What's New Archive ● 2007 ● February
What's New on the Secular Web?
See also: Events & The News Wire
February 22, 2007
Added The Three Gods of Christianity: The Irreconcilable Trinity (2006) by Mike Chege to the Kiosk.
While Christianity professes belief in the existence of one god, the careful observer will find that Christianity actually presents us with three gods: the Tribal God, the Cerebral God, and the Absentee Landlord God. Additionally, because each of these three gods corresponds with a different stage in the development of human consciousness, with each stage representing a different conception of deity and the nature of the world, these three gods are ultimately irreconcilable, forming an "Irreconcilable Trinity."
February 21, 2007
Updated I Was a Big Bang Skeptic (2002) by Richard Carrier.
Updated treatments of singularity theory.
February 19, 2007
Added Did Einstein Believe in God? (2006) by Raymond Bradley to the Kiosk.
Einstein once said that "God does not play dice." But he also said, "It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropomorphic concept which I cannot take seriously." What, then, did Einstein mean by "God"? What sort of "God" did Einstein have in mind?
The Events page was extensively updated.
The Events page provides links to information regarding international, national, regional, and local events of interest to secularists.
February 14, 2007
Modified The Problem of the Virgin Birth Prophecy (2003) by Richard Carrier in the Modern Documents section of the Secular Web Library.
Expanded and clarified the argument of Section 1 due to a confusion that arose on the forums. Reorganized and added endnotes. Made numerous minor changes throughout.
February 13, 2007
Added Flew's Supernaturalism versus Secularist Bigotry (2006) by Raymond Bradley to the Kiosk.
Antony Flew. a long-time ace atheist and once-astute philosopher, now a born-again deist, responded to Bradley's "Antony in Wonderland," by appealing to Gerald Schroeder's Genesis and the Big Bang--calling Bradley a "secularist bigot" in the process. Bradley responds.
February 9, 2007
Added Pyrophobia and the Puritan Premise (2006) by David Heleniak to the Kiosk.
Pyrophobia, people's fear that they will go to hell if they do not believe propositions x, y and z, is a significant barrier to the use of reason that arose in European/American history. It was pervasive in Puritan times and it is pervasive today. No one wants a one-way ticket to hell, of course, but pyrophobia can nevertheless be overcome.
February 1, 2007
Current Feature: The Implausibility of Satan (2003) by Paul Doland
Is the Satan character believable? Could he really exist? Doland doesn't think so, and he explains why.
Book-of-the-Month: God: The Failed Hypothesis--How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist (2007) by Victor J. Stenger
Physicist Victor J. Stenger contends that, if God exists, some evidence for this existence should be detectable by scientific means, especially considering the central role that God is alleged to play in the operation of the universe and the lives of humans. After evaluating all the scientific evidence, Stenger concludes that beyond a reasonable doubt the universe and life appear exactly as we might expect if there were no God.
Special Feature: God (1997) by Jan Narveson
Narveson argues that God as a hypothesis is not an explanation for anything; the traditional ontological, cosmological, and design arguments all fail; and religion is not necessary to provide a foundation for morals.