What's New Archive ● 2002 ● October
What's New on the Secular Web?
See also: Events & The News Wire
October 30, 2002
Added "Communism is Religion" by Daniel G. Jennings to the Agora.
"Those Americans who want to establish an official religion should take a hard look at the history of Communism. Far from being an example of a godless society, Communism is a perfect example of the dangers which religion poses to human freedom and humanity's future."
October 29, 2002
Added "My Search for God" by Tony Sharp to the Agora.
"I have always wanted to believe in a God. I have embraced the spiritual advice given to me by priests and friends. I have tried prayer and meditation, and I have studied prophetic teachings--including those from Jesus Christ. Instead of finding answers, I only found more questions."
October 27, 2002
Added "Are People Property?" by G. Wesley Bennett to the Agora.
We are told that, as adults, we are free agents. We have the right to make our own decisions. Yet when it comes to "end of life" decisions we have no right to decide our fate. Why?
October 26, 2002
Added "The Belief-O-Meter" by Gym Would to the Agora.
"Finally there is a device that anyone who isn't a believer can use to detect believers and steer clear of them."
October 25, 2002
Added "An Incongruous Couple" by Brandon Seger to the Agora.
A short story about a new boyfriend and girlfriend happy in their relationship--until the atheism of one causes problems.
Added a link on the Organizations page to The Atheism Web: Freethought Organizations listing.
October 24, 2002
Added "A Religious Kook Speaks Out" by Daniel G. Jennings to the Agora.
"Here is a little tongue-in-cheek something that makes about as much sense as does most religious teaching about the Apocalypse--but it's a lot funnier." - Daniel G. Jennings
October 20, 2002
Updated the Theistic Arguments: Links to Other Resources page to fix numerous broken links.
This index page provides numerous links to resources on both sides of the theism/nontheism issue.
October 19, 2002
Added a link on the Creationism index page to Talk Reason (Off Site).
This website presents a collection of articles which aim to defend genuine science from numerous attempts by the new crop of creationists to replace it with theistic pseudoscience under various disguises and names. Talk Reason is designed to provide a forum for articles arguing against modern creationism in all of its forms.
Added a link on the Character of Jesus page to Atheists for Jesus (Off Site).
This site is "designed to provide a method of communication between religious and nonreligious people who believe in the message of love and kindness put forth by Jesus."
October 18, 2002
Updated the author page for Richard Dawkins to fix all broken links--again.
Updated the Secular Humanism page to fix broken links.
Updated and reorganized the Extropianism page.
Extropianism is the philosophy that promotes the quest for knowledge of the methods by which human life may be extended and/or enhanced through science and technology.
Added a link on the Freethought Music & Humor page to BibleMan (Off Site).
BibleMan: "Pledged to fight evil in the name of God." This is an honest-to-goodness evangelical ministry aimed at children, but some nontheists will likely find it quite humorous.
October 17, 2002
Updated the bio page for Richard Carrier with a link to a new PDF listing of his numerous publications. (Off Site)
Updated the Internet Infidels Supporters page with the addition of Warren Allen Smith, author of Who's Who in Hell and Celebrities in Hell.
Added a link to "Age of Reason Publications" (Off Site) on the Freethought index page in the Modern Documents section of the Library.
Age of Reason Publications is in association with Earl doherty's The Jesus Puzzle organization and website.
October 16, 2002
Added a link to "Still Failing the Bar Exam" (Off Site) by Christian apologist J. P. Holding (aka Robert Turkel) to the author index page for Kyle J. Gerkin.
This is Holding's response to Gerkin's Objections Sustained!, a critique of Lee Strobel's The Case for Faith.
Added "Holding Overruled" by Kyle J. Gerkin.
This is Gerkin's response to "Still Failing the Bar Exam" (Off Site) by J. P. Holding (aka Robert Turkel).
October 13, 2002
Added "A Counterclockwise Paley" by Kyle J. Gerkin to the Modern Documents section of the Library.
Gerkin takes the classic theistic Argument to Design from William Paley's Natural Theology, "the watchmaker analogy," argues that it is logically flawed as an argument for theism, then turns it on its head and reformulates it as an argument for atheism, incorporating an atheological argument from biological evolution.
October 10, 2002
Added "The Cooke-Aijaz Debate: Does God Exist?" to the Nontheism/Atheism/Debates section of the Modern Documents section of the Library.
Dr. Bill Cooke, of the New Zealand Association of Rationalists and Humanists, and Imran Aijaz, of the Auckland University Islamic Society, debate the existence of God. These are the opening statements, the first of four installments of 1500 words or less--with more to come.
October 8, 2002
Added "Some Thoughts on Evolutionary Theory" by Dan Hicks to the Agora.
Scientific theories are usually not radically contested for more than about thirty years. A few will be debated much longer. Copernicus' theory, that the Sun is the centre of our Solar System, was one of the few that was not immediately accepted or discredited. Evolutionary theory is in the same position today, and for mostly the same reasons.
Added "How Church People Think" by Michael Drake to the Agora.
A short, terse, and effective response to Milwaukee News columnist Michael Kane's "In dire moments, many turn to God."
October 4, 2002
Reorganized the Freethought Humor & Music page and added a link to Landover Baptist Church ("Where Worthwhile People Worship").
As it says in its Terms of Service, "The Landover Baptist Church is a complete work of fiction. It is a satire/parody." In fact, it is the most elaborate and hilarious parody of right-wing Christianity you will ever likely see. Marvelously and tirelessly maintained, it sells lots of funny stuff, and links to several other joke sites well worth a good laugh. The entire site is "in character." You might almost think this was all for real!
October 3, 2002
Added a link on the Islam page in the Modern Library to the Golshan site.
Golshan is an organization created by mostly ex-Muslims "to educate Muslims and others about the 'real' Islam." According to Golshan, Islam is a religion of hate, terror and war; a religion of intolerance, inequality, violence, discrimination, superstition, fanaticism, and blind faith which advocates killing non-Muslims and abuses the rights of minorities and women.
October 1, 2002
Added "The Creationist Holy War" by John Bice, a featured article, to the Kiosk.
If creationism, which often masquerades as "Intelligent Design" (ID), becomes standard classroom fare, both science and Christianity have much to lose.
See "What's New? " for past months and years.