[ Author Index | Subject Index ]
The Modern Library contains material written during or after 1970, which tends to be more scholarly than Kiosk material.
Theism Christianity Whynot
Ex-Christians Testimonials Why I Am Not a Christian Why I Am Not a Christian (2006) by Richard Carrier In this explanation of why he is not a Christian, Richard Carrier outlines the top four reasons why he rejects Christianity: God’s silence, God’s inactivity, lack of evidence, and the overt conflict between discovered reality and Christian […]
Theism Links
Theistic Arguments: Links to Other Resources Formal debates between theists and nontheists on topics relating to the theistic arguments: Cosmological Design Miracles Moral Ontological Scripture Transcendental Wager Other To purchase related reading, go to the Secular Web Book Store. Argument from Holy Scripture: Biblical Criticism [ Index ] Selected articles on modern Biblical criticism and scholarship. Biblical […]
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 […]
Adolf Grunbaum Theological
THEOLOGICAL MISINTERPRETATIONS OF CURRENT PHYSICAL COSMOLOGY* Adolf Grünbaum University of Pittsburgh [This article was originally published in PHILO, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 15-34, Spring-Summer 1998.] Abstract: In earlier writings, I argued that neither of the two major physical cosmologies of the twentieth century support divine creation, so that atheism has nothing to […]
Anachronist Why I Believe 99 Concl
Conclusion I do not consider myself a Christian, or an atheist. If one were to pigeonhole my own personal philosophy with a label, it might be "weak atheist" or "strong agnostic," because any belief concerning God is completely nonexistent from my mind. However, I don’t reject all religion or spirituality out of hand. Religion and […]
Bernard Katz Critic
McDowell in the Critic’s Den (1982) Bernard Katz [NOTE: The following article appeared in the July/August 1982 issue of The American Rationalist.] Christian fundamentalist Josh McDowell has become quite rash in one of his latest books Prophecy: Fact or Fiction. For he is pinning his whole faith in Christianity on the "historical evidence for the […]
Bill Schultz Holy Trinity
Holy Trinity Church v. U. S. (1892) The following text is taken from the Supreme Court Reporter, Volume 12, pages 511 through 517, which reprints from the United States Reports, Volume 143, pages 457 through 472. As these are each over 100 years old, no copyright subsists in these materials for any reason, other than […]
Turkel and the Trilemma
Turkel and the Trilemma by Brian Holtz [Editor’s note: This essay summarizes a long debate between these two authors, which is available at “Turkel Rebutted on Trilemma.” Robert Turkel does not include this link in either of his essays where he quotes Holtz’s edited responses. This is Turkel’s modus operandi: he avoids linking to or […]
Church State Discrimination
Religious Discrimination & Government Promotion of Religion The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects the freedom of conscience of both believers and nonbelievers by mandating government neutrality between belief and nonbelief. The government may neither legally sponsor particular religious beliefs, nor favor religious belief over nonbelief. Under U.S. law, individuals are perfectly free to […]
Dave Matson Young Earth Additional Topics Mammoths
A4. Mammoths: Were They QuickFrozen? The claim that mammoths were quickfrozen goes back at least several decades as an old Reader’s Digest article will testify. It has no merit whatsoever. To begin with, mammoths were adapted for severely cold weather as their heavy fur, complete with a thick, insulating underwool, and a thick layer […]
Dave Matson Young Earth Geologic Column Fictitious
Dr. Hovind (G3): The fictitious geologic column (invented in the 1800’s to discredit the Bible) does not exist anywhere in the world except in textbooks. G3. Oh, sure, those early creationists invented the geologic column to discredit the Bible! That just makes loads of sense, doesn’t it? Is it possible that Dr. Hovind, who taught […]
Dave Matson Young Earth Specific Arguments Moon Dust
Young-earth "proof" #2: Given the rate at which cosmic dust accumulates, 4.5 billion years would have produced a layer on the moon much deeper than observed. By implication, the earth is also young. The most amazing thing about the cosmic dust argument is that it is still being used! It has coasted along on obsolete […]
Dave Matson Young Earth Specific Arguments Sun Shrinking
Youngearth "proof" #1: The sun is shrinking at 5 feet/hour which limits the earth-sun relationship to less than 5 million years. The shrinking-sun argument contains two errors. First, and by far the worst, is the assumption that if the sun is shrinking today, as might be detected over a period of years, then it has […]
A Secular Case Against Abortion
A Secular Case Against Abortion By Jennifer Roth Introduction First of all, I’d like to thank Richard Carrier for agreeing to this debate, and the Internet Infidels for sponsoring it. I hope to find that this format will allow us to go beyond the soundbites and emotionalism that characterize all too many discussions of abortion. […]
Debates Secularist Euthanasia About
About the Euthanasia Debate The topic for this debate is: Is There a Rationalist Case Against Euthanasia? The debaters have agreed to the following debate format: Opening statements, submitted independently of one another, 1 December 2000 First rebuttals, submitted independently of one another, due 1 January 2001 Second rebuttals, submitted independently of one another, due […]
Debates Secularist Pot
On The Marijuana Issue: Marijuana, and its derivatives, is used in varying degree and for numerous reasons by people throughout the world. Marijuana, however, is illegal in many parts of the world, including the US. The subject of whether or not it should be legalized, and/or decriminalized is raging in the US. Supporters for both […]
Doug Jesseph Jesseph Craig Jesseph4
Alright. Five minutes and counting. Let’s return to a couple of points that I consider to be quite interesting. First of all, Dr. Craig now seems to have retreated, at least slightly, from the claim that the universe requires…that anything that…that anything that begins to exist requires cause. Alright. The cosmological argument, as I understood […]
Edwin Wilson Manifesto Ch12
CHAPTER 12 Responses to the Final Draft Having taken into consideration both the criticisms and suggestions we received, the final draft was completed and sent to everyone who had agreed to sign, as well as to the principal advance critics. The responses to the draft were diverse. Some authorizations to sign came by wire in […]
Emmett Fields Affirmative Atheism
Atheism: An Affirmative View (1980) Emmett F. Fields What is Atheism that it survives? Every religion, from earliest times, has hated and condemned those who could not believe whatever it was that those old religions happened to believe. Throughout the ages there have been the ‘intellectual outlaws’ who have questioned the “unquestionable,” and doubted even […]
Farrell Till Geisler Till Geisler3
I have presented strong evidence and contemporary evidence that Jesus died and rose from the dead. No such evidence for the contrary view has been presented. This evidence is sufficient for anyone who wants to believe. But what about those who choose not to believe? They are, of course, free to do so. But they […]
Farrell Till Horner Till Till Synopsis
[Taken from the program handed out at the debate] I.) The claim of a literal resurrection from the dead is so extraordinary that it requires extraordinary proof. A.) The evidence offered as proof of the resurrection of Jesus is very ordinary. 1.) No apostles or disciples or non-disciples of Jesus ever claimed to have actually […]
Farrell Till Wilson Till
Wilson-Till Debate Presuppositional Apologetics [NOTE: The following article originally appeared in Credenda/Agenda, a Christian journal which emphasizes the presuppositional approach to apologetics. Reproduced with permission.] Disputatio Justifying Non-Christian Objections Douglas Wilson & Farrell Till Whenever we object to something, we always assume some standard or rule that the thing […]
Finngeir Hiorth Utilitarianism
Review of Geoffrey Scarre’s Utilitarianism (1997) Finngeir Hiorth Geoffrey Scarre: Utilitarianism Routledge, 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE and 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001, 1996, 225 pp., bibliography, index, paperb., ISBN 0-415-12197-3. This is an excellent introduction to and survey of utilitarianism, an important current in contemporary ethical theory. The […]
Fred Edwords Ingersol
Visit the Birthplace of Robert G. Ingersoll (1993) Frederick Edwords After years of planning and restoration, the Robert G. Ingersoll Birthplace Museum opened its doors to the public on June 2, 1993. It is now regularly open to receive visitors June through October. The hours of operation are Wednesday through Sunday, Noon to 5:00 PM. […]
Gerald Larue Otll Chap2
Old Testament Life and Literature (1968) Gerald A. Larue Chapter 2 – How Do We Read? THERE was a time when it was believed that the best way to read the Bible was to begin at Genesis and read straight through. Today we know that the Bible was not written in the sequence in […]
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 […]