Modern Library

Creationist Debates Is Creationism Science? (Gish-Zindler Debate) (1990) [ Index ] A debate between Duane Gish and Frank Zindler that was aired on a radio program hosted by Jim Bleikamp. Zindler tries to get Gish to move beyond merely attacking evolution and provide positive evidence for creationism. E-mail Conversation with a Creationist (Alan Hale vs. Anonymous) (1997) […]

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.

Bible Codes About Minimal Skip by Brendan McKay (1997) (Off Site) Assassinations Foretold in Moby Dick! by Brendan McKay (1997) (Off Site) The Bible Code: A Book Review by Allyn Jackson (1997) (Off Site) The Demise of Drosnin by Brendan McKay (1997) (Off Site) Hidden Messages and The Bible Code by David E. Thomas (1997) […]

Cosmological Arguments: Reviews/Critiques Bad Science, Worse Philosophy: The Quackery and Logic-Chopping of David Foster’s The Philosophical Scientists (Book Review) (2000) by Richard Carrier The errors in David Becks’ arguments for God in the book In Defense of Miracles are examined. The first of three arguments is the modern incarnation of the cosmological “first cause” argument, which […]

Moral Arguments Moral arguments for theism include attempts to establish the existence of God from some (alleged) fact about morality. Many people hold that objective moral values are required to make sense of certain facets of human life, for instance, and that God is the only possible source of such values. The metaethical moral argument […]

Mr. Triplett’s Opening Remarks

Concluding Remarks: Return to DT and the Possibility of Rational Resurrection-Belief and Resurrection-Doubt   On its barest interpretation, DT claims that both belief in and scepticism of the resurrection can be rational given an awareness of the most persuasive argumentative cases for both sides in the resurrection-debate; consequently, the truth or falsity of DT will […]

A Formal Justification of Agnosticism by Bill Schultz Introduction There has long been a trend among some strong atheists to savagely attack any who declare themselves to be agnostics. The usual mode of attack is to bifurcate the decision, claiming that if you fail to assert that God exists (and to thereby become a theist), […]

PHILOSOPHICALTOPICS Volume XVI, No. 2, Fall 1988 The “Inductive” Argument From Evil: A Dialogue* BRUCE RUSSELL Wayne State University STEPHEN WYKSTRA Calvin College   The following is a conversation between Beatrice Leaver, Athea Ist, and Agnes Tic. Bea and Athea teach philosophy–Bea at a Christian college, and Athea, at a large midwestern university. Agnes is […]

Church-State Separation Subtopics: Boy Scouts Church, State, & Creationism Flag Desecration Amendment Is America a Christian Nation? Pledge of Allegiance School Prayer Supreme Court Decisions Vouchers

  A6. The Distance to Supernova SN1987A and the Speed of Light When supernova SN1987A exploded, its light soon struck a ring of gas some distance from the star and illuminated it. As viewed from Earth, the ring appeared around the supernova about a year after it exploded. Its angular size combined with the time […]

I will round out this work with some miscellaneous arguments which, with one exception, are from Dr. Hovind’s notebook. Dr. Hovind (A): If the universe is not billions of years old, then we need not bother with the other arguments supporting evolution. A . The presently accepted history of evolution on Earth would be in […]

Young-earth "proof" #5: The Moon is receding a few inches each year. Less than a million years ago the Moon would have been so close that the tides would have drowned everyone twice a day. Less than 2 or 3 million years ago the Moon would have been inside the Roche limit* and, thus, destroyed. […]

Young-earth "proof" #27: The oldest tree in the world is 4300 years old. 27 . What does the age of a tree have to do with the age of the earth? If, in fact, the oldest tree is 4300 years old, so what? Perhaps Dr. Hovind is impressed by the fact that such a tree […]

Second Rebuttal Jennifer Roth Before getting to the main subjects of dispute which remain between us, let me quickly summarize the surprising number of points on which Mr. Carrier and I seem to agree. We agree that both the mother and father of a child have obligations toward that child. (Assuming that a "child" is […]

On The Issues Involved in Feminism: Feminism has expanded in meaning over the past few decades, incorporating many different viewpoints, some often contradicting one another. Feminism ranges from mild to extreme and employs a variety of strategies and methods to secure equal rights for women within our societies. What approaches should be taken? Which should […]

On The Issues Involved in Intelligence and Race: Each decade, the controversy over intelligence and race rears its ugly head and public opinions on the subject increase in number. For some, the ideas involved in the subject of intelligence and race are largely misunderstood with the question being helplessly flawed from the onset. Some consider […]

Copin’ with Copan The Defense of Zacharias that Fails Doug Krueger Some time ago I roasted Ravi Zacharias’ book A Shattered Visage: The Real Face of Atheism in a review posted here on the Secular Web. Paul Copan, a graduate student pursuing a degree from Marquette University, has attacked my review, and, for good measure, […]

  CHAPTER 14 Reactions from the Media Concurrent to its appearance in The New Humanist, the manifesto was released to the media. Both Albert Dieffenbach of Boston and Charles Francis Potter of New York had expressed their willingness to help with publicity, and undoubtedly their expertise was useful. The press releases yielded some surprising results. […]

Like Dr. Geisler, I want to express my appreciation for the opportunity to be here. I always consider it a privlege to speak on subjects like the issue under discussion tonight, and I certainly want to thank those who arranged this event for asking me to be a part of it. At the same time, […]

I brought with me a book that somebody inquired about, who came up to my desk to talk to me. I’m sure you’ve heard of it. It’s the Book of Mormon. Every version of the Book of Mormon that I have ever seen has, in the front of it, the "Testimony of the Three Witnesses." […]

The Religious Character of American Patriotism It’s time to recognize our traditions and answer some hard questions (1987) Frederick Edwords In the last few years, we have witnessed a number of patriotic celebrations in the United States — celebrations that have taken on an almost religious expression. In 1976, it was the glorious bicentennial of […]

Old Testament Life and Literature Gerald A. Larue Table of Contents Preface A Word to the Reader Part One: The Bible and How We Study It 1. What is the Old Testament? The development of the Canon. Why do we read? 2. How Do We Read? The problem of history. History and legend. Myth, fable […]

  Old Testament Life and Literature (1968) Gerald A. Larue   Chapter 22 – Literature of the Middle Period ABOUT thirty years are embraced in the period which we are labeling for convenience "The Middle Period" of the Exile and which extends roughly from about 585 to 555. During these years a considerable body of […]

(1968) Gerald A. Larue Chapter 8 – Who Were the Hebrews? ACCORDING to biblical tradition, the Hebrews are peoples descended from Shem, one of Noah’s sons, through Eber, the eponymous ancestor, and Abraham. Gen. 7:22 f., reports that the flood destroyed all life except that in Noah’s ark; consequently, the whole human family descended from […]

Time, Successive Addition, and Kalam Cosmological Arguments Graham Oppy   Craig (1981) presents and defends several different kalam cosmological arguments. The core of each of these arguments is the following ur-argument: 1. The universe began to exist. 2. Whatever begins to exist has a cause of its existence. 3. (Hence) The universe has a cause […]

Review of: J. P. Moreland (ed.) The Creation Hypothesis Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity Press Graham Oppy This book is an interesting addition to the anti-evolution literature. (For a nice survey of this literature up until 1992, see Tom McIver’s Anti-Evolution: A Reader’s Guide to Writings Before and After Darwin Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992.) […]

Din Adami Insanlarimizi Seriat Öyküleriyle Uyutarak Akil Disi’liklara Inanan Kisiler Durumunda Tutar. Islam seriati’ni olusturan din verileri, genellikle öykülerle (masallarla) süslenmistir ki bazilari seriat dilinde “Kissa” diye tanimlanir. Bunlar din adami’nin elinde Müslüman halklari akilciliktan uzaklastirmak için is gören birer araçtir. Bu masal’lardan pek çogu genellikle Tevrat’dan bazilari da Hiristiyan geleneklerinden kaynaklanmis seylerdir ki, her […]

The Search for the Historical Jesus James Still Before the nineteenth century, when Christians sought to understand Jesus and the ancient world depicted in the gospels, they adhered to naturalistic literalism. Naturalistic literalism is the practice of reading the Scriptures and accepting the events that are described therein as the literal truth. No one had […]

The Miracle of the Resurrection Before we can even examine the evidence to determine whether the resurrection is a historical event, we must first deal with the problem of whether such an event is possible in the first place. We need to confront the problem of miracles. More skeptics reject the resurrection because of its […]