Modern Library

Old Testament Life and Literature (1968) Gerald A. Larue   Chapter 3 – The Analysis of the Pentateuch PERHAPS the portion of the Bible which best demonstrates the results of the historical-literary approach is the Pentateuch.1 The five books were named by the Jews of Palestine according to the opening Hebrew words: I. Bereshith: "in […]

Ten Golden Words (1995) Gerd Lüdemann   [The following essay was originally published as the Epilogue to Gerd Lüdemann, Heretics: The Other Side of Early Christianity (trans. John Bowden, Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996), pp. 219-220.] 1. The view of the Bible as the Word of God or as Holy Scripture belongs to […]

Modal Theistic Arguments (1993) Graham Oppy   [This article was originally published as “Modal Theistic Arguments”, Sophia, 32, 2, July 1993, pp.17-24] A modal theistic argument is a proof of the existence of God which makes use of the premise that God is a being who exists in every possible world. Such arguments have been […]

Why I Am Not a Christian (2006) Graham Oppy [A somewhat different version of this paper is forthcoming in Theism and Naturalism: New Philosophical Perspectives, edited by Paul Pistone and Quentin Smith, Oxford University Press.] In 1927, Bertrand Russell gave a public lecture with the title “Why I Am Not a Christian.” I regularly use […]

Kisi’yi Akilciliktan ve Düsünme Gücünden Yoksun Kilici Seriat Düzeni’nin Sürdürücüsü Olarak Din Adami I) Düsünme gücü’nden yoksunlugun derecesi: II) Kisi’yi düsünme yeteneginden yoksun kilma san’ati: III) Din adami, kisi’nin tüm yasantilarini akil disi verilerle ayarlayan seriat düzeni’nin bekçisi’dir: A) Din adami insanlarimizin günlük yasantilarinin her yönünü, çöl Arap’inin zihniyetine ve ihtiyaçlarina yatkin buyruklarla düzenler: B) […]

Iktidar ve Varlik Bakimindan Güçlü Olan’in Destekçisi Ve Koruyucusu Olarak Din Adami I) Din adami, seriat dini’nin “hükümdarlar” sayesinde ayakta durabilecegine inanmis olarak “Zalim ve fasik olsalar da hükümdarlara itaat gerekir” formülüne bagli kalmis ve toplumu da bu duygularla yetistirmistir: II) Ve günümüzdeki durum! Geçmis dönemler boyunca din adami, toplumu ezen ve sömüren kim varsa […]

Library: Modern Documents: James Still: Descartes’ Meditations Ontological Argument Descartes’ Meditations Ontological Argument James Still Descartes’s fifth Meditation argument for God’s existence relies on an untenable notion that existence is a perfection and that it can be predicated of God. I shall first explain what Descartes’s argument for God’s existence is, and then present his […]

Lord, Liar or Lunatic? An Analysis of the Trilemma James Still Christian apologist C. S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity that Jesus was either Lord, a lunatic, or "the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse." Josh […]

Empty Defense of an Empty Tomb: A Reply to Anne A. Kim’s Misunderstandings (2012) Jeffery Jay Lowder 1. Kim’s Misunderstanding of My Thesis      1.1 The Application of Bayes’ Theorem to Empirical Hypotheses     1.2 The Relocation Hypothesis 2. Kim’s Defense of Craig’s Empty Tomb Evidence      2.1 The Burial Account             2.1.1 First Stage: Is the Burial Story Historically […]

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‘Evidence’ That Demands a Refund (2001) Jeffery Jay Lowder   The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict, by Josh McDowell, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1999, ISBN 0785242198), pp. xvi+760. According to the cover of New Evidence That Demands a Verdict, volumes I and II of Evidence That Demands a Verdict have been “fully updated in one […]

Jim Lippard The Significance of Messianic Prophecy Birth Prophecies Ministry Prophecies Betrayal Prophecies Crucifixion Prophecies Conclusions Notes Acknowledgements References Postscript “The Old Testament … contains several hundred references to the Messiah. All of these were fulfilled in Christ and they establish a solid confirmation of his credentials as the Messiah.”         — Josh McDowell (1972), p. […]

Opening Statement for the Affirmative (Saladin, 45 minutes) [Section and subsection titles are for clarification to the reader and to correspond to the outline of this transcript. They were not spoken in the debate itself.] I. INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS [SLIDE 1: Title slide, "Evolution vs. Creationism"] In 1982, Science magazine published an article by Ron Numbers […]

Life After Death Immortality  

Giving the Jehovah’s Witnesses a Broadside (1994) by Mark I. Vuletic   [Note: The following document was written in 1994, at which time its criticisms of Jehovah’s Witnesses doctrine was valid. However, the Jehovah’s Witnesses have since abandoned the end-times prophecy dealt with in this article. On the plus side, this means they have abandoned […]

Rationally Speaking A monthly e-column by Massimo Pigliucci Department of Botany, University of Tennessee N. 4, November 2000 – "Intelligent Design – the Classical Argument" This column can be posted for free on any appropriate web site.  If you are interested in receiving the html code, please send an email Further reading: Dialogues Concerning Natural […]

More Research concerning Atheist Morality mathew [ Traducción al Español / Spanish translation ]   This article appeared in the “Living” section of the September 11, 1993, edition of the “San Jose Mercury News.” It is a summary of a study which shows that religious belief and ethical behavior have little to no correlation. NOT […]

Butler’s Defense of TAG and Critique of TANG (1996) Michael Martin   Michael Butler in a recent paper published on the Internet has attempted to defend The Transcendental Argument for the Existence of God (TAG) and refute The Transcendental Argument for the NonExistence of God (TANG).[1] In this paper I evaluate his defense and refutation. […]

Atheism and Intraorganizational Free Speech (1996) Michael Martin   What position should atheists take on freedom of speech? In particular, what stand should atheistic organizations take in regard to the freedom of speech of its members? Should they censor members who do not adhere to particular doctrines which, even if they are not entailed by […]

A Response to John Frame’s Rebuttal of The Transcendental Argument for the Nonexistence of God (TANG) Michael Martin   My article, "The Transcendental Argument for the Nonexistence of God," was originally published in the New Zealand Rationalist and Humanist (Autumn 1996, p. 4). It recently appeared on the Internet and was replied to by John […]

[Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Teaching Philosophy 9:1 (October 1986): 90-91. The page numbers below show the position of the text within that pagination scheme.] ________________________________________ 90 An Anthology of Atheism and Rationalism, Gordon Stein, ed. Prometheus Books, 1980, 354 pages, $14.95 pbk. Michael Martin This book is a useful reminder that […]

Psychopathology in Religious Ideation: The Case of Death by Proxy (2013) Michael Moore Though there is no unequivocal evidence for a causal relationship between religiosity and psychopathology, a large body of data suggests a connection between these two phenomena. (For some of the controversial research findings, see my paper with Daniela Kramer titled “We are […]

On the Nature of Morality (1998) An Internet Reply to Eugene Khutoryansky’s “Objective Morality Based on Scientific and Rational Reasoning” Niclas Berggren   “There are no objective values.” – J. L. Mackie, Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1977, p. 15. I. There has long been a discussion in philosophy regarding the nature of […]

Reviews of Books about Arguments from Evil Book Review: Dialog on Good, Evil, and the Existence of God (2000) by Mark Ivan Vuletic In 1978, philosopher John Perry published a well-received little book in which three fictional friends engaged in a series of stimulating but easy-to-understand discussions about personal identity and immortality. Review of Andrea […]

The Biological Role of Pain and Pleasure The argument from the biological role of pain and pleasure is an evidential argument from evil that focuses on a specific type of “natural evil”: the biological role of pain and pleasure. Inspired by Hume and formulated by philosopher of religion Paul Draper, the argument uses Bayesian confirmation […]

Now we should assess atheism pragmatically. Theism has proven to be a fairly good pragmatic theory, but maybe not quite as attractive as it would superficially seem. Still, it survives despite its harshest criticisms and remains resilient to this day. I want to briefly mention some views typically held about atheists and the atheistic lifestyle. […]

Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution Michael J. Behe The Free Press, New York ISBN 0-684-82754-9 xii + 307 pp Reviewed by Peter Atkins, University of Oxford For those who have not already encountered this book or one of its numerous reviews, let me simply say that the author sets out to argue […]

Secular Ethics and Animal Rights (1995) Peter D. Wilson   Since the beginning of recorded history humans have searched for the knowledge that teaches us right from wrong. Most of the time, people have found this knowledge in religion. But for those of us who do not believe in gods, we are left to fend […]

Smith Closing Title TBA (2008) Quentin Smith     Continue the Debate Copyright ©2008 Quentin Smith. The electronic version is copyright ©2008 by Internet Infidels, Inc. with the written permission of Quentin Smith. All rights reserved.

The Rules We Followed (2008)   Welcome to On Paul’s Theory of Resurrection: The Carrier-O’Connell Debate. Here Richard and Jake explain the rules of debate they both agreed to follow.   (1) The parties to the debate composed a joint statement specifying the proposition to be defended and defining every term in that proposition to […]