[ Author Index | Subject Index ]
The Modern Library contains material written during or after 1970, which tends to be more scholarly than Kiosk material.
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 Narlikar
DISCUSSION: NARLIKAR’S “CREATION” OF THE BIG BANG UNIVERSE WAS A MERE ORIGINATION ADOLF GRÜNBAUM University of Pittsburgh [This article was originally published in Philosophy of Science, Vol. 60, No. 4, December 1993, pp. 638-646.] In Grünbaum (1989, 374, 390), I objected to Narlikar’s (1977, 136-137) designation “event of ‘creation'” for a supposed first cosmic instant […]
Anachronist Why I Believe 7 Moral
Chapter 7: Why I Believe in Moral Absolutes (Contradiction) Note: At this point, my hard-working little laptop computer died for good. Fortunately, I had backups of my finished work (chapters 1 through 6 and the Appendices), and work-in-process (chapter 7). However, all of my references and my collection of notes covering subsequent chapters, painstakingly gathered […]
Antony Flew Survival
Could We Survive Our Own Deaths? (1998) Antony Flew Part I: The Great Obstacle (a) Could we survive our own individual deaths? Surely it is obvious that we do not, that we could not? For is anyone prepared to contest the truth of the major premise in that most famous of all exemplary syllogisms: […]
Bill Schultz Weddings
Secular Wedding Ceremonies (1999) by Bill Schultz The question arises, from time to time, about what nontheists can do if they want something more elaborate than a courthouse wedding, performed by some clerk, but they don’t want to go through anything which looks like its a “church wedding.” Well, there is an alternative, but it […]
Church State Christian Nation
Is America a Christian Nation? Getting Out God’s Vote (n.d.) by Frederick Edwords and Stephen McCabe Is America a Christian Nation? (n.d.) by The Freedom From Religion Foundation (Off Site) America has never been a Christian nation. We are a free nation. Anne Gaylor, president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, points out: "There can […]
Dave Matson Young Earth Additional Topics Bad Dates
A1. Woodmorappe’s Collection of Bad Dates Eat one of those and your tummy will curl right up! Seriously speaking, a favorite attack on radiometric dating involves dangling "horror stories" about gross errors before the reader, thus giving the impression that radiometric dating is totally unreliable. Woodmorappe (1979), with his collection of some 350 bad radiometric […]
Dave Matson Young Earth Geologic Column Assumed Age
Dr. Hovind (G5): The assumed age of a sample will dictate which radiometric dating method is used. One method will only give results for a young age; another will only give results for a very old age. Thus, the assumed age of a sample dictates the method which, in turn, gives the assumed age! G5. […]
Dave Matson Young Earth Specific Arguments Magnetic Field
Young-earth "proof" #11: Since the earth’s magnetic field is decaying at an exponential rate, its strength would have been unrealistically high 25,000 years ago. Thus, Earth is less than 25,000 years old. 11. Dr. Hovind is almost certainly talking about Barnes’s magnetic field argument (1973) or some echo of it. Henry Morris, himself, once praised […]
Dave Matson Young Earth Specific Arguments Space Dust
Young-earth "proof" #7: Space dust would be vacuumed out of our solar system by the Poynting-Robertson effect in a few thousand years. Since that is not the case, the earth is very young. The Poynting-Robertson effect is an effect that sunlight has on small dust particles orbiting the sun. The continuing absorption of sunlight robs […]
Debates Secularist Abortion Carrier4
Abortion is not Immoral and Should not be Illegal by Richard C. Carrier It is always refreshing debating someone who is not fanatically attached to a bizarre worldview. We always come to enlightened agreement on many issues. This is one of the reasons I believe secularism is the correct view–whereas theism leads to greater dispute […]
Debates Secularist Conscript
On The Subject of Conscription: Conscription, or compulsory military service, has often found opposition from the religious community based on their belief. Some Americans suggest that the country would better off if it were restored, saying it would bring a better sense of duty and patriotism to the people. On the same side, are those […]
Debates Secularist Nano
On The Subject of Nanotechnology: Nanotechnology, which will be able to cheaply replicate and modify virtually any object with atomic-scale precision, promises to radically change human society perhaps even more then all of the technological advances of the modern era combined. It also has the potential to become the most destructive weapon imaginable–far surpassing nuclear […]
Denis Giron Islamsci
Islamic Science: Does Islamic literature contain scientific miracles? Denis Giron Over the last decade growing numbers of Muslims have declared the Qur’an to be a book filled with alleged scientific miracles. Numerous web sites, books and videos have been produced that proclaim Islam to be truly a religion of divine origin, citing “scientifically accurate” statements […]
Doug Jesseph Jesseph Craig Jesseph1
I do not believe in God and I am here to explain why. Any discussion of the discussion of the existence of God must, I think, begin with some preliminary definitions and points of principle. As commonly understood, atheism is the denial of the existence of God. I prefer a slightly different formulation, in which […]
Douglas Wilson Drange Wilson
About This Debate Drange’s Opening Statement: The Arguments from Nonbelief and Confusion for the Nonexistence of God Wilson’s Opening Statement: The Transcendental Argument for God’s Existence Drange’s First Rebuttal Wilson’s First Rebuttal Drange’s Second Rebuttal Wilson’s Second Rebuttal Drange’s Third Rebuttal Wilson’s Third Rebuttal Drange’s Closing Statement Wilson’s Closing Statement
Edwin Wilson Manifesto Ch1
CHAPTER 1 "A Humanist Manifesto" – A Historic Document When thirty-four individualists agree upon anything, it is an unusual event-especially when there is a preponderance of ministers involved. Even though "reasonable minds at work on the same or similar facts" are presumed to arrive at similar conclusions, this is not always the case. Yet in […]
Edwin Wilson Manifesto Ch8
CHAPTER 8 Unitarian Humanists Who Feared a Creed Some of the men who declined to sign "A Humanist" Manifesto" were active writers in the humanist movement before and after the publication of the document. Four of them were Unitarian in background and affiliation, and, of them, two were published in the same issue of The […]
Farrell Till Geisler Till Format
Dr. Norman L. Geisler (author, educator, and Dean of Southern Evangelical Seminary, Charlotte, NC) and Mr. Farrell Till (editor of The Skeptical Review and English teacher at Spoon River College, Canton, IL) met for public debate March 29, 1994, at the Columbus College Fine Arts Hall (Columbus, GA). The proposition was "Jesus of Nazareth died […]
Farrell Till Horner Till Information
Readers wanting additional information on the resurrection controversy or other biblical issues may contact the participants in this debate at the following addresses: Michael Horner Farrell Till Campus Crusade for Christ of Canada Skepticism, Inc. P.O. Box 529 P.O. Box 717 Suma, WA 98295-0529 Canton, IL 61520-0717 Email: michaelh Email: JF Till Phone: (604) […]
Reply to Robert Turkel
<<< Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 >>> TURKEL > We will find that even then, Till's exegetical >construct is a highly substandard one. We will analyze, >in the following order (according to their length), >Till's responses to the remaining three items from >Miller: > >2. The killing of Ahaziah. > >7. The […]
Finngeir Hiorth Smart
Review of J.J.C. Smart & J.J. Haldane, Atheism and Theism (1997) Finngeir Hiorth Smart, J.J.C. & J.J. Haldane: Atheism and Theism, Blackwell Publishers, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford 0X4 1JF, UK, and 238 Main Street, Cambridge, Mass., 02142. USA, 232 PP., bibliography, index, paperback. In a review dated 4 April 1997 and entitled “Introduction […]
Fred Edwords Humanism
What Is Humanism? Frederick Edwords What is humanism? The sort of answer you will get to that question depends on what sort of humanist you ask! The word “humanism” has a number of meanings, and because authors and speakers often don’t clarify which meaning they intend, those trying to explain humanism can easily become a […]
Gary Posner Godccu
God in the CCU? A critique of the San Francisco hospital study on intercessory prayer and healing Gary P. Posner, M.D. [This article was originally printed in Spring 1990 issue of Free Inquiry.] The day of publication of the July 1988 issue of the Southern Medical Journal must have been one Hell of a busy […]
Gerald Larue Otll Chap18
Old Testament Life and Literature (1968) Gerald A. Larue Chapter 18 – Isaiah and Micah OF the two Judaean prophets who were active in the eighth century, there can be little doubt that Isaiah was the more powerful. He lived in the capital city of Jerusalem and was brought into immediate association with […]
Gerald Larue Otll Chap32
Old Testament Life and Literature (1968) Gerald A. Larue Chapter 32 – Texts, Manuscripts and Translations THE task of the textual critic, to recover, insofar as possible, what the original writer wrote, is formidable. No autographs have been found, and in some instances our oldest manuscripts are separated by many centuries from the […]
Gordon Stein Answers
Review of "Answers to Tough Questions Skeptics Ask About The Christian Faith" by Josh McDowell and Don Stewart Gordon Stein, Ph.D. [NOTE: The following review appeared in the July/August 1982 issue of The American Rationalist.] I am puzzled by this book. Is it a sincere work, faulted by the fact that a little knowledge is […]
Graham Oppy Overman
Review of Dean L. Overman (1997) A Case Against Accident and Self-Organisation New York: Rowman & Littlefield To judge from the dust-jacket, this book has received a considerable amount of praise–and not just from the usual suspects. In particular, the publishers seem keen to promulgate the view that there is widespread support for the […]