Modern Library

  A2. Water and Vapor and Noah’s Flood Attempting to supply the water for Noah’s flood is a much greater problem than one might realize. True, one can simply say that God did it and leave it at that. However, that argument will support the cosmological views of any and every religion, and they all […]

Dr. Hovind (G1): The assumption that the geologic column is a base from which to calibrate the C-14 dates is not wise. G1. With a halflife of only 5730 years, carbon-14 dating has nothing to do with dating the geological ages! Whether by sloppiness or gross ignorance, Dr. Hovind is confusing the carbon-14 "clock" with […]

Young-earth "proof" #13: If we divide the amount of various minerals in the ocean by their influx rate we get only a few thousand years of accumulation. Therefore, the earth is young. 13. In the case of aluminum we "get" only 100 years! In the case of sodium we "get" 260 million years. Where Dr. […]

Young-earth "proof" #8: At the rate many star clusters are expanding, they could not have been traveling for more than a few thousand years. Without more detail, I can only guess as to the nature of Dr. Hovind’s argument! As it is worded above, it remains something of a mystery. I believe that some creationists […]

Meet the Debators The topic for this debate is: Is There a Secular Case Against Abortion? Arguing For A Secular Case Against Abortion is Jennifer Roth Jennifer Roth works as a system administrator for the Academic Outreach divisions of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She sits on the board of directors of the Seamless […]

On The Issue of Euthanasia: The debate over euthanasia or assisted suicide has been raging within the media. Public awareness and opinion on the variety of issues involved has reached unprecedented levels. Also called "mercy killing", euthanasia evokes a great deal of emotional reaction and moral indecision, often at the expense of a rational investigation […]

On The Subject of Pornography: Pornography, once considered a taboo subject, is now readily available for all to enjoy or rail against. Porn includes a variety of forms from mild to obscene to extreme and it is available in diverse media. Pornography has been blamed for a decrease in the morality of society, for the […]

Eight minutes. A lot of ground to cover in eight minutes. Let’s return just a minute to the question of whether one belief excludes another. My point was that if you have certain theistic belief, a well-fleshed out, alright, a detailed theistic belief, what you are saying is everyone who believes in something different than […]

CHAPTER 11 Distinctions Between Literary and Religious Humanism In retrospect, I think it was inevitable that some persons would be overlooked who should have been asked to sign the manifesto and others asked whose positions were not fully known. We were, after all, working under pressure, with no budget, and with very little clerical help. […]

Preface About the Author Edwin Henry Wilson was born on August 23, 1898, in Woodhaven, New York. He was raised in Concord, Massachusetts, where he attended the First Parish Church, a Unitarian fellowship. Wilson’s father had no use for the church; it was his mother who introduced him to Unitarianism, albeit of the conservative variety. […]

For the purposes of contrast and comparison, I’ll frame my response to Till over against the evidence I presented for the resurrection. First, I argued that the basic evidence for the New Testament is found in the fact that the New Testament documents are reliable, having more evidence for them than for any other book […]

Questioner #1: My first question is to Mr. Horner. Mr. Till says that Christianity is so much like a lot of other, I’ll call them pagan religions, that were developing around the same time. My question to you is, why would you think that if this is so, why did Christianity flourish so much and […]

Review of Jenny Teichman Social Ethics: A Student’s Guide (1997) Finngeir Hiorth   Teichman, Jenny: Social Ethics, A Student’s Guide, Blackwell Publishers, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford 0X4 1JF, UK, and 238 Main Street, Cambridge, Mass. 02142, USA, paperback, 193 pp., glossary, bibliography, index.   In the preface of this book Jenny Teichman, a philosopher and […]

Humanism, Reason, and the Arts (1992) Frederick Edwords [This is the text of a talk presented to various audiences in the 1990s. Its author was at the time executive director of the American Humanist Association.] We are the music-makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams, Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams; […]

Old Testament Life and Literature (1968) Gerald A. Larue Chapter 19 – From Manasseh to the Deuteronomic Reform Read II Kings 21-35; II Chron. 33-36 WHEN Hezekiah died (687), his son Manasseh, still a young boy, was enthroned.1 The folly of adhering to a policy of antagonism toward Assyria was apparent, and Manasseh pledged loyalty […]

Old Testament Life and Literature (1968) Gerald A. Larue   Chapter 4 -Other Methods of Approach OTHER patterns of approach to biblical literature have been developed and most of these supplement the historical-literary method. Each new methodology causes the scholar to reconsider familiar material in the light of new evidence or from a different angle […]

Josh McDowell’s Charade (1982) Gordon Stein, Ph.D. [NOTE: The following article is copyright by Gordon Stein and is reproduced with his permission.] Josh McDowell is one of the most popular writers that fundamentalist Christianity has. He is also one of the least trustworthy. Almost nothing he says in his books (e.g., Evidence That Demands a […]

Pascal’s Wager Is A Possible Bet (But Not A Very Good One): Reply To Harmon Holcomb III (1996) Graham Oppy   In “To Bet The Impossible Bet”, Harmon Holcomb III argues: (i) that Pascal’s wager is structurally incoherent; (ii) that if it were not thus incoherent, then it would be successful; and (iii) that my […]

What Is Agnosticism? (1981) H. J. Blackham [This article was originally published in "Free Inquiry," Summer, 1981, pp. 31-33.] Winds of Doctrine As a definition of the limits of knowledge, "agnosticism" needs to be understood historically. Summarily and roughly, philosophy at the time of Plutarch (first century A.D.) offered six positions: on the one hand, […]

Seriat’in Çelismeli ve Tutarsiz Hükümleriyle Körletilen Zekalar: Din Adami’nin Olumsuz Rolü I) Seriat hükümlerindeki çeliskiler, ve tutarsizliklar konusunda din adami’nin olumsuz tutumu: II) Çeliskilerin nedenleri ve din adami’nin bu nedenlerden habersizligi: III) Din adami tartisma ve soru sorma yollarini kapali tutmakla çeliskili düsünme aliskanligini sürdürür. Seriat ortaminda ve din adami’nin elinde yetisen kisilerin ortak özelligi, […]

  Toplumsal Geriliklerimizin Sorumlulari: Din Adamlari DIPNOTLAR 1 Atatürk’le konusanlarin kullandiklari sözcük bu degil fakat çok daha agir bir sözcüktür. Bunun yerine yukardaki deyimi koyduk 2 Gerek bu alinti ve gerek biraz yukarda belirttigimiz hususlar için Atatürkün Ocak 16-17, 1923 tarihli konusmalarini içeren su yapita bakiniz: Gazi Mustafa Kemal-Atatürk’ün 1923 Eskisehir-Izmit Konusmalari, (Türk Tarih Kurumu […]

Library: Modern Documents: James Still: What Is a Gospel? What Is a Gospel? James Still Gospel is derived from the Greek word euaggelion and means “good news.” The genre of gospels include the four canonical books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as well as some extrabiblical gospels written in the second century. The good […]

Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations: Obeying a Rule On Only One Occasion in §199 James Still Wittgenstein argues that meaning and use should not be conflated; the whole use of the meaning of a word (the steps to be taken) cannot be understood in a flash nor can the use fit the meaning simultaneously in that flash […]

The Historicity of Jesus’ Resurrection The Debate between Christians and Skeptics Jeffery Jay Lowder (1995) Related documents: “Historical Evidence and the Empty Tomb Story: A Reply to William Lane Craig” (2001) Lowder provides a point-by-point rebuttal to Craig’s case for the empty tomb. Along the way, Lowder defends a naturalistic explanation of the empty tomb. […]

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“Secular” Does Not Mean “Atheistic” Jeffery Jay Lowder June 20, 2000   Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in a Texas case that public schools cannot allow student-led prayer before high school football games. Reaction to this ruling among believers has been mixed. While some believers (especially those who belong to minority faiths) welcomed […]

Man and Creation Review of Michael Bauman, editor, Man and Creation: Perspectives on Science and Theology, 1993, Hillsdale, Mich.: Hillsdale College Press, 306 pp., $9.95. (This was originally posted in four parts to the talk.origins newsgroup between January 2 and February 9, 1994.) Before Christmas I mentioned that I had recently obtained a copy of […]

Opening Statement John C. Rankin   Bob, thank you very much. It’s interesting, when I was a young boy, I remember listening to the radio and these debates over labor unions, and about the rank and file. And I would listen to this as an 8- or 9-year old. And I finally asked my father, […]

Revelation’s Place in the Christian Bible (2007) Keith Gilmour   “A repulsive film in which intellectuals have found acres of social and political meaning; the average judgement is likely to remain that it is pretentious and nasty rubbish for sick minds who do not mind jazzed-up images and incoherent sound.[1] This was Leslie Halliwell’s assessment […]

About the Debate RESOLVED: THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION IS SUPERIOR TO THE THEORY OF SPECIAL CREATION AS AN EXPLANATION FOR THE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE RELATED TO ORIGINS. A DEBATE HELD AT: AUBURN UNIVERSITY AUBURN, ALABAMA 10 MAY 1988 SPEAKING FOR THE AFFIRMATIVE: Kenneth S. Saladin, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Biology Georgia College Milledgeville, Georgia SPEAKING FOR […]