Added Round and Round We Go: Can Survival Scholars Respond to Arguments? (2026) by Keith Augustine to the Empirical Arguments section of the Life after Death/Immortality page in the Modern Documents section of the Secular Web Library.
In “On Cross-Cultural and Historical Near-Death Experiences: A Secular Historian of Religions Answers a Critic” Gregory Shushan took issue with being addressed as a survivalist in an earlier Secular Web paper by Keith Augustine, doubled down on maintaining that an Augustine article in the Journal of Near-Death Studies advocates promissory materialism, and denied that his own work only addressed parapsychological evidence concerning survival after death at the exclusion of other kinds relevant evidence. In this reply Augustine clarifies exactly how Shushan limits the type of evidence that he considers when writing about survival to evidence of a parapsychological sort, denies advocating promissory materialism, and charges that Shushan inflates the significance of using the term ‘survivalist’ when referring to a group. Augustine goes on to emphasize that the overarching theme of his earlier Secular Web paper was to explore why critics of survival skeptics consistently resort to fallacious arguments instead of addressing the skeptical arguments themselves.
New in the Kiosk: The Inconvenient Truth About Evidence (2026) by Stephen Campana
In “The Inconvenient Truth About Evidence” Stephen Campana argues that compelling evidence does not necessarily produce certainty since evidence can point in opposite directions. Using the JonBenét Ramsey murder case to illustrate, he shows how the same body of evidence can support seemingly contradictory conclusions. Applying this lesson to the resurrection of Jesus, Campana aims to show that persuasive evidence on either side does not, by itself, determine what actually happened historically. Furthermore, because interpretations of evidence are shaped by prior beliefs, experiences, desires, and expectations, different assumptions about what is possible can generate radically different conclusions even when starting from the same evidence. Thus when the evidence remains genuinely ambiguous, humility is appropriate. From a Christian perspective that distinguishes a gift of faith from an objective weighing of evidence, Campana concludes that in place of assuming that one’s own interpretation is correct, we ought to accept the understanding that makes the most sense to us while simultaneously recognizing that we could be wrong.
Recommended reading: Truth: What It Is, How to Find It, and Why It Still Matters (2026) by Michael Shermer
In Truth: What It Is, How to Find It, and Why It Still Matters Skeptic Magazine founder Michael Shermer argues that in this “post-truth world” of echo chambers clouded by doubt and distortion, not only does truth still matter, but it is essential to our individual and collective flourishing. Truth canvasses why truth deserves our attention, how falsehoods take hold in the public’s imagination, and how we can resist manipulation through reason, evidence, and open inquiry. It introduces powerful tools for evaluating claims, including the concepts of causality, correlation, and Bayesian reasoning. It then turns to how we determine truth in specific domains like science, history, and religion, bringing clarity to hot-button topics like UFOs, conspiracy theories, miracles, mystical experiences, consciousness, morality, God, and even existence itself. With his trademark wit and intellectual rigor, Shermer reveals how even the most intelligent among us fall prey to such pitfalls as “myside bias” and motivated reasoning, and how a commitment to universal realism can help push back against tribalism and misinformation. In emphasizing critical thinking and urging readers to rebuild the intellectual foundations of a functioning democracy, Truth offers a timely antidote to cynicism and confusion.