[ Author Index | Subject Index ]
The Modern Library contains material written during or after 1970, which tends to be more scholarly than Kiosk material.
Richard Carrier Finetuning
Response to James Hannam’s ‘In Defense of the Fine Tuning Design Argument’ (2001) Richard Carrier In his essay “In Defense of the Fine Tuning Design Argument” (2001) published here on the Secular Web, I do not believe Hannam has addressed the full range of issues and problems with the Fine Tuning Argument as discussed […]
Richard Carrier Heaven
The End of Pascal’s Wager: Only Nontheists Go to Heaven (2002) Richard Carrier The End of Pascal’s Wager: Only Nontheists Go to Heaven The following argument could be taken as tongue-in-cheek, if it didn’t seem so evidently true. At any rate, to escape the logic of it requires theists to commit to abandoning several […]
Richard Carrier Improbable Incarnate
Was Christianity Too Improbable to be False? (2006) [See Introduction] Richard Carrier 9. Was the Idea of an Incarnate God Really Repugnant? James Holding cites Earl Doherty for the argument that Jews would never believe “that a human man was the Son of God,” much less deserved “all the titles of divinity and […]
Richard Carrier Indef 3d
Beck’s Argument for God (1999, 2005) Richard Carrier [Part 3D of a larger Review of In Defense of Miracles.] Here I will point out the errors in Becks’ argument for God. Because they are typical of those used by Christians everywhere, sophisticated or not, I think this survey will be of use on […]
Richard Carrier Mission
Defining Our Mission Richard C. Carrier From our inception in 1995 the mission of the Internet Infidels has always been to defend and promote Metaphysical Naturalism, a term coined by philosophers for any worldview that holds that nature is all there is. Philosophers call this a “closed” system because nothing more is needed to explain […]
Richard Carrier Resurrection 1b
This file has been relocated: it is now Section II of General Case for Insufficiency .
Richard Carrier Resurrection 3b
This file has been relocated: it is now Section II of General Case for Spiritual Resurrection: Evidence Against Resurrection of the Flesh.
Richard Carrier Resurrection I
This file has been relocated: it is now the first half of the new Introduction.
Richard Carrier Whynotchristian
Why I Am Not a Christian (2006) Richard Carrier Introduction The Top Four Reasons I Am Not a Christian Are… 1. God is Silent 2. God is Inert 3. The Evidence is Inadequate A Digression on Method Hero Savior of Vietnam 4. Christianity Predicts a Different Universe Origin and Evolution of Life The Human […]
Robert Price Beyond Born Again Chap3
________________________________________ 48 Beyond Born Again Section I– The Born Again Experience: A Brave New World? Chapter 3: Devil’s Advocates In Chapter 1, I had occasion to mention the common Evangelical belief in the reality of Satan and his demons. I showed how this belief fit into the set of “combat” coping mechanisms that are part […]
Robert Price Preposterous
The Great Preposterous (1997) Robert M. Price Ant-Man | Prophetic Ventriloquism | Immaculate Misconception | Pregnant Silence | Strike the Harp and Join the Chorus | Christianity Bastardized | Was Jesus sinless? | Paranormal Phenomena | Uniqueness of Jesus’ Teachings | Conclusion | Notes | Related Resources If oxen and horses or lions had […]
Sally Morem Clergy
Clergy in the Classroom: The Religion of Secular Humanism By David A. Noebel, J.F. Baldwin, and Kevin Bywater Manitou Springs, Colorado: Summit Press, 1995 135 pages, (no price listed on the book) Reviewed by Sally Morem Clergy in the Classroom is the latest attempt by Christian fundamentalists to claim victim status under the Establishment Clause […]
Testimonials Nahigian
How I Walked Away Kenneth Nahigian I confess it now, my sin, my crime, the cancer on my soul. I am a backslider. If you didn’t wince, you aren’t in the club. A backslider is an ex-Christian, one who accepted his savior and then fell from grace. One who stood on the threshold of his […]
Theism Christian Science
Christian Science A Skeptic Looks at Christian Science (1999) (Off Site) by Jeffrey Shallit An old joke has it that Christian Science is like grape nuts–it is neither “Christian” nor “science.” The author critically analyzes Christian Science health claims from a scientific and philosophical frame of reference, offering along the way some fascinating information on […]
Theism Christianity Seminar
Jesus Seminar Jesus Seminar Forum (Off Site) [ Index ] The Westar Institute (Off Site) (Off Site) by Robert J. Miller Robert J. Miller assesses this 1995 criticism of the Jesus Seminar & the author’s claims that Jesus was an apocalyptic preacher & embodiment of divine wisdom [Journal of Higher Criticism 4.1 (Spring 97) 120-137]. […]
Theism Islam Related
Related Sites The Holy Koran (Off Site) A searchable English translation of the Koran provided by the University of Virginia. Apostates of Islam (Off Site) “We are ex-Muslims. We committed the ultimate sin of thinking and questioned the belief that was imposed on us and we came to realize that far from being a religion of truth, […]
Theism Reason
Argument from Reason The Argument from Cognitive Biases (2018) by Aron Lucas A family of theistic arguments contends that the human ability to reason is to be expected under theism, but is surprising under metaphysical naturalism, and thus provides evidence favoring theism over naturalism. One common line of argument is that unguided evolution favors traits […]
Tyler Wunder Davis 1
Introduction: Disagreement and the Resurrection of Jesus In his 1984 article “Is it Possible to Know that Jesus Rose From the Dead?” Professor Stephen T. Davis referred to a paradox facing any philosopher writing about the possibility of knowing the resurrection occurred: On the one hand, some believers in the resurrection hold that […]
Adolf Grunbaum Poverty
The Poverty of Theistic Morality Adolf Grünbaum University of Pittsburgh [This essay was originally published in Science, Mind and Art: Essays on Science and the Humanistic Understanding in Art, Epistemology, Religion and Ethics, in Honor of Robert S. Cohen. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol. 165. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, […]
Anachronist Why I Believe 8 Apndx
Last Appendix A Parable M. M. Mangasarian, 1909 Bank of Wisdom, Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201 Public Domain – copies may be given away, but not sold By education most have been misled, So they believe because they were so bred; The priest continues what the nurse began, And thus the child imposes on the […]
Bill Schultz Criminal God A
Is God A Criminal? – Appendix A: Bible Citations by Bill Schultz Appendix A: Bible Citations I am indebted to Donald Morgan for his essay, Bible Atrocities, which summarizes many of the most egregious of the so-called Acts of God from the Holy Bible. I will select a few of those atrocities as the basis […]
Brian Holtz Impossible Faith
The Not-So-Impossible Faith (2002) Brian Holtz In “The Impossible Faith: Or How Not to Start an Ancient Religion“, Robert Turkel (aka James Patrick Holding) attempts to “explain why Christianity succeeded where it should have clearly failed or died out.” He attempts to identify a series of disadvantages that Christianity overcame and claims that it could […]
Church State Creationism
Church, State, and Creationism ACLU Position Statement on “Creation-science” (Off Site) The Wedge at Work: How Intelligent Design Creationism Is Wedging Its Way into the Cultural and Academic Mainstream (2001) by Barbara Forrest This essay by Barbara Forrest, of Southeastern Louisiana University, analyzes the political and religious currents within the Intelligent Design movement.
Dave Matson Young Earth Additional Topics Coal And Oil
A3. Coal and Oil The amount of coal and oil existing today greatly exceeds what could have been produced by decaying plants and animals in a few thousand years. It is naive to think that today’s coal and oil came from the buried remains of Noah’s antediluvian world. Most creationists simply have no idea how […]
Dave Matson Young Earth Geologic Column Assumes Evolution
Dr. Hovind (G2): The entire geologic column is based on the assumption that evolution is true. G2. If Dr. Hovind would take the trouble to do a little reading from something other than creationist publications he would not make such an outrageous statement. I believe he has confused the use of index fossils with evolution. […]
Dave Matson Young Earth Specific Arguments Meteor
Young-earth "proof" #4: There are no fossil meteorites in the geologic record. If the latter were laid down over billions of years we would expect to find at least a few fossil meteorites in the geologic strata. Therefore, the geologic record was deposited rapidly. Meteorites are hard enough to find on the surface of the […]
Dave Matson Young Earth Specific Arguments Stalactites
Young-earth "proof" #22: The largest stalactites and flowstones could have formed in about 4400 years. 22. Since when is the age of the earth related to the age of a stalactite? If, in fact, a fat stalactite can form in 4400 years, so what? However, it does seems a bit suspicious that the minimum age […]
Debates Secularist Abortion Carrier5
Abortion is not Immoral and Should not be Illegal Closing Statement by Richard C. Carrier Conclusions on the Main Issues The present debate is about two things: what the facts are and what the universally shared values are that relate to those facts. After all that has been said in this debate, there does not […]
Debates Secularist Cryonics
On The Subject of Cryonics: The technology of cryonics seeks to cheat death by freezing people in the hope that future medical technology will revive them. Since its beginning in the 1960s, cryonics has not garnered much support from the general public or medical community. Even secular non-religious people, which should be more inclined to […]
Debates Secularist Population
On The Subject of Overpopulation: Whether or not our global community is overpopulated is a subject of great controversy. Many supporters of continued growth in the human population refer to the Bible’s teachings and God’s Master Plan. Among secularists, however, there are some who believe that our world is underpopulated or simply not overpopulated. What […]