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What's New Archive ● 1998 ● July

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What's New?

The following is an itemized list of new items available on the Secular Web.

• July 31, 1998

• • Added August 1998 Internet Infidels Newsletter to the Newsletter section.

  • Added August 1998 web.scan to the web.scan section

• July 30, 1998

• • Added Culture Watch, a watchdog group of the religious right, to the Church-State section of the Modern Library.

• July 29, 1998

• • Added "July "A": Defining a Square Circle" and "Defining a Humanist" by Judith Hayes (The Happy Heretic, July 1998)

  • Made substantial modifications to the James Still author page of the Modern Library

• July 28, 1998

• • Added Sins of the Fathers (1998) (Off Site) to the Mormonism section of the Modern Library
    In the first of two interviews, the former wife of a polygamist talks about poverty, abuse and plural husbands' quest for the eternal screw.

• July 27, 1998

• • Added The Rise of Christianity: How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries by Rodney Stark to the Christianity section of the II Bookstore

  • Added Resurrection of Jesus : History, Experience, Theology by Gerd Lüdemann to the Resurrection page in the Christianity section of the II Bookstore

• July 25, 1998

• • Added "Has Science Found God?" (1998) [ 15K ] by Jeffery Jay Lowder to the Features section
    According to a recent article in Newsweek, the answer is "yes". The author suggests that scientific discoveries -- including Big Bang cosmology and the values of physical constants required to allow life -- point towards the existence of a god. Moreover, the article suggests that a growing number of scientists believe in the existence of God. What do atheists and agnostics have to say about all of this?

• July 23, 1998

• • Added a Phillip Johnson page to the creationism section of the Modern Library

  • Added Talk.origins Post of the Month: June 1998 by Nathan Urban
    Creationists "after the fact designate some particular configuration of the system as 'special', such as 'those molecules in the corner' or 'the existence of life on Earth', and say 'Wow, things must have been set up in the beginning exactly so that this configuration will occur!'.

• July 22, 1998

• • Added PBS 'Religion & Ethics News Weekly' show highlights atheists to the Events page

• July 20, 1998

• • Added the January/February 1998 issue of The Skeptical Review

  • Added a new feature column on human rights and religious discrimination
    The European Convention on Human Rights prohibits discriminating against someone based on his or her race, gender or religion. The UK government recently announced that it planned to incorporate the document into UK law. So how did the churches react to a law prohibiting religious discrimination?

  • Added "Why Be Moral?" (1998) [ 31K ] by Theodore Drange
    The reasons for being moral depend on what it means "to be moral". On some possible definitions, the question, "Why be moral?", is meaningless. But in the case of the other definitions, it is possible to understand the question and even to answer it. Moreover, on the definitions which make the question meaningful, the atheist can answer the question just as well as the theist. Indeed, with respect to specific moral questions (e.g., "Why should people not rape?"), the atheist can provide a better answer than theists who accept the Bible as God's Word.

• July 18, 1998

• • Added Review of Moreland's The Creation Hypothesis (1998) [ 137K ] by Graham Oppy
    In some respects, this book is better than run-of-the-mill attacks on evolutionary theory. However, there are respects in which this book is very much like familiar anti-evolutionary literature. Moreover, the argument in one part very often pulls against the argument in another part. It's hard to see how claims about what 'theistic science' can explain can be justified unless someone, somewhere, has a well-worked-out theory of this kind. It's time for creationists to give us their positive views in the same kind of textbook format in which evolutionary theory is often presented, so that these views can be subject to proper criticism.

• July 17, 1998

• • Updated Ed Babinski's author page in the Modern Library and added a link to the author's book Leaving the Fold.

• July 16, 1998

• • Added Rationalists of East Tennessee to the list of local organizations

• July 15, 1998

• • Added Richard Dawkins to the list of II supporters

  • Added June 1998 Feedback to the Feedback section.

• July 13, 1998

• • Added a Skepticism and Psychology section to the II Bookstore

  • Redesigned the look and feel of the II Bookstore. Check it out!

  • Added Awesome Versus Adipose: Who Really Works Hardest to Banish Ignorance? (1998) [ 11K ] (Off Site) by Peter Atkins

  • Added Peter W. Atkins author page

  • Added When Religion Steps on Science's Turf by Richard Dawkins (1998) [ 14K ] (Off Site) by Richard Dawkins

  • Added Darwin Re-Crucified: Why Are So Many Afraid of Naturalism? (1998) [ 17K ] by Paul Kurtz

• July 12, 1998

• • Added "Everyone's a Skeptic -- About Other Religions" (1998) by James A. Haught to the feature section
    Everyone on Earth is a religious disbeliever - in one way or another. Protestants doubt Catholic claims of Virgin Mary visits. Muslims doubt Hindu assertions that the pious should pray over models of Shiva's penis. Christians doubt that Santeria gods want animals sacrificed to them. Jews doubt the Christian claim that the Messiah already arrived. Non-Mormons doubt the Mormon claim that Jesus came to America. And the whole human race now doubts the Aztec feathered serpent god. A whimsical look at disbelief.

• July 11, 1998

• • Added "Summary and Assessment of the Craig-Jesseph Debate" (1998) [ 41K ] by Jeffery Jay Lowder
    A summary and assessment of the 1997 debate on the existence of God between William Lane Craig and Doug Jesseph. Lowder concludes that the overall debate was a draw (in terms of quality of argument), but that Craig won as far as the effectiveness of presentation was concerned.

• July 8, 1998

• • Added Virgin Birth: The Real Story of Mary and Her Son Jesus by Gerd Lüdemann to the historical criticism page, Christianity section, of the II Bookstore

• July 5, 1998

• • Added The Psychology of Religion : An Empirical Approach and The Psychology of Religion: Theoretical Approaches to the Psychology of Belief section of the II Bookstore

• July 4, 1998

• • Added July 1998 Newsletter to the Internet Infidels Newsletters.

  • Can Creationism Be Scientific?" (1998) [ 32K ] by Theodore M. Drange
    Theistic creationism cannot be scientific; on the other hand, naturalistic creationism could be a scientific theory. However, "that is a moot point and has no application to public policy. There are excellent reasons (of both a scientific and pedagogical sort) for teachers not to present or discuss the theory in any science class."

• July 1, 1998

• • July's web.scan: 'F' is for forehead, 'H' is for hand [ 8K ]
    There's something sinister going on in the supermarket; a global conspiracy at the cash register. If you carry a mobile phone, it may already be too late... The Bible meets The X Files in the theories about the mark of the beast.

See "What's New?" for past months.

We also recommend checking the following pages to keep abreast of recent changes at the following highly recommended sites:

• American Civil Liberties Union
• American Humanist Association
• Council for Secular Humanism
• Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network, Inc.
• National Center for Science Education
• Operation Clambake (anti-$cientology site)
• Skeptic's Society
• Talk.origins Archive