What’s New Archive

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What's New Archive ● 1999 ● September

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September 30

Denis Giron has updated both the Islam page and related Islam links in the Theism section of the Modern Library.

Phil Porvaznik has updated the Apologetics page in the Theism section of the Modern Library.

Stephen R. Welch has updated the Design page in the Theism section of the Modern Library.

September 29

Jeffery Jay Lowder removed a feature article that was entitled, "Has Science Found God?"

Although he still believes the answer is "no," he has changed his position on an argument in that article. Rather than rewrite the article--something he does not have the time to do--he simply pulled the article. All known links on the Secular Web to this article have been removed.

Jeffery Jay Lowder also removed an article entitled, "William Lane Craig: Christian Theism's Hired Gun."

He has temporarily removed this article from the Secular Web until he has had a chance to make some revisions.

September 28

Added several books to the cosmology section of the II Bookstore

There is an update to the Islam page in the Theism section of the Modern Library.

Added Infidel Interview with Margaret Downey to the Secular Web Radio Show

Margaret Downey of the Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia updates us on her seven-year battle against discrimination by the Boy Scouts of America.

Added "Belief, Truth, and the Columbine Tragedy" by Richard Carrier

Dylan Klebold is said to have walked up to Cassie Bernall, pointed a gun at her and asked if she believed in God. When she whispered "yes," he immediately shot her in cold blood. But Jefferson County sheriff investigators have put together a different story. It seems that the alleged eyewitnesses were nowhere near Bernall while those who were saw things quite differently. What's going on here?

September 27

Added a brief essay on Secular Wedding Ceremonies (1999) [ 12K ] by Bill Schultz.

The question arises, from time to time, about what non-theists can do if they want something more elaborate than a courthouse wedding, performed by some clerk, but they don't want to go through anything which looks like its a "church wedding." Well, there is an alternative, but its going to take a lot of work for the main participants. In essence, you can design your own wedding ceremony.

September 26

Added Murphy's Law: Thomas Alva Edison by John Patrick Michael Murphy to the Freethought section of the Modern Documents section of our Library.

Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) recognized no power greater than Nature, and spent his life investigating the nature of Nature. His truculent agnosticism is not generally known, but it resulted from his investigation into the alleged supernatural.

Added Hate Radio by William Edelen to the Freethought section of the Modern Documents section of our Library.

We can ask the regular AM/FM stations that broad cast hate radio programs some questions. We can ask them to discuss responsibility, ethics, morality and the role of radio in the most violent industrialized nation in the entire world, this United States of America.

September 23

Added Replyand Rejoinder to Tower of Babel: The Evidence against the New Creationism to Robert T. Pennock's author page.

Christianity Online published a reply by Phillip Johnson to Pennock's recently published book as well as Pennock's rejoinder.

September 22

Added a section called "New Evidence" to Craig's Empty Tomb and Habermas on the Post-Resurrection Appearances of Jesus[ 60K ] in Review of In Defense of Miracles: A Comprehensive Case for God's Action in History(1999) by Richard Carrier.

There is another reason to doubt the tomb burialthat has come to my att ention since I first wrote this review: the tomb blocking stone is treated as round in the Gospels, but that would not havebeen the case in the time of Jesus, yet it was often the case after 70C.E., just when the gospels were being written.

Added ATotal Eclipse of Reason by John Rennie (Off Site) to the Creationism page.

Scientific American editor-in-chief John Rennie weighs in on the Kansas Board of Education's decision to promote creationism in Kansas public schools. He argues that, rather than spin out more flat-earth jokes, those who care for science and truth should act.

Added "Violence and the Wedgwood Shooting" by Daniel Lesser to the Feature page.

This woman calls into my local television station to tell us that she still believes Jesus was working during the shootings. It seems there were still six unused cartridges in the killer's gun. Jesus decided to save other young people over the seven killed, by having the gunman blow his brains out, so we really ought to praise God for his intervention. Say what?

September 21

Added two paragraphs to Why I Don't Buy the Resurrection Story (1999) [ 165K ] by Richard Carrier.

Material found in the Jewish Semahot makes the odds against a real resurrection even greater. One paragraph referring to this text is added regarding misdiagnosis of death, and another much later about Craig's attack on the possibility of theft.

September 18

Added Review of "In Defense of Miracles" (1999) [ Index ] by Richard Carrier.

Review of the latest grand opus of contemporary apologists: a comprehensive case for Christian miracles with contributions from fourteen Christians and two skeptics. Well-composed, with material that all critics should read, but it suffers from major faults, especially that ubiquitous fault of almost all apologetics: historical incompetence. Carrier critiques most chapters in detail, but also provides both short and long summary reviews of the entire book.

September 15

Updated "Are the Odds Against the Origin of Life Too Great to Accept?" (1999) [ 72K] by Richard Carrier.

Another quote by Hoyle, cited by David Noebel and Luther Sunderland, is addressed, and a quote by Murray Eden in the 1966 Wistar Institute symposium "Mathematical Challenges to the Neo-Darwinian Interpretation of Evolution."

Added feature article entitled "Dr. Nickles and Mr. Hyde Feel Your Pain" by Janet Brazill

September 12

Added more HTML conversions to the Robert Ingersoll library courtesy of Adnan.

My Chicago Bible Class (1879) [ 16k]
Chicago Speech (1876) [ 46k]
An Interview On Chief Justice Comegys (1881) [ 34k]
Should The Chinese Be Excluded [ 18k]
A Christmas Sermon (1891) [ 116k]
Civil Rights (1883) [ 107k]
TheBigotry Of Colleges [ 4k]
Is Corporal Punishment Degrading? (1891) [ 22k]
A Criticism Of Robert Elsmere -- John Ward, Preacher, And An African Farm[ 21k]
Crumbling Creeds [ 18k]

September 11

Added a cosmologysection to the IIBookstore

Adnan converte d seven files in the Robert Ingersoll library to hypertextmarkup language. Thanks Adnan!

BangorSpeech (1876) [ 37k]
TrialOf C. B. Reynolds For Blasphemy [ 122k]
TheBrooklyn Divines (1883) [ 63k]
BrooklynSpeech (1880) [ 75k]
TheFrank B. Carpenter Dinner (1891) [ 20k]
TheCensus Enumerator's Official Catechism [ 7k]
CentennialOration

September 10

Added "TheBook of Mormon and the King James Version" (1999) [ 27K ] by Curtvan den Heuvel

"It is very evident that the Book of Mormon owes much to theKing James Version. Since this particular version of the Bible was nottranslated until 1611, it means that the Book of Mormon cannot be an ancientwork as Joseph Smith claimed."Added "A Discussion ofthe Kalam Argument" (1999) [42K ] to the author page of GregScorzo

The author argues that the existence of God cannotbe deduced on the basis of the universe having a first cause. He pointsout that Craig has committed the fallacy of hasty generalization in hisassumption that if all current naturalistic interpretations of a firstcause fail, it follows that the first cause is supernatural.

September 9

Revised the agnosticismsection of the IIBookstore

September 8

Added an opinion piece, "TheBSA and Civil Rights" to the 1999feature articles.

September 7

Added a comment on Gerald Schroeder's abuse of a quote by Ilya Prigogineto Are the Odds Against the Origin of Life Too Great to Accept? by Richard Carrier.

Gerald Schroeder, author of The Science of God: The Convergenceof Scientific and Biblical Wisdom (Free Press, 1997) has been caughtmisrepresenting a source, red handed!

September 6

Added Joseph Smithas a Prophet by RichardPackham to the JosephSmith page in the Mormonism section of the Modern Library.

Critique of Joseph Smith's claim to be a prophet, using hisown standards or those of his supporters.

Added TheMan with No Heart: Miracles and Evidence by R ichardPackham to the M iraclessection of the Modern Library.

A brief hypothetical example of a miraculous resurrection thatwe would have enough evidence to believe.

Added WhyI Left the Mormon Church by RichardPackham to the Mormonismsection of the Modern Libr ary.
Added Murphy'sLaw: H.L. Mencken by John Patrick Michael Murphy to the Freethoughtsection of Faithand Reason in the Modern Documents section of our Library.

Henry Louis Mencken (1880-1956) was a compound of brillian ce,wit, grit, gumption, and humor who became one of the great writers andsocial critics of this fading century.

Added Murphy'sLaw: Clarence Darrow by JohnPatrick Michael Murphy to the Freethoughtsection of Faithand Reason in the Modern Documents section of our Library.

He rebelled against society, the bar, the bench, the traditionof big business grinding down working men and women, segregation, and ahost of other establishments. With his crew of clients he ran a hard chargethrough the judicial system of his day. As a result we all have more freedomthan we would have had without him.

September 3

Added "The AnthropicPrinciple Does Not Suppor t Supernaturalism" (Off Site) [ 43K ] by Bill Jefferys and MichaelIkeda

Michael Ikeda and Bill Jefferys argue respond to apologist, astronomer, and physicist Hugh Ross. They argue that "even if Ross is correctabout 'fine-tuning' and even if ours is the only universe that exists,the 'fine-tuning' argument fails."

Created Bill Jefferys author page

Created MichaelIkeda author page

Added "TheAnthropic Co incidences: A Natural Explanation" (1999) (Off Site) [73K ] by VictorJ. Stenger

Stenger argues that the fine-tuning argument is flawed becauseit assumes that only one kind of life, ours, is possible in every configurationof universes. Stenger also provides a naturalistic explanation for theanthropic coincidences.

Added "AnthropicDesign: Does the Cosmos Show Evidence of Purpose" (1999) (Off Site)[ 15K ] by VictorJ. Stenger

A shorter version of Stenger's "Anthropic Coincidences" article.

Added "TheBible in the Book of Mormon" (1999) [ 26K ] by Curtvan den Heuvel

"The Book of Mormon was written by someone who either had aKJV Bible in front of him, or was intimately familiar with its contents.When we add to this phenomenon other Book of Mormon problems, such as thelack of any historical, archaeological or linguistic confirmation, thelarge number of anachronisti c terms and items referenced in the book, andits mirroring of the issues and problems of the nineteenth century ProtestantChurch, and we come to the inescapable conclusion that the Book of Mormonoriginated in the early nineteenth century."

Add ed Curtvan den Heuvel author page

September 2

Added "SomeComments on William Craig's "Creation and Big B ang Cosmology" (1994)[ 34K ] to Adolf Grünbaum'sauthor page.

William Lane Craig's kalam cosmologicalproof, Grünbaum argues, "disingenuously makes much of a relativ isticallyimpermissible Big Bang model" in order to generate the metaphysical intuitionthat "out of nothing, nothing comes", which he needs in order to make hisproof cogent.

September 1

Added the Septemberissue of "ii" our newsletter to the newslettersection.

In our feature this month, Chad Docterman revisitsthe logical problem of evil. Also, how are crop circles, religion, andintelligent design related? Alan Hale leads an eclipse expedition to Iran,"God hates fags" evangelist Fred Phelps loses his domain name, and muchmore inside.

Added the Septemberweb.scan to mathew's regular monthly column web.scan.

This month mathew considers the importance ofte rminology in setting the terms of debate, and takes a look at the so-called"Christian Identity" movement. If you've got a strong stomach you can findout why the family that hates together stays together, learn about Jesus'sAryan heritage, and find out wha t atheism, junk bonds and the Illuminatihave in common.

Completely re-designed IIBookstore. We've affiliated with a new online bookseller and totallyrevamped several pages i n the bookstore, adding several new books in theprocess.

Check out especially our pages for books on atheism,Christianity,churchand state, evolution,ethics,freethought, and humanism.