Modern Library

The Genesis of a Humanist Manifesto by Edwin H. Wilson CONTENTS PREFACE 1. A Humanist Manifesto–A Historic Document 2. The Background of Religious Humanism 3. The New Humanist–Sponsor of the Manifesto 4. “A Humanist Manifesto”–The Beginning 5. The Editing Process 6. Early Responses from Signers 7. Critiques from Humanists Who Did Not Sign 8. Unitarian […]

CHAPTER 6 Early Responses from Signers Dr. E. A. Burtt Dr. E. A. Burtt of Cornell University’s Sage School of Philosophy, was one of the most prompt and thorough critics of the proposed manifesto. Six years later, in the first edition of his excellent book, Types of Religious Philosophy, Dr. Burtt placed religious humanism in […]

Well, this may seem to you like a long, drawn-out event, but I guarantee that to us we’re thinking more time, I need more time. I want to use my outline as my outline for what we’re going to do here. I said I’m going to make two main points: there are good reasons to […]

  Part 1   Part 2 >>>   Reply to Robert Turkel Farrell Till TILL James Patrick Holding is the pseudonym used by a would-be apologist whose real name is Robert Turkel. Perhaps I should say that Holding has SAID that his real name is Robert Turkel, but I have no way to confirm this. […]

Review of Tony Davies’ Humanism (1997) Finngeir Hiorth   Davies, Tony (1997) Humanism, Routledge, 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE and 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001, 152 pp., bibliography, index, paperback GBP 6.99, hardback also available. Anybody who knows anything at all about humanism knows that there are many humanisms. So […]

A Reply to J. P. Holding’s "Shattering" of My Views on Jesus and an Examination of the Early Pagan and Jewish References to Jesus (2000) G.A. Wells   In the series ‘Tekton. Building Blocks for Christian Faith’, J. P. Holding has written a long article entitled ‘Jesus. Shattering the Christ-Myth’, with sub-title ‘The Reliability of the Secular References to […]

  Old Testament Life and Literature (1968) Gerald A. Larue   Chapter 15 – E BROADLY speaking, E can be said to include the literature which remains in the Pentateuch after P and D (easily identified) and J sources are removed, although in numerous passages it is difficult to distinguish between J and E.1 Distinctiveness […]

Old Testament Life and Literature (1968) Gerald A. Larue   Chapter 3 – The Analysis of the Pentateuch PERHAPS the portion of the Bible which best demonstrates the results of the historical-literary approach is the Pentateuch.1 The five books were named by the Jews of Palestine according to the opening Hebrew words: I. Bereshith: "in […]

Ten Golden Words (1995) Gerd Lüdemann   [The following essay was originally published as the Epilogue to Gerd Lüdemann, Heretics: The Other Side of Early Christianity (trans. John Bowden, Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996), pp. 219-220.] 1. The view of the Bible as the Word of God or as Holy Scripture belongs to […]

Modal Theistic Arguments (1993) Graham Oppy   [This article was originally published as “Modal Theistic Arguments”, Sophia, 32, 2, July 1993, pp.17-24] A modal theistic argument is a proof of the existence of God which makes use of the premise that God is a being who exists in every possible world. Such arguments have been […]

Why I Am Not a Christian (2006) Graham Oppy [A somewhat different version of this paper is forthcoming in Theism and Naturalism: New Philosophical Perspectives, edited by Paul Pistone and Quentin Smith, Oxford University Press.] In 1927, Bertrand Russell gave a public lecture with the title “Why I Am Not a Christian.” I regularly use […]

Kisi’yi Akilciliktan ve Düsünme Gücünden Yoksun Kilici Seriat Düzeni’nin Sürdürücüsü Olarak Din Adami I) Düsünme gücü’nden yoksunlugun derecesi: II) Kisi’yi düsünme yeteneginden yoksun kilma san’ati: III) Din adami, kisi’nin tüm yasantilarini akil disi verilerle ayarlayan seriat düzeni’nin bekçisi’dir: A) Din adami insanlarimizin günlük yasantilarinin her yönünü, çöl Arap’inin zihniyetine ve ihtiyaçlarina yatkin buyruklarla düzenler: B) […]

Iktidar ve Varlik Bakimindan Güçlü Olan’in Destekçisi Ve Koruyucusu Olarak Din Adami I) Din adami, seriat dini’nin “hükümdarlar” sayesinde ayakta durabilecegine inanmis olarak “Zalim ve fasik olsalar da hükümdarlara itaat gerekir” formülüne bagli kalmis ve toplumu da bu duygularla yetistirmistir: II) Ve günümüzdeki durum! Geçmis dönemler boyunca din adami, toplumu ezen ve sömüren kim varsa […]

Library: Modern Documents: James Still: Descartes’ Meditations Ontological Argument Descartes’ Meditations Ontological Argument James Still Descartes’s fifth Meditation argument for God’s existence relies on an untenable notion that existence is a perfection and that it can be predicated of God. I shall first explain what Descartes’s argument for God’s existence is, and then present his […]

Lord, Liar or Lunatic? An Analysis of the Trilemma James Still Christian apologist C. S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity that Jesus was either Lord, a lunatic, or "the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse." Josh […]

Empty Defense of an Empty Tomb: A Reply to Anne A. Kim’s Misunderstandings (2012) Jeffery Jay Lowder 1. Kim’s Misunderstanding of My Thesis      1.1 The Application of Bayes’ Theorem to Empirical Hypotheses     1.2 The Relocation Hypothesis 2. Kim’s Defense of Craig’s Empty Tomb Evidence      2.1 The Burial Account             2.1.1 First Stage: Is the Burial Story Historically […]

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‘Evidence’ That Demands a Refund (2001) Jeffery Jay Lowder   The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict, by Josh McDowell, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1999, ISBN 0785242198), pp. xvi+760. According to the cover of New Evidence That Demands a Verdict, volumes I and II of Evidence That Demands a Verdict have been “fully updated in one […]

Jim Lippard The Significance of Messianic Prophecy Birth Prophecies Ministry Prophecies Betrayal Prophecies Crucifixion Prophecies Conclusions Notes Acknowledgements References Postscript “The Old Testament … contains several hundred references to the Messiah. All of these were fulfilled in Christ and they establish a solid confirmation of his credentials as the Messiah.”         — Josh McDowell (1972), p. […]

Opening Statement for the Affirmative (Saladin, 45 minutes) [Section and subsection titles are for clarification to the reader and to correspond to the outline of this transcript. They were not spoken in the debate itself.] I. INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS [SLIDE 1: Title slide, "Evolution vs. Creationism"] In 1982, Science magazine published an article by Ron Numbers […]

Life After Death Immortality  

Giving the Jehovah’s Witnesses a Broadside (1994) by Mark I. Vuletic   [Note: The following document was written in 1994, at which time its criticisms of Jehovah’s Witnesses doctrine was valid. However, the Jehovah’s Witnesses have since abandoned the end-times prophecy dealt with in this article. On the plus side, this means they have abandoned […]

Rationally Speaking A monthly e-column by Massimo Pigliucci Department of Botany, University of Tennessee N. 1, August 2000 – “The Rationalistic Fallacy” This column can be posted for free on any appropriate web site.  If you are interested in receiving the html code, please send an email Further reading: Howthe Mind Works by Steven Pinker  […]

More on Huxley and the Definition of Agnosticism mathew [ Traducción al Español / Spanish translation ]   Huxley describes how he came to originate the term “agnostic” as follows: When I reached intellectual maturity, and began to ask myself whether I was an atheist, a theist, or a pantheist; a materialist or an idealist; […]

On Universes and Firing Squads or “How I Learned To Stop Worrying About the Origin of the Cosmos” Michael J. Hurben   “Men think epilepsy divine, merely because they do not understand it. But if they called everything divine which they do not understand, why, there would be no end of divine things.” – Hippocrates […]

As Dr. Fernandes and I conclude our debate I would like to thank him again for his stimulating challenge to my position. Criticisms of Atheism As I have shown again and again Dr. Fernandes’ objections to atheism are based on either misunderstandings or question begging assumptions. Even though I have pointed out his misunderstandings and […]

The Transcendental Argument for the Nonexistence of God Michael Martin   [This article originally appeared in the Autumn 1996 issue of The New Zealand Rationalist & Humanist.] Some Christian philosophers have made the incredible argument that logic, science and morality presuppose the truth of the Christian world view because logic, science and morality depend on […]

[Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Teaching Philosophy 5:2 (April 1982): 152-55. The page numbers below show the position of the text within that pagination scheme.] ________________________________________ 152 Atheism: The Case Against God, George H. Smith. Prometheus Books, 1979, 355 pages. $6.95 pbk. Michael Martin Boston University This book is a hard hitting […]

On Miracles and Miracle Workers (2019) Michael Moore Washerwoman to French queen: “Is Milady making the pilgrimage to Chartres?” “Yes”, says the queen, “God has cursed me with barrenness, and I am going there hoping to be cured.” “Useless!” replies the washerwoman; “the big, strapping monk that used to do the miracles is dead”      —Gershon […]

The Errancy of Fundamentalism Disproves the God of the Bible (1996) Niclas Berggren 1. Introduction This essay will investigate the often-made claim from Christians, that the Bible is the inspired word of god, a corollary of which is that it is perfectly without error. This view is exemplified by the following statement of Jimmy Swaggart, […]