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What's New Archive ● 1998 ● May

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What's New?

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

• May 30, 1998

• • Added a new feature article on the Religious Freedom Amendment

• May 29, 1998
  • Added Family Freethought Alliance to the organizations section of the Parents' Corner.
    
• May 28, 1998
  • Added new topic Christian Worldview to the Christianity section of the Modern Library.
    
• May 27, 1998
• • Added a feature article on the Pope and the Shroud of Turin by Sandy Feroe
• May 26, 1998
• • Added Some Emendations to Leftow's Arguments About Time and Eternity (1998) [ 34K ] by Graham Oppy
    
  • Added a Michael Behe page to the creationism section of the Modern Library
• May 25, 1998
• • Added "Critical Notice: Frank J. Tipler (1995) The Physics of Immortality" (1998) [ 100K ] by Graham Oppy
    
  • Added An Inquiry into Davis' Account of the Possibility of Rational Belief and Rational Scepticism in the Resurrection of Jesus (1998) [ Index ] by Tyler Wunder
  • Added an author page for Tyler Wunder
  • Added Writing for the Wall to the list of secular e-mail lists
  • Added a link to the Atheists at NYU (Off Site) to the list of student organizations
  • Added a link to the Family Freethought Alliance (St Louis, MO) to the list of local organizations
  • Added "Plantinga's Probability Arguments Against Evolutionary Naturalism" (1997) [ 44K ] by Branden Fitelson and Elliott Sober to the Christian Apologetics and Apologists page
    Plantinga suggests that evolutionary naturalism is self-defeating, but that traditional theism is not. However, what is true is that neither position has an answer to hyperbolic doubt. ... The theist, like the evolutionary naturalist, is unable to construct a non-question-begging argument that refutes global skepticism.
• May 24, 1998
• • Added a new feature article by James Haught, "Evolving Away From Magic"
  • Created author page and added The Incoherence of Theism by Andrew Moroz
• May 23, 1998
• • Added Yale College Humanist Society to the list of local organizations
• May 20, 1998
• • Added a link to Atheists of Northern Colorado (Off Site) from the list of local organizations
• May 19, 1998
• • Fixed several HTML errors in "E-Mail Conversation with a Creationist" by Alan Hale
    Readers who previously read this document may have noticed that, in several places, the creationist would appear to refer to a web site, but the URL is missing. This is because the creationist enclosed all of the URLs within angle brackets and we negelected to format the angle brackets appropriately. Web browsers interpret "raw" angle brackets as directives, and do not display the text between them. As soon as formatted the angle brackets properly, all of the creationist's URLs began showing up. Thanks to Jim Foley for pointing out this (embarassing) error.
• May 16, 1998
• • Added a link to the Humanist Society of Scotland to the list of national organizations
• May 15, 1998
• • Added April 1998 Feedback [74K]
    Questions and comments by readers of the Secular Web
• May 13, 1998
• • Added a request for a review of God and Inscrutable Evil : In Defense of Theism and Atheism by David O'Connor to the Call for Papers
  • Added a request for a review of In Defense of Miracles edited by R. Douglas Geivett and Gary Habermas to the Call for Papers
• May 12, 1998
• • Added "On Universes and Firing Squads" (1998) [ 46K ] by Michael Hurben
    "Appeals to the alleged "fine-tuning" of the cosmos will have to wait until there is a compelling, definite reason to suspect that the existence of our universe really is improbable. Vague analogies with firing squads and arbitrarily selected probabilities may lead to some interesting speculations, but they do not point to any significant evidence for some kind of creator."
  • Added an author page for Michael Hurben
• May 10, 1998
• • Added a new feature commentary on the recent government-sanctioned National Day of Prayer to the Secular Web
• May 9, 1998
• • "Freethought Books on CD-ROM" (Off Site)
    Emmett Fields is the director of the Bank of Wisdom, an organization responsible for scanning forgotten freethought classics. Most of the historical section of the Secular Web Library was originally scanned by the Bank of Wisdom. All freethinkers should therefore be extremely grateful to the Bank of Wisdom. Please show your support by purchasing one or more of their CD-ROMs.
    NOTE: Internet Infidels, Inc. received no compensation, financial or otherwise, for the above announcement. Moreover, we do not receive any of the proceeds from the sale of these important CD-ROMs. We are promoting the CD-ROMs out of appreciation for Mr. Fields' work.
  • Restored the II Quotation of the Minute on the Secular Web
• May 4, 1998
• • Updated the II FAQ: Internet Infidels, Inc. is now a tax-exempt organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. This makes all donations to Internet Infidels, Inc. tax-deductible.
  • Farrell Till and Adnan are the moderators of a new moderated newsgroup dedicated to Biblical errancy: alt.bible.errancy
• May 3, 1998
• • Added Sources of Ethical Authority (1997) [ 18K ] (Off Site) by David E. Cortesi to the moral argument section of the Modern Library
    "In the end, it is truly pointless to demand that an ethical system be guaranteed externally. If you, personally, do not willingly subscribe to its policies and consciously affirm them, you will not adhere to them when faced with a tough existential choice."
  • Added "The Evidential Argument from Evil" (1998) [ 51K ] by Nicholas Tattersall
    Tattersall explains the evidential argument from evil, refuting various theistic defenses to it.
  • May's web.scan: Christian Gifts [8K]
    Seven bizarre religious gift items supposedly available on the web. Which are the real ones, and which are jokes? Try and guess...
• May 2, 1998
• • Added the November/ December 1997 issue of The Skeptical Review
  • Added Resources for Independent Thinking (Off Site) to the list of national organizations
  • Added Kai Nielsen to the list of II Supporters
  • Added Evolutionary Tales:Rhyme and Reason on Creation/Evolution to the Creation-Evolution section of the II Bookstore
• May 1, 1998
• • The Whole Shebang: A State-Of-The-Universe(S) Report by Timothy Ferris is the II Book of the Month for May 1998
  • Added "Holy Cow!" [ 9K ] by Judith Hayes (The Happy Heretic, May 1998)
  • The Secular Web's top-level page will now have a short "feature" article which puts current events in perspective. The current feature is an article about the American media's possible anti-atheist bias
  • The Secular Web now has a new look and feel. Thanks to everyone who provided feedback on the prototypes!

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