What's New Archive ● 2004 ● October
What's New on the Secular Web?
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October 25, 2004
Added "Morality Mine," by Nevyn O'Kane, to the Agora section of the Kiosk.
In a recent article in The Leaf Chronicle, Jim Monday, with the help of the Barna Research Group, manages to paint a surreal picture of the State and Church separation issue that is a sad reflection of the overall misconceptions often found on the far right.
October 22, 2004
Added "Faith, Reason, and Birth Control," by Janet Brazill, to the Agora section of the Kiosk.
A simple explanation of the difference between religion and freethought is that religion is based on faith, while reason serves as the ground for freethought. These two life-stances can create vastly different attitudes on some issues. The issue of birth control serves as a vivid example.
October 13, 2004
Details on both the Church-State Web Ring and the Freethought Web Ring have been updated.
A webring is a totally free service offered as a way to group together sites with similar content by linking them together in a circle, or ring; the idea is that once you are at one site in the webring, you can click on a "Next" or "Previous" link to go to adjacent sites in the ring and--if you do it long enough--end up where you started. The Church-State Ring is offered to the people and organizations involved in defending and protecting the First Amendment. Similarly, The Freethought Web Ring is a service offered to the freethought community.
October 12, 2004
"Antony Flew Considers God...Sort Of," by Richard Carrier, becomes the Feature article for the remainder of October.
Antony Flew is one of the most renowned atheists of the 20th century. He is now considering the possibility that there might be a God--sort of. What's going on? Carrier has had direct contact with Flew and tells us what's going on; it's certainly not, at least not yet, what some theists would like to think.
Secular Students of Rice University (Texas) added to the Secular Web's Student Organizations listing.
Secular Students of Rice University is a philosophical/political club for secular students at Rice University.
October 9, 2004
Is the supernatural real?
Civil rights attorney, Americans United for Separation of Church and State Board Member, Secular Web author and Internet Infidels supporter, Eddie Tabash, will go head-to-head with J.P. Moreland, Professor of Philosophy at Talbot School of Theology, on Lee Strobel's PAX TV program Faith Under Fire.
Date: Saturday, October 9
Time: 9:00 PM Central & Mountain; 10:00 Eastern & Pacific
Network: PAX (check your local listings for channel)
October 8, 2004
Added "No True Scotsman is Misogynous," by Nevyn O'Kane, to the Agora section of the Kiosk.
Misogyny in the Bible, "the stillborn child of a 2000-year-old flesh-mongering creed."
October 3, 2004
"Why I Don't Buy the Resurrection Story" by Richard Carrier.
Carrier launches the 5th and latest edition of this suite of essays, greatly improving the format and updating the arguments and evidence. As before, this collection argues the evidence is insufficient to warrant belief in the resurrection of Jesus; even survival (mistaken as a resurrection), despite being the least probable natural explanation, is still more probable than a miracle; and the most probable explanation is that the original conception of the resurrection of Jesus was spiritual in nature and did not involve his flesh. In a new video, "On the Resurrection of Jesus Christ," Carrier presents even more evidence for the latter.
October 2, 2004
Did Jesus Rise From the Dead?
Secular Web author, former Secular Web Editor-In-Chief and Internet Infidels Board member, ancient history scholar and debunker of the Resurrection, Richard Carrier, will go head-to-head with Christian apologist and author Dr. William Lane Craig, one of the foremost authorities on the evidence for the Resurrection, on Lee Strobel's PAX TV program Faith Under Fire.
Date: Saturday, October 2
Time: 9:00 PM Central & Mountain; 10:00 Eastern & Pacific
Network: PAX (check your local listings for channel)
October 1, 2004
Feature article: "O Holy Night," by William Hopper.
"Most modern Christians will tell you that the holiness of Halloween has been co-opted over the years by 'evil influences.' It's actually the other way around. It was the Catholic Church that tried to change what they saw as an 'evil' festival into a good and holy Christian celebration. It didn't work."
Book-of-the-Month: The Non-Existence of God: An Introduction, by Nicholas Everitt
Is it possible to prove or disprove God's existence? Everitt's conclusion is that there is a sense in which God's existence is disprovable, and that even in other senses a belief in God would be irrational.
Video-of-the-Month: Hell House.
Hell Houses, Christian "haunted houses," had their beginning in 1990 just outside of Dallas, Texas, at the Trinity Assembly of God Church. Once a distinctly American phenomenon, they have now spread to churches worldwide. Tour guides dressed as demons take visitors from room to room to view the horrors of school massacres, date rape, AIDS, drunk driving crashes, and botched abortions. The movie gives us a candid window into the whole process of creating this over-the-top sermon, while showing an intimate portrait of the people who fervently believe its message; the purpose: to convert the heathen.
See "What's New? " for past months and years.