[ Author Index | Subject Index ]
The Modern Library contains material written during or after 1970, which tends to be more scholarly than Kiosk material.
Quentin Smith Causation
[This article was originally published in Philosophical Topics, Volume 21, Number 1, Spring 1996, pp. 169-191.] CAUSATION AND THE LOGICAL IMPOSSIBILITY OF A DIVINE CAUSE* (1996) Quentin Smith Western Michigan University 1. Introduction Some interesting light is thrown on the nature of causation, the origin of the universe, and arguments for atheism if we […]
Radio 2000
Produced for the Secular Web by T.J. Walker at TJWalker.com. § Infidel Interview with James Still Who are the Internet Infidels? Interview with James Still as president of the Internet Infidels, covering who we are, what we’re trying to accomplish, and our philosophy. [Listen] [Download RealAudio Player] Jan 31: Infidel Interview with Ed Buckner Ed […]
Addendum C: The First Life
Bad Science, Worse Philosophy: the Quackery and Logic-Chopping of David Foster’s The Philosophical Scientists (2000) Richard Carrier The following material was updated in 2006, in light of the publication of Richard Carrier’s article, “The Argument from Biogenesis: Probabilities against a Natural Origin of Life,” Biology & Philosophy 19.5 (November, 2004), pp. 739-64. An important discussion […]
Richard Carrier Carrier Oconnell Bios
Who We Are (2008) Welcome to On Paul’s Theory of Resurrection: The Carrier-O’Connell Debate. Here Richard and Jake explain who they are. Richard Carrier: Richard Carrier has a Ph.D. in ancient history from Columbia University. He specializes in ancient science and religion, and has written on early Christianity both online and in print. He […]
Richard Carrier Carrier Wanchick Carrier3
Carrier’s Second Rebuttal (2006) Wanchick Gets It Wrong Basic Argument for Naturalism (BAN) Wanchick thinks I “beg the question” when claiming scientific methods are the most reliable ones known for resolving questions of fact. Evidence of the superiority of science in ascertaining the truth in every matter of fact is so vast and undeniable […]
Richard Carrier Foster11
Bad Science, Worse Philosophy: the Quackery and Logic-Chopping of David Foster’s The Philosophical Scientists (2000) 11. Conclusion Richard Carrier Religionists are faced with the daunting sophistication, accuracy, and success of science, which can predict and explain everything it can study in terms so mathematically precise that nowhere can be found those ambiguities which […]
Richard Carrier Howto
What Do We Do When Some Theist We Don’t Know Sends Us E-mail? (1997) Richard Carrier The Basic Guidelines 1) Always respond. 2) If the letter was abusive or childish, politely but curtly say so, and that you wish to have no further contact with such a rude and immoral person, or else you […]
Richard Carrier Improbable Persecuted
Was Christianity Too Improbable to be False? (2006) [See Introduction] Richard Carrier 8. Who Would Want to be Persecuted? 8.1 Social Foundations of Martyrdom 8.2 Paul and Tertullian 8.3 Where Holding Gets It Wrong 8.4 Where Holding Gets It Right 8.1. Social Foundations of Martyrdom James Holding rightly downplays the issue of martyrdom, since legend and […]
Richard Carrier Indef 4e
Craig’s Empty Tomb & Habermas on Visions (1999, 2005) Richard Carrier [Part 4E of a larger Review of In Defense of Miracles.] The Resurrection of Jesus Two chapters are devoted to the resurrection of Jesus. First, Craig argues that Jesus was miraculously resurrected and that we can know this from an analysis of […]
Richard Carrier Nazarethlaw
The Nazareth Inscription (2000) Richard Carrier Several authors have advanced a particular inscription as early evidence of the empty tomb story in the Gospels. I will not attempt to trace all uses of this argument (I have encountered several), but I will note the two most important examples: it was used most recently by […]
Richard Carrier Resurrection 2c
This file has been relocated: it is now Section III of Probability of Survival vs. Miracle: Assessing the Odds.
Richard Carrier Resurrection 3g
This file has been relocated: it is now Section VII of General Case for Spiritual Resurrection: Evidence Against Resurrection of the Flesh.
Richard Carrier Sci
Scientific Studies (Bibliography of Skepticism in the Ancient World) (1998) Richard Carrier (copyright 1999) Scientific Studies Biddle, Bruce Jesse, and Marlin, Marjorie M., “Causality, Confirmation, Credulity, and Structural Equation Modeling,” in Child Development, Vol. 58, Feb., 1987, pp. 4-17. Bower, Bruce, “True Believers: the Thinking Person May Favor Gullibility Over Skepticism,” in Science News, […]
Richard Gale Theodicy
R. M. Adams’s Theodicy of Grace (1998) Richard Gale The following article was originally published in Philo, 1 (1998) pp. 36-44. Robert M. Adams, in a brilliant, thought-provoking essay, “Must God Create the Best?”[1], puts forth a theodicy for God’s creating inferior people to those he could have created or, in general, a less […]
Robby Berry Skeprayr
A Response To “The Skeptic’s Prayer” Robby Berry “The Skeptic’s Prayer” is a tract taken from the Handbook Of Christian Apologetics, by Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli. I first learned of the tract when Jeff Lowder posted it to the Usenet newsgroup, alt.atheism. What follows is my response to the tract. Introduction The following prayer […]
Robert Price Beyond Born Again Chap8
________________________________________ 97 Beyond Born Again Section III– Can Evangelical Theology be Born Again? Chapter 8: Biblical Ventriloquism ________________________________________ 98 “Beloved, now we are the children of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be….” — I John 3:2a “Watch what you say They’ll be calling you a radical, A liberal, oh fanatical, […]
Robert Price Price Rankin Index2
Jesus: Fact or Fiction? A Dialogue With Dr. Robert Price and Rev. John Rankin About this Debate [ 3K ] Opening Statement by Robert Price [ 24K ] Opening Statement by John Rankin [ 26K ] Dialogue [ 27K ] Questions from the Audience [ 58K ] Closing Statement by Robert M. Price [ 3K ] Closing Statement by John Rankin [ 4K ]
Science Creationism Debates
Creationist Debates Is Creationism Science? (Gish-Zindler Debate) (1990) [ Index ] A debate between Duane Gish and Frank Zindler that was aired on a radio program hosted by Jim Bleikamp. Zindler tries to get Gish to move beyond merely attacking evolution and provide positive evidence for creationism. E-mail Conversation with a Creationist (Alan Hale vs. Anonymous) (1997) […]
The Fool Late
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 Codes
Bible Codes About Minimal Skip by Brendan McKay (1997) (Off Site) Assassinations Foretold in Moby Dick! by Brendan McKay (1997) (Off Site) The Bible Code: A Book Review by Allyn Jackson (1997) (Off Site) The Demise of Drosnin by Brendan McKay (1997) (Off Site) Hidden Messages and The Bible Code by David E. Thomas (1997) […]
Theism Cosmo Reviews
Cosmological Arguments: Reviews/Critiques Bad Science, Worse Philosophy: The Quackery and Logic-Chopping of David Foster’s The Philosophical Scientists (Book Review) (2000) by Richard Carrier The errors in David Becks’ arguments for God in the book In Defense of Miracles are examined. The first of three arguments is the modern incarnation of the cosmological “first cause” argument, which […]
Theism Moral
Moral Arguments Moral arguments for theism include attempts to establish the existence of God from some (alleged) fact about morality. Many people hold that objective moral values are required to make sense of certain facets of human life, for instance, and that God is the only possible source of such values. The metaethical moral argument […]
Timm Triplett Horner Triplett
Mr. Triplett’s Opening Remarks
Tyler Wunder Davis 6
Concluding Remarks: Return to DT and the Possibility of Rational Resurrection-Belief and Resurrection-Doubt On its barest interpretation, DT claims that both belief in and scepticism of the resurrection can be rational given an awareness of the most persuasive argumentative cases for both sides in the resurrection-debate; consequently, the truth or falsity of DT will […]
Alvin Plantinga Against Naturalism
Against “Sensible” Naturalism (2007) Alvin Plantinga First, I’d like to thank Paul Draper for his interesting and challenging criticism of my evolutionary argument against naturalism (EAAN). He proposes that my argument can be boiled down to one key premise: (1) P(R/N&E) is low or inscrutable. and two key inferences: from (1) to (2) Informed […]
A Formal Justification of Agnosticism
A Formal Justification of Agnosticism by Bill Schultz Introduction There has long been a trend among some strong atheists to savagely attack any who declare themselves to be agnostics. The usual mode of attack is to bifurcate the decision, claiming that if you fail to assert that God exists (and to thereby become a theist), […]
Bruce Russell Dialogue
PHILOSOPHICALTOPICS Volume XVI, No. 2, Fall 1988 The “Inductive” Argument From Evil: A Dialogue* BRUCE RUSSELL Wayne State University STEPHEN WYKSTRA Calvin College The following is a conversation between Beatrice Leaver, Athea Ist, and Agnes Tic. Bea and Athea teach philosophy–Bea at a Christian college, and Athea, at a large midwestern university. Agnes is […]
Church-State Separation – Subtopic Index
Church-State Separation Subtopics: Boy Scouts Church, State, & Creationism Flag Desecration Amendment Is America a Christian Nation? Pledge of Allegiance School Prayer Supreme Court Decisions Vouchers
Dave Matson Young Earth Additional Topics Supernova
A6. The Distance to Supernova SN1987A and the Speed of Light When supernova SN1987A exploded, its light soon struck a ring of gas some distance from the star and illuminated it. As viewed from Earth, the ring appeared around the supernova about a year after it exploded. Its angular size combined with the time […]
Dave Matson Young Earth Misc
I will round out this work with some miscellaneous arguments which, with one exception, are from Dr. Hovind’s notebook. Dr. Hovind (A): If the universe is not billions of years old, then we need not bother with the other arguments supporting evolution. A . The presently accepted history of evolution on Earth would be in […]