Added You be the Judge: An Unopposed Brief Challenging Legal Apologetics (2023) by Robert G. Miller to the Argument from Miracles page under Arguments for the Existence of a God, and the Resurrection page under Christianity in the Modern Documents section of the Secular Web Library.
Christian apologists have published dozens of books and articles during the last four centuries claiming that they can prove the resurrection of Jesus using legal standards of evidence. Retired attorney Robert G. Miller sought an attorney who would argue in support of the Resurrection in a format closer to a real adversarial process in court, but could not find a single lawyer who would even discuss the possibility of facing an actual opponent. In this unopposed brief, Miller thus explains three independent reasons why apologists cannot prove Jesus’ resurrection by legal principles, and then goes on to critique legal apologists’ standard arguments for the Resurrection. Miller seeks someone willing to respond to this brief.
New in the Kiosk: The Great Dechurching and the Elephant in the Nave (2023) by Vern Loomis
Jim Davis’ and Michael Graham’s The Great Dechurching: Who’s Leaving, Why are They Going, and What Will it Take to Bring Them Back? is an insider’s look at why so many people in the United States—40 million in the last 25 years—have stopped attending church. In this article, Vern Loomis argues that, much to the chagrin of religious pollsters, declining belief in religious doctrines is at least one of the major factors driving this exodus. Loomis raises a lot of important questions that, when one reads between the lines, suggest this alternative perspective of what might be compelling the exodus.
Recommended reading: Finding Purpose in a Godless World: Why We Care Even If the Universe Doesn’t by Ralph Lewis
In Finding Purpose in a Godless World psychiatrist Ralph Lewis presents a compelling argument for how human purpose and caring emerged, bottom-up, in a spontaneous and unguided universe. Although our random world is often misconstrued as nihilistic, demotivating, or devoid of morality and meaning, Lewis helps readers understand how people cope with random adversity without relying on supernatural belief. Although coming to terms with randomness is often frightening, it can be liberating and empowering, too. Lewis goes on to show how our sense of purpose and meaning is entangled with mistaken intuitions that events in our lives happen for some intended cosmic reason, and that the universe itself has inherent purpose. Substituting theistic arguments for a purposeful universe with an evidence-based yet optimistic and empathetic perspective, Finding Purpose in a Godless World helps readers see an unguided, spontaneous universe as awe-inspiring and foundational to building a more compassionate society.