Modern Library

FAQ The Supreme Court and Prayer at Football Games  The U.S. Supreme Court has heard a major case involving school prayer. The legal controversy, Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe, was argued before the high court on March 29, 2000, and a decision is expected by early July. This is an important case that […]

Review of Robin Le Poidevin’s Arguing for Atheism (1997) Finngeir Hiorth   Robin Le Poidevin: Arguing for Atheism, An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion Routledge, 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE, UK and 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001, USA, 1996, 159 pp., glossary, bibliography, index, paperback.   As in so […]

Life Is To Be Lived Now A Vital, Personal Humanism (1986) Frederick Edwords When one hears the word Humanism, one thinks of that philosophy spelled out in documents called “Manifestos,” a philosophy critical of traditional religion and which advocates reason, science, and civil liberties. What one too often does not think of is a philosophy […]

  Old Testament Life and Literature (1968) Gerald A. Larue   Chapter 12 – Solomon Read I Kings 2:13-11:43 UNDER Solomon, national and religious self-consciousness, encouraged by the king and the temple priesthood, resulted in the production of a great body of literature, of which the Davidic record was but a part. Unfortunately, no biographical […]

  Old Testament Life and Literature (1968) Gerald A. Larue   Chapter 27 – The Early Hellenistic Period THE Hellenistic period in Palestine technically begins with the defeat of the Persian empire by Alexander the Great (334-323). Greek influence had entered the Persian world much earlier, for Greek mercenaries fought in Persian armies and Greek […]

  Old Testament Life and Literature (1968) Gerald A. Larue   A Word to the Reader TO get the most from this book, you will need a Bible, preferably in modern translation. Keep the Bible at hand, for few passages are quoted and the writer has assumed that you will read the biblical references. The […]

Craig, Mackie, And The Kalam Cosmological Argument (1991) Graham Oppy   [This article was originally published as Religious Studies 27 (1991): 189-97.] In “Professor Mackie And The Kalam Cosmological Argument” (Religious Studies, 1984, Vol.20, pp.367-375), Professor William Lane Craig undertakes to demonstrate that J. L. Mackie’s analysis of the kalam cosmological argument in The Miracle […]

Inverse Operations With Transfinite Numbers And The Kalam Cosmological Argument (1995) Graham Oppy   [This article was originally published as “Inverse Operations With Transfinite Numbers And The Kalam Cosmological Argument” International Philosophical Quarterly, 35, 2, pp.219-221] In “Reply To Smith: On The Finitude Of The Past”[1], Professor William Craig writes:   I reiterate that Smith […]

Profesor Ilhan Arsel’in Özgeçmisi Prof. Dr. Ilhan Arsel, Cenevre (Isviçre) Üniversitesi Hukuk Fakültesi’nde doktorasini yaptiktan sonra, otuz yildan fazla bir sure boyunca üniversite ögretim üyeliginde bulundu; Ankara Hukuk Fakültesinde “Anayasa Hukuku” dersleri verdi. 1960 Ihtilali’nin ardindan yeni bir anayasa tasarisi hazirlamakla görevli on kisilik Istanbul Komisyonu‘na, ve daha sonra Kurucu Meclis Öntasarisi‘ni olusturan bes kisilik […]

Din Adami’nin Insanlarimiza Bellettigi Tanri Anlayisi Olumsuz Nitelikte Olup, Tanri’nin “Yüceligi” Fikriyle Bagdasmaz I) Din adami, “Tanri” anlayisina egemen olmak gereken “yücelik” fikrinden habersizdir: A) Tanri’nin “Tek” oldugu fikrini belletmek için din adami, her isin tek sayilara göre görülmesi hususundaki seriat verilerine sarilir: örnegin “istinca” sirasinda (abdest’ten sonra temizlenirken) tek sayida tas kullanmanin seriat emri […]

Library: Modern Documents: James Still: Reasons Skeptics Should Consider Christianity Critique of "Reasons Skeptics Should Consider Christianity" by Josh McDowell and Don Stewart James Still Josh McDowell, organizer and minister to the Campus Crusade for Christ, co-wrote with Don Stewart, the infamous book Reasons Skeptics Should Consider Christianity. The introduction states that Reasons was "written […]

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 […]

Preface Kenneth Saladin This is a transcript of my second debate with Duane Gish, which took place on 10 May 1988 at Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, before an audience of about 800 people. (My first debate with him was at the Montgomery campus of Auburn University on 24 March 1984.) I have taken the time […]

An Agnostic Theology (2010) Kile Jones 1. Introduction For years now we have thought that agnosticism and theology were incompatible, for lack of better reasons, because theology was thought to entail revelation. Revelation, in turn, was considered by some theologians as an adequate source of knowledge, and claims to knowledge of God were not considered […]

The Tale of the Twelve Officers (2002) Mark I. Vuletic   Previously “The Five Officers” (2000), and then changed to “The Nine Officers” (2001), Vuletic has now made the final update to this essay to include a total of twelve points of view. It was, of course, sad to hear that Ms. K had been […]

Creation ex nihilo – without God (1997) (Updated 2011) Mark I. Vuletic   The first version of this article, which I wrote all the way back in 1997, merely compiled a list of quotes from physicists affirming that something can indeed come from nothing through entirely natural processes, and that the entire universe might be […]

More on Definitions of Atheism mathew   Oxford English Dictionary (OED), Second Edition Here is how the OED defines “atheism”: atheism Disbelief in, or denial of, the existence of a god. disbelieve 1. trans. Not to believe or credit; to refuse credence to: a. a statement or (alleged) fact: To reject the truth or reality […]

I am grateful for this opportunity to defend the position of atheism. I would like to thank Dr. Phil Fernandes for agreeing to debate me and Jeff Lowder for arranging the debate. Misunderstandings About Atheism Before I present my arguments I would like to clear up some serious misunderstandings concerning atheism. First, atheism is not […]

Is Non-Christian Thought Futile? Keith Parsons   Readers of recent theistic philosophers are likely to be struck by contrast between the sophistication of the logical machinery employed and the modesty of the claimed results. Alvin Plantinga expends vast labors of modal logic to argue that theism is no less rational than atheism. Richard Swinburne devotes […]

Atheism, Christian Theism, and Rape (1997) Michael Martin   One of the more dramatic debating maneuver used by Christian apologists against atheists is to argue that atheists can provide no objective reason for not raping people. This startling claim follows from the apologists’ wider claim that atheists can provide no objective moral reasons for anything. […]

On (False) Prophets and Messiahs (2016) Michael Moore The word “prophet” comes from the Greek for “one who predicts.” It served as the accepted translation of the Hebrew “navi”—itself from a Semitic source, which in Akkadian and Arabic indicated “call, announce.” Some Latin sources translated Greek “prophetes” with Latin “vates” (still current in English, and […]

The Evidential Argument from Evil (1998) Nicholas Tattersall   “Please understand, it is not God I do not accept, but the world he has created.” Feodor Dostoyevsky The Brothers Karamazov Introduction The purpose of this essay is to explain and argue against various common objections to the Argument from Evil (AE). It is necessary to […]

Evidential Arguments Evidential arguments for atheism attempt to show that certain known facts that are (at least so far as we can tell) consistent with theism nevertheless provide evidence against it. Typically, such arguments start with a known fact, such as the amount of suffering in the world. The arguments then attempt to show that […]

On Average, Are Atheists as Moral as Theists? General An Introduction to Atheism (1997) by mathew This useful introduction to atheism addresses several of our questions, including Are atheists less moral than religious people?, Is there such a thing as atheist morality?, and Isn’t the whole of life completely pointless to an atheist? Atheists Can […]

New Testament Contradictions (1995) Paul Carlson [Editor’s note: As with all lists of alleged biblical contradictions, there will be disagreement in at least some specific cases as to whether a given “contradiction” is a genuine contradiction. It is therefore up to the reader to decide for him/herself whether to accept that a listed “contradiction” is, […]

I am going to invite into our investigation a wise and gentle man named William James. Although he lived a century before us, through his works and the power of his ideas, he will join us to help bring this issue to fruition. James hit upon a new chord in the way people ought to […]

The Historicity of the Empty Tomb of Jesus The essay quoted is by William Lane Craig, originally published “The Historicity of the Empty Tomb of Jesus.” New Testament Studies 31 (1985): 39-67. It was accessed December 14, 2000 (URL:http://www.origins.org/offices/billcraig/docs/tomb2.html). Until recently the empty tomb has been widely regarded as both an offense to modern intelligence […]

A Natural Explanation of the Existence and Laws of Our Universe (1990) Quentin Smith The following article was originally published in AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY in March 1990 (Volume 68, No. 1, pp. 22-43). I. The Possibility of a Natural Explanation of Our Universe The standard view of philosophers is that the existence of particular […]

Isaiah also says this Servant will be “cut off” though “he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth,” then Daniel later says the Messiah will be “cut off” though “there is no legal judgment against him.” These sure sound like the same man. In fact, it sounds like Daniel is alluding […]

O’Connell’s Opening Statement (2008)   The Meaning of “Resurrection” Whenever the word “resurrection” (anastasis) occurs in Jewish sources within and around the first century A.D., it always denotes a “one-body” notion of resurrection. This fact has been amply demonstrated by N. T. Wright’s thorough examination of the sources.[1] Although there were disagreements over the details […]