[ 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 Foster2
Bad Science, Worse Philosophy: the Quackery and Logic-Chopping of David Foster’s The Philosophical Scientists (2000) 2. Some of Foster’s Strange Notions Richard Carrier I will begin with examples of the more trivial of Foster’s strangeness, simply to prepare you for the worst. To begin with, Foster makes several amateurish philosophical errors that betray […]
Richard Carrier Improbable
Was Christianity Too Improbable to be False? (2006) Richard Carrier Not the Impossible Faith: Why Christianity Didn’t Need a Miracle to Succeed Now available as a book, fully updated and reorganized. This is the definitive edition of “Was Christianity Too Improbable to Be False?” Even better than online, improved and revised throughout. Available at […]
Richard Carrier Improbable Radical
Was Christianity Too Improbable to be False? (2006) [See Introduction] Richard Carrier 16. Were Christian Teachings Too Radical for Anyone to Buy? Holding then throws in a hodgepodge of miscellaneous difficulties we might categorize under the general argument that “Christian teachings were too radical to be popular.” That may be true—after all, Christianity […]
Richard Carrier Indef I
Review of In Defense of Miracles (1999, 2005) Richard Carrier The material previously contained at this location has been moved into the combined Summary.
Richard Carrier Ntcanon
The Formation of the New Testament Canon (2000) Richard Carrier Contrary to common belief, there was never a one-time, truly universal decision as to which books should be included in the Bible. It took over a century of the proliferation of numerous writings before anyone even bothered to start picking and choosing, and then […]
Richard Carrier Resurrection 2d
This file has been relocated: it is now Section IV of Probability of Survival vs. Miracle: Assessing the Odds.
Richard Carrier Resurrection 3h
This file has been relocated: it is now Section VIII of General Case for Spiritual Resurrection: Evidence Against Resurrection of the Flesh.
Richard Carrier Scilit
Test Your Scientific Literacy! (2001) Richard Carrier Do you think you know what science is? You may be surprised. Scientific literacy is hard to acquire and is not widespread. Science is, after all, a very complex and nuanced affair that can only be truly understood with wide experience and deep thought. It took the […]
Richard Packham Heart
The Man with No Heart: Miracles and Evidence Richard Packham The problem of evidence for miraculous occurrences has frequently been discussed in TSR. It sometimes takes the form of an exchange between Farrell Till and some inerrantist. Till: “Extraordinary events require extraordinary evidence.” Inerrantist: “Then miraculous events require miraculous evidence, and since you don’t […]
Why Come Out As An Atheist?
Prologue This essay originated as a post to the Ex-Tian mailing list, a mailing for ex-Christians. A common question among ex-Christians who become atheists is whether or not to “come out” as atheists, or to pretend to be a Christian when around friends and family. This essay is my answer to that question. Should ex-Christians […]
Robert Price Beyond Born Again Chap9
________________________________________ 109 Beyond Born Again Section III– Can Evangelical Theology be Born Again? Chapter 9: Theological Rhetoric In the last chapter we saw the ineffectiveness of the Evangelical attempt to disqualify Liberal theology as “unscriptural.” We noted that, contra J. I. Packer and company, it is not self-evident that the only way to take scripture […]
Robert Price Price Rankin Price1
Opening Statement Robert M. Price I remember a particular Superboy comic book in which the Boy of Steel somehow discovers that in the future, he is thought to be as mythical as Peter Pan and Santa Claus. Indignant at this turn of events, he flies at faster than light speed and enters the future […]
Science Creationism Dembski
William Dembski William Dembski, a mathematician and philosopher, is one of the leaders of intelligent design creationism. Chance, Necessity, and the War Against Science (2000) (Off Site) by Massimo Pigliucci A review of Dembski’s Design Inference by biologist Massimo Pigliucci. Response to Massimo Pigliucci’s Review of The Design Inference (1999) by Mark Vuletic Vuletic replies to […]
Testimonials
Testimonials From time to time, The Secular Web receives an interesting and well-written essay by a nontheist detailing how s/he became an atheist, agnostic, rationalist, and/or freethinker. These essays are often of interest to others who are challenging their own ideas, the dominant beliefs within their society, or who are simply curious to read the […]
The Fool Mere
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 Craig
William Lane Craig Articles The Anthropic Coincidences, Evil and the Disconfirmation of Theism (1992) by Quentin Smith The anthropic principle or the associated anthropic coincidences have been used by philosophers such as John Leslie (1989), William Lane Craig (1988) and Richard Swinburne (1990) to support the thesis that God exists. In this paper I shall examine […]
Theism Cosmological
Cosmological Arguments Incorporating Aristotle’s notion of a “prime mover” into Summa Theologica and elsewhere, Thomas Aquinas famously formulated his version of the cosmological or “first cause” argument. According to this argument, the things which we see around us now are the products of a series of previous causes. But that series cannot go back in […]
Theism Moral Links
Moral Argument and Divine Command Theory: Related Links The American Humanist Association (Off Site) A national organization founded in 1941 to promote humanism in the United States, the AHA represents both secular and religious naturalistic humanism and promotes, among other things, that the derivation of "the goals of life from human need and interest […]
Timm Triplett Horner Triplett Debate
Horner-Triplett Debate, 1993: Does God Exist? Introduction Tonight’s debate will follow this format: Professor Triplett will speak first with his opening remarks. Mr. Horner will follow with his opening remarks. Professor Triplett will give his first rebuttal, and Mr. Horner will give his first rebuttal. Then two second rebuttals which last eight minutes each, Dr. […]
Tyler Wunder Davis Notes
Notes 1. See Sections I.1 and I.2 for Davis’ analyses of these world views. In brief, supernaturalists grant the existence of supernatural entities, while naturalists do not. 2. Concerning the distinction between a corpse being resurrected into a supernatural being rather than being revived back to natural (as opposed to supernatural) life, I will […]
Anachronist Why I Believe
Commentary on D. James Kennedy’s book Why I Believe “Anachronist” D. James Kennedy is the founder of Coral Ridge Ministries in Florida. A television show exists by the same name, although I have not seen it. Dr. Kennedy is an evangelical Christian who has written several books, including Evangelism Explosion and Why I Believe. […]
Bill Schultz O Hair A
O’Hair vs. Huxley – Appendix A The Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia – Agnosticism ***The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Gutenberg Encyclopedia*** !!!Remember. . .the information contained herein is OLD. . .!!! *!!!It reflects the mindset of the turn of the last century!!!* **Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** **Etexts Readable By Both […]
Charles Echelbarger Hume Atheism
Hume’s Tacit Atheism (1975) Charles Echelbarger This article was originally published in Religious Studies, Vol. 2 (1975), pp. 19-35. Reprinted with the permission of Cambridge University Press. For more information, see Cambridge Journals Online. 1. INTRODUCTION A recent paper, ‘Hume’s Immanent God’, (in (1)* by George Nathan, contains an insightful interpretation of Hume’s Dialogues Concerning […]
Dan Barker Barker Horner
“Did Jesus Really Rise From The Dead?” Debate between Michael Horner and Dan Barker. This debate transcript is copyrighted. © Copyright 1996 by Dan Barker and Michael Horner. All rights reserved. Please do not make copies of this transcript for distribution in any form without permission from the copyright owners. The debate was transcribed by […]
Dave Matson Young Earth Carbon 14 Accurately Measure
Dr. Hovind (R5): The C-14 cannot be accurately measured. It makes up less than one part per million in the atmosphere, and claiming to be able to measure accurately to 7 decimal places is not reasonable. This is similar to an argument put out by Harold Slusher (1981, p.45). Dr. Hovind adds the bizarre […]
Dave Matson Young Earth Specific Arguments Continent
Young-earth "proof" #15: Continents are eroding at a rate which would bring them to sea level in less than 14 million years. Inasmuch as the continents are anything but flat, the earth cannot be billions of years old. (27.5 x 10^9 tons sediment/year are lost to the oceans by erosion; the present mass of the […]
Dave Matson Young Earth Specific Arguments Pressure
Young-earth "proof" #18: The incredible pressure found in oil and gas wells indicates they have been there less than 15,000 years. (Presumably, the oil or gas would have escaped long before then.) 18. The incredible pressure found in oil and gas wells indicates that the oil and gas have been effectively trapped. The initial, slow […]
Debates Secularist Abortion Roth5
A Secular Case Against Abortion Closing Statement by Jen Roth Introduction I would like to thank Richard Carrier for agreeing to this debate, the Internet Infidels for agreeing to host it, and Amanda Chesworth for coordinating it. It has been extremely refreshing to participate in a discussion of abortion without being subjected to accusations […]
Debates Secularist Genetic
On The Issues Involved in Genetic Engineering: Genetic Engineering has been a hot topic in the media ever since Dolly, the cloned sheep, was successfully engineered. Since then we have seen a variety of clones made as well as several advances in medicine afforded by genetic engineering. The debate on the subject has brought a […]
Debates Secularist Sexes
On The Difference Between the Sexes: For centuries people have been studying the differences to be found among men and women and using their ideas for one purpose or another. What are the differences between the sexes? How deeply rooted are these differences? Evolutionary psychology looks to our ancestral environment to find the source of […]