Modern Library

Goverment Endorsement of the Boy Scouts Boy Scouts of America Practices Discrimination (2000) by Annie Laurie Gaylor (Off Site) Boy Scouts of America openly rejects membership applications by nonreligious parents and boys. BSA has never apologized for the pain it has caused youngsters who have been told “any boy can join,” then robbed of the […]

  Cosmological Kalamity Dan Barker "Daddy, if God made everything, who made God?" my daughter Kristi asked me, when she was five years old. "Good question," I replied. Even a child sees the problem with the traditional cosmological argument. The old cosmological argument claimed that since everything has a cause, there must be a first […]

  Dr. Hovind (R2): The C-14 decay rate is not constant. Several factors, including the 11-year sunspot cycle, affects its rate of decay. It is painfully obvious that Dr. Hovind knows next to nothing about carbon-14 dating! Changes in the sunspot cycle do have a noticeable, short-term effect on the rate of C-14 production inasmuch […]

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 […]

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 Is Creationism True? [Index] God or Blind Nature? Philosophers Debate the Evidence (2007) [ Index ] edited by Paul Draper Should We Believe in God? [Index] Why Be an Atheist? [Index]

On The Issue of Affirmative Action: Affirmative Action is part of the socialist political platform but it can also be found in various facets of our society. Many interpretations exist on the issue, along with varying degrees of support and opposition. Plainly put, affirmative action seeks to restore, or initiate, equality of opportunity among all […]

On The Issue of Home Schooling: Many parents today are opting to teach their children at home. Reasons for chosing this option include the dumbing down of our educational system, the methods used in teaching, the knowledge and understanding of teachers, and the continued support of religion within our public education system. Opponents to the […]

On The Subject of Suicide: Suicide is an option people have in life and, as we are all aware, it is often chosen by individuals usually unhappy in life. For secularists, suicide may be approached rather differently than the traditional religious believer and their thoughts on the afterlife. Should suicide be a consideration at all? […]

The Krueger-McHugh Debate: Theism or Atheism (2003) Doug Krueger   Second Rebuttal by Doug Krueger My task in this debate is considerably easier than I had anticipated because not only has McHugh used a well-known and well-rebutted argument in his opening statement (the ontological argument), he has further stated in his rebuttal that he “can […]

CHAPTER 18 The Manifesto’s Long-Term Impact Over the decades since 1933, the radical nature of "A Humanist Manifesto" continued to be a source of controversy. Among the long-term effects of the manifesto, perhaps one of the most significant is the generation of a second manifesto in 1973. The forty interim years saw dramatic cultural and […]

Getting Out God’s Vote Pat Robertson And The Evangelicals Frederick Edwords and Stephen McCabe (As published in the May/June 1987 issue of The Humanist, with additional bibliographic material provided at the end.) Being the year prior to an election year when the religious right seems to be gathering its strength to make a decisive push […]

  Old Testament Life and Literature (1968) Gerald A. Larue   Chapter 10 – Saul THE Deuteronomic history of Israel continues with the stories of Samuel and Saul which form the records of the beginnings of Hebrew kingship. Some sources are designated, such as "The Book of the Acts of Solomon" (I Kings 11:41), "The […]

  Old Testament Life and Literature (1968) Gerald A. Larue   Chapter 25 – Life and Literature of the Late Period THE next major project facing the people of Jerusalem was the rebuilding of the wall of the city. Zechariah’s dramatic claim that Yahweh would protect the city with a wall of fire (Zech. 2:5) […]

  Old Testament Life and Literature (1968) Gerald A. Larue   PART 2 – Before There Was an Israel PROLOGUE All human events occur within dimensions of space and time. Prerequisites for adequate evaluation of happenings are knowledge of the physical environment or stage-setting and comprehension of historical antecedents or factors preceding the event. Because […]

Review of R. C. Sproul (1994) Not a Chance: The Myth of Chance in Modern Science and Cosmology Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, xiv+235       This truly dreadful book contains ten chapters, with the following titles: 1. The Soft Pillow. 2. The Mask of Ignorance. 3. A Quantum Leap. 4. The Voice of Reason. […]

Toplumsal Geriliklerimizin Sorumlulari Din Adamlari Ilhan Arsel “Eger (din adamlarina) karsi benim sahsimdan bir sey anlamak isterse niz, derim ki ben sahsen onlarin düsmaniyim. Onlarin menfi istikamette atacaklari bir hatfe (adim), yalniz benim sahsi imanima degil, yalniz benim gayeme degil, o adim benim millet imin hayati ile…, o adim milletimin kalbine havale edilmis zehirli bir […]

Insanlarimizi, Farkli Din ve Inançtakilere Karsi Düsman ve Hosgörü’den Yoksun Kilan Seriat Verilerinin Belleticisi Olarak Din adami. Orta Çag boyunca Batili din adamlarinin din adina giristikleri bagnazliklari, cinayetleri, kötülükleri ve sahtelikleri bizim kendi din adamlarimizin geçmisteki davranislariyle kiyaslamak hangi taraf için daha iyi bir not verdirir, bilinmez! Görünüs Batili din adaminin aleyhine gibidir. Fakat matbaa’nin […]

In Defense of the Fine Tuning Design Argument (2001) James Hannam   The Internet Infidels have long been interested in publishing a theistics defense of the fine-tuning argument against our criticisms, which are collected among our many essays on the Design Argument in general. James Hannam is the first to oblige, and the following essay […]

Astarte and Yahweh James Still Long before the Yahweh cult emerged among the Hebrews in the Ancient Near East the Goddess Astarte was worshipped by them. Her oldest temple at Byblos dates back to the Neolithic and she flourished in the Bronze Age where she was also known as Demeter in Greece and Ishtar in […]

Kerygmatic Sources of the Jesus Movement James Still Christianity begins with John the Baptist. The earliest gospel, Mark, begins with the Baptism of Jesus by John (1:1-11), and the other three include a narrative of John’s ministry in their accounts as well (Mt. 3:1-12; Lk. 3:1-20; Jn. 1:1-8, 19-36; 3:23-30). Outside of the gospels we […]

Is ETDAV an Apologetic? Jeffery Jay Lowder James Patrick Holding maintains that, despite my introduction to The Jury Is In,[1] “Jury‘s ultimate thrust is misguided.”[2] Holding argues that the Jury authors have misunderstood McDowell’s stated purpose for his book, Evidence That Demands a Verdict (hereafter ETDAV).[3] Jury authors treat ETDAV as if it were a […]

Moderator’s Introduction Cathy Hennen Moderator: Good evening and welcome to the UPC [University Program Committee] Religious Affairs and Horizons Committee debate on creation, special creation, versus evolution. My name is Cathy Hennen and I’m from the Department of Speech Communication and it’s my privilege to be the moderator of tonight’s debate. The topic for the […]

Is the Weak Anthropic Principle Compatible With Divine Design? A Response to Craig (1997) Kyle Kelly   The teleological argument, or argument from design, is considered by many to be one of the strongest arguments for the existence of god(s). Many proponents of this argument point to the improbability of a universe existing with properties […]

A Critique of Michael Denton’s Evolution: A Theory in Crisis (1995) Mark I. Vuletic   Note: This document is undergoing modification. Also, the author intends to eventually produce a revised and expanded version of this review. [A previous version of this document has been published in Apologia: The Journal of the Wellington Christian Apologetics Society, […]

Stace and the Question of Objectivity in Mysticism (1996) Mark I. Vuletic   [This paper was written for a seminar in mysticism taught by Neal Grossman at The University of Illinois at Chicago in Spring, 1996] In Chapter 3 of Mysticism and Philosophy, W.T. Stace considers the question of whether the mystical experience is objective […]

Definition of a ‘Cult’ mathew   What makes some religions “cults” and others “mainstream”? This is taken from Margot Adler’s book Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America, a guide to contemporary neopaganism. She quotes P.E.I. Bonewitz on what to look for and avoid in any organization that promises wisdom […]

The big bang model and the second law of thermodynamics reveal that space, time, matter, and energy had a beginning. Therefore, the universe had a beginning. Dr. Martin has agreed with me concerning this premise. Still, he entertains the absurd idea that the universe popped into existence without a cause. Cosmologists who accept this idea […]

The Futility of Non Christian Thought Douglas Jones   Biblical Christianity, properly defined in terms of classical Protestantism, offers a radical philosophical critique of non-Christian thought. This Christian critique is radical in the sense that it challenges the very core of non-Christian pretensions and demonstrates that non-Christian thought, whether atheistic, agnostic, or religious, ultimately destroys […]

On Two Reviews of Atheism, Morality and Meaning (2003) Michael Martin   Two reviews of my book, Atheism, Morality, and Meaning–one by Taner Edis[1] and one by Jeff Lowder[2]–have recently been posted on the Secular Web. Both reviewers, although initially praising the book saying that it is “well worth reading” and that the territory covered […]