"History shows that metaphysics is subjective, prevaricated to the extent of unintelligibility, and irrational; it is essentially ostentatious and philosophically so dense that it is inane. Likewise, many revelations are demonstrably and factually wrong. Both are anachronistic and have ceased to be inspiring sources of human knowledge. Any reliable human knowledge is empirical and scientific."
In Nonbelief and Evil, Theodore Drange presents what he calls the Argument from Nonbelief against the existence of God: the fact that not all people believe the gospel message before they die provides grounds for denying that the Christian God exists. Pardi contends, however, that there are good reasons to deny that this inference goes through; he argues that given the nature of free persons, it is not within the set of logically possible states of affairs that God is able to actualize. Further, Pardi contends that Drange has an inadequate understanding of religious belief that should be rejected and replaced with a more robust formulation.
The Cooke-Aijaz Debate: Closing Remarks from the Moderator (2003) Richard Carrier As moderator for the Cooke-Aijaz Debate I feel compelled to register my disappointment with both sides. Cooke’s approach was generally flippant and often insulting to his opponent, and to the religious generally. I would never recommend him for a debate again. Indeed, he largely […]
Theodore Drange responds to Guthrie's critique. Drange finds Guthrie's essay "unclear," and contends that Guthrie "erred in many ways," including "misstating my views in many ways (and continuing such misstatements even in his concluding paragraph), ... in trying to argue that God (were he to exist) is unable to reduce human suffering, and ... in his attempt to formulate a divine desire that conflicts with God's desire to reduce human suffering."
Does God Exist? (2002) Imran Aijaz’s First Rebuttal: Critique of Dr. Cooke’s Arguments for Atheism I am grateful to Dr. Cooke for his well written and entertaining reflections on the case for atheism. It is unfortunate, however, that absolutely nothing in Dr. Cooke’s opening statement provided any sound justification for being an atheist. I shall […]
Does God Exist? (2002) Imran Aijaz’s Closing Statement I find it rather surprising to see Dr. Cooke “wonder[ing] what value there is in thrashing out questions of the existence of God”. If a being like the God of classical theism does, in fact, exist, then man is part of a teleological worldview that is unfolding […]
Does God Exist? (2002) Opening Statement by Bill Cooke The Folly of the Super-dupers There is a beach at the northern extremity of New Zealand called the Ninety-Mile Beach. Oddly enough, the beach is ninety miles long. Imagine how many grains of sand there must be on this beach. Tens of millions? Now imagine one […]
Does God Exist? (2002) Bill Cooke’s First Rebuttal: Super Duper Defended…or Was It Hyper Mega? The opening statement of Mr Aijaz was a worthwhile, although unsuccessful, effort to retrieve some credibility for a cause long recognised as irrevocably lost by the vast majority of academics. But more than this, his arguments underscored the main point […]
Does God Exist? (2002) Bill Cooke’s Second Rebuttal: Super Duper’s (or Was It Hyper Mega’s) Last Gasp One really wonders what value there is in thrashing out questions of the existence of God. The evidence against the existence of any sort of god is so overwhelming as to be hardly worth arguing. And, as I […]
Does God Exist? (2002) Bill Cooke’s Closing Statement: Behold the new god! Anthropocentric conceit! Having lunged and parried in cyberspace on the question of the possible existence of a god, how far have we got? I doubt anyone’s mind has been changed significantly. All that has probably happened as a result of these exchanges is […]
(2002) Jeffery Jay Lowder In the matter of Newdow v. Congress, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals declared the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional. The court noted that these revisionist words (added in 1954) violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. However, this ruling has been unpopular, to put it […]
The Cooke-Aijaz Debate on the Existence of God (2002) The Cooke-Aijaz Debate: Closing Remarks from the Debate Moderator (2003) by Richard Carrier The debate moderator registers his disappointment with both sides, concluding that nothing new or useful came out of this debate.
Does God Exist? (2002) Opening Statement by Imran Aijaz Prefatory Remarks I would like to thank Richard Carrier for making this internet debate possible, and for agreeing to moderate the exchange between Dr. Bill Cooke and myself. I would also like to thank Dr. Cooke for agreeing to participate with me in addressing the important […]
Review of Darwinian Natural Right: The Biological Ethics of Human Nature, by Larry Arnhart.
A Critique of Dennis McKinsey’s Encyclopedia of Biblical Errancy Jeffery Jay Lowder Updated: August 9, 2002 Dennis McKinsey has made somewhat of a second career for himself out of arguing against the doctrine of Biblical inerrancy. The former editor of Biblical Errancy newsletter, McKinsey is the author of a massive book entitled, The Encyclopedia of […]
Updated: June 4, 2002 The following book review is a revised version of the original review published in Philo 2 (1999), pp. 89-102. Review of Lee Strobel The Case for Christ: A Journalist’s Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1998. Lee Strobel, an ex-investigative reporter for the Chicago Tribune who […]
The Case for a Coherent God By Joseph A. Sabella Hyper Link Index Introduction 1A. Scientifically Coherent God Universe vs. Multidimensional Near-Death Experiences Morally Coherent God Summary 1B. Divine Properties 1C. Conclusion Arguments Against & For the Idea of a Coherent God 1.1. Perfection-vs.-Creation Drange – Sabella 1.2. Perfection-vs.-Creation Drange – Sabella 2. Immutability-vs.-Creation Drange […]
Review of Warranted Christian Belief (2002) Tyler Wunder Review: Alvin Plantinga. 2000. Warranted Christian Belief. New York: Oxford University Press. xx+508 pp. [This review was originally published in Philo Vol. 5, No. 1 (Spring-Summer 2002): pp. 103-118. This Secular Web version contains some minor changes by the author, but otherwise is faithful to the version […]
Did Jesus Exist? Earl Doherty and the Argument to Ahistoricity (2002) What follows is a critical review of The Jesus Puzzle: Did Christianity Begin with a Mythical Christ? Challenging the Existence of an Historical Jesus, a work by Earl Doherty (Canadian Humanist Publications: Ottawa, Canada; revised edition, 2000). This does not address anything on Doherty’s […]
Gerkin takes the classic theistic
Argument to Design from William Paley's
Natural Theology, "the watchmaker analogy," argues that it is logically flawed as an argument for theism, then turns it on its head and reformulates it as an argument for atheism.
Related documents: “The Rest of the Story” (2002) by Jeffery Jay Lowder Lowder’s review of Lee Strobel’s The Case for Christ. On July 13, 2000, I happened to be flipping through radio stations when I stumbled upon a talk radio show with a voice familiar to me. As luck would have it, it was Lee […]
According to a form of the kalam cosmological argument expounded by William Lane Craig, there cannot be a beginningless temporal world because the application of Cantorian set theory of transfinite arithmetic to the real world generates counterintuitive absurdities, thereby disclosing that an infinite set of real entities is metaphysically impossible. This article shows how this is not the case by pursuing a novel approach wherein it is understood that an infinite set of real entities is not a set, considered as a technical term of art, within the meaning of Cantorian theory. Upon accepting the original version for publication, Quentin Smith, then editor of Philo, wrote: "Your paper has been studied thoroughly for some time and there is agreement that it is at least an undercutting defeater of [William Lane] Craig's beliefs about real infinites, probably even an overriding defeater. More importantly, it introduces a novel metaphysical theory of the relation of transfinite arithmetic to concrete reality." Guminski's persuasive challenge to Craig's account of why Cantorian transfinite arithmetic should not be deemed to apply to the world of concrete entities has yet to be answered by Craig. The world wonders.
One of the theistic maneuvers used to explain and justify the hiddenness of God is the so-called "Feigned-allegiance Reply" (FAR). Although some arguments against FAR have been published in the literature, Plugaru here presents what he believes is a new and valid attack on FAR (NAFAR).
(2001) (Interview w/ Lynn Anderson, D.MIN) Kyle J. Gerkin This is perhaps the weakest objection of all. Since Christians often seem so damn sure of themselves, I can see where an outsider might think that doubters need not apply. However, any rational person realizes that there is no such thing as absolute certainty, and simple, […]
From Which Religious Sect Did Jesus Emerge? by Sid Green We know from the first-century Jewish historian Josephus that three main sects dominated first-century Palestine: the Sadducees, Pharisees, and Essenes. Green asks the question “from which did Jesus emerge?” and takes us on a fascinating tour of the evidence. The Evil Atheist Conspiracy by James […]
Michael Behe Behe, Biochemistry, and the Invisible Hand (2001) (Off Site) by Niall Shanks and Karl Joplin Published in Philo Vol. 4 No. 1, this essay takes creationist biochemist Michael Behe to task for failing to make an evidentially grounded case for the supernatural intelligent design of biochemical systems. In Shanks’ and Joplin’s earlier work […]
A summary of the 2001 debate between Paul Kurtz and William Lane Craig on ethics without God.
It is long overdue that people who do not believe in any god are elected to significant political office. Atheists must start electing some of their own, and Eddie Tabash, the only admitted atheist to run for political office in 2000, describes what is necessary for this to happen, and how we need to overcome crippling assumptions and prejudices and start getting politically savvy, just as the Christian Right has done.
(2001) [A somewhat shorter and significantly different version of this paper, entitled “Epiphenomenalism as Twofold Support for Atheism,” was delivered before the Fall 2000 meeting of the West Virginia Philosophical Society, held October 20-21 at Wheeling Jesuit University in Wheeling, WV.] 1. INTRODUCTION My aim in this essay is to present two atheological arguments of […]
In the "The Historicity of the Empty Tomb Evaluated" [Index], Peter Kirby considers arguments both for and against the historicity of the empty tomb, ultimately arguing against the historicity of the empty tomb.
