bernd-Olaf Küppers, had already done something similar to what I do in the rest of this chapter. His work is rigorous enough to […]
Richard Carrier Carrier Oconnell Carrier1
Carrier’s Opening Statement (2008) Two Bodies: One in the Sky, One in the Grave 1. Basic Argument When the Apostle Paul was asked “How are the dead raised? With what sort of body do they come?” he answered “that which you sow is not the body that will come to be” but “God […]
Richard Carrier Carrier Wanchick Carrier4
Carrier’s Closing Statement (2006) Wanchick Failed to Make His Case Naturalism Is True The best methods known for ascertaining the facts have only discovered results corresponding to naturalism. Wanchick hasn’t shown otherwise. The results of inferior methods cannot supercede the results of superior methods, because, by definition, the probability of an inferior result being […]
Richard Carrier Foster2
Bad Science, Worse Philosophy: the Quackery and Logic-Chopping of David Foster’s The Philosophical Scientists (2000) 2. Some of Foster’s Strange Notions Richard Carrier I will begin with examples of the more trivial of Foster’s strangeness, simply to prepare you for the worst. To begin with, Foster makes several amateurish philosophical errors that betray […]
Richard Carrier Improbable
Was Christianity Too Improbable to be False? (2006) Richard Carrier Not the Impossible Faith: Why Christianity Didn’t Need a Miracle to Succeed Now available as a book, fully updated and reorganized. This is the definitive edition of “Was Christianity Too Improbable to Be False?” Even better than online, improved and revised throughout. Available at […]
Richard Carrier Improbable Radical
Was Christianity Too Improbable to be False? (2006) [See Introduction] Richard Carrier 16. Were Christian Teachings Too Radical for Anyone to Buy? Holding then throws in a hodgepodge of miscellaneous difficulties we might categorize under the general argument that “Christian teachings were too radical to be popular.” That may be true—after all, Christianity […]
Richard Carrier Indef I
Review of In Defense of Miracles (1999, 2005) Richard Carrier The material previously contained at this location has been moved into the combined Summary.
Richard Carrier Ntcanon
The Formation of the New Testament Canon (2000) Richard Carrier Contrary to common belief, there was never a one-time, truly universal decision as to which books should be included in the Bible. It took over a century of the proliferation of numerous writings before anyone even bothered to start picking and choosing, and then […]
Richard Carrier Resurrection 2d
This file has been relocated: it is now Section IV of Probability of Survival vs. Miracle: Assessing the Odds.
Richard Carrier Resurrection 3h
This file has been relocated: it is now Section VIII of General Case for Spiritual Resurrection: Evidence Against Resurrection of the Flesh.
Richard Carrier Scilit
Test Your Scientific Literacy! (2001) Richard Carrier Do you think you know what science is? You may be surprised. Scientific literacy is hard to acquire and is not widespread. Science is, after all, a very complex and nuanced affair that can only be truly understood with wide experience and deep thought. It took the […]
Richard Packham Heart
The Man with No Heart: Miracles and Evidence Richard Packham The problem of evidence for miraculous occurrences has frequently been discussed in TSR. It sometimes takes the form of an exchange between Farrell Till and some inerrantist. Till: “Extraordinary events require extraordinary evidence.” Inerrantist: “Then miraculous events require miraculous evidence, and since you don’t […]
Why Come Out As An Atheist?
Prologue This essay originated as a post to the Ex-Tian mailing list, a mailing for ex-Christians. A common question among ex-Christians who become atheists is whether or not to “come out” as atheists, or to pretend to be a Christian when around friends and family. This essay is my answer to that question. Should ex-Christians […]
Robert Price Beyond Born Again Chap9
________________________________________ 109 Beyond Born Again Section III– Can Evangelical Theology be Born Again? Chapter 9: Theological Rhetoric In the last chapter we saw the ineffectiveness of the Evangelical attempt to disqualify Liberal theology as “unscriptural.” We noted that, contra J. I. Packer and company, it is not self-evident that the only way to take scripture […]
Robert Price Price Rankin Price1
Opening Statement Robert M. Price I remember a particular Superboy comic book in which the Boy of Steel somehow discovers that in the future, he is thought to be as mythical as Peter Pan and Santa Claus. Indignant at this turn of events, he flies at faster than light speed and enters the future […]
Science Creationism Dembski
William Dembski William Dembski, a mathematician and philosopher, is one of the leaders of intelligent design creationism. Chance, Necessity, and the War Against Science (2000) (Off Site) by Massimo Pigliucci A review of Dembski’s Design Inference by biologist Massimo Pigliucci. Response to Massimo Pigliucci’s Review of The Design Inference (1999) by Mark Vuletic Vuletic replies to […]
Testimonials
Testimonials From time to time, The Secular Web receives an interesting and well-written essay by a nontheist detailing how s/he became an atheist, agnostic, rationalist, and/or freethinker. These essays are often of interest to others who are challenging their own ideas, the dominant beliefs within their society, or who are simply curious to read the […]
The Fool Mere
The author has requested that he be referred to as “Gaunilo II.” We have therefore moved his files into a new directory. The address for his files is now: /library/modern/gaunilo2/late.html Please update your links. Thank you.
Theism Christianity Craig
William Lane Craig Articles The Anthropic Coincidences, Evil and the Disconfirmation of Theism (1992) by Quentin Smith The anthropic principle or the associated anthropic coincidences have been used by philosophers such as John Leslie (1989), William Lane Craig (1988) and Richard Swinburne (1990) to support the thesis that God exists. In this paper I shall examine […]
Theism Cosmological
Cosmological Arguments Incorporating Aristotle’s notion of a “prime mover” into Summa Theologica and elsewhere, Thomas Aquinas famously formulated his version of the cosmological or “first cause” argument. According to this argument, the things which we see around us now are the products of a series of previous causes. But that series cannot go back in […]
Theism Moral Links
Moral Argument and Divine Command Theory: Related Links The American Humanist Association (Off Site) A national organization founded in 1941 to promote humanism in the United States, the AHA represents both secular and religious naturalistic humanism and promotes, among other things, that the derivation of "the goals of life from human need and interest […]