Month: December 2011

Horia George Plugaru’s Argument Against the Abundance Theory of Creation

The Internet Infidels just published a new essay by Horia George Plugaru in the Secular Web’s Kiosk, “Why the Abundance Theory of Creation Fails.” From the opening paragraph: How can God be both a perfect being and the creator of the universe? Doesn’t the fact that he created the world imply that he had a Horia George Plugaru’s Argument Against the Abundance Theory of Creation

Tyler Wunder Has Joined The Secular Outpost!

I’m pleased to announce that Dr. Tyler Wunder has joined The Secular Outpost! Here is a short bio he provided to me for this announcement: I received my PhD in Philosophy from Boston University; my dissertation was a critique of Alvin Plantinga’s Warrant trilogy. My publications are: “Anti-Naturalism and Proper Function” [Religious Studies 44(2)], “Critical Tyler Wunder Has Joined The Secular Outpost!

Has Christmas become too secular?

No. Christmas officially became a secular holiday on June 28, 1870. That’s when President Ulysses S. Grant declared December 25 a legal holiday, along with January 1, July 4, and a day to be determined for Thanksgiving. We were founded as a secular country under a godless Constitution (no mention of God or Jesus), where Has Christmas become too secular?

Tom Flynn, the Anti-Claus

Should non-believers celebrate a secular version of Christmas as a sort of winter holiday? According to Tom Flynn, the answer is “no.” If you haven’t heard of Flynn, he is the Executive Director of the Council for Secular Humanism, editor of Free Inquiry, and the author of The Trouble with Christmas. (As Flynn points out, his Tom Flynn, the Anti-Claus

Finding Reason in the Season

I once believed in miracles because my parents told me they were true, but even then I recognized that all miracles were not created equal. The Hanukkah miracle of a light burning for eight days instead of just one paled in comparison to the Pesach miracle, when a God decided to “pass-over” the houses of Finding Reason in the Season

Links and News — 19-Dec-11

Housekeeping “Secular Outpost Revamped“ “The Skeptic Awards 2011“ Miscellaneous “Bellingham Lectures in Philosophy of Religion“ “Schieber’s Objections to the Kalam Argument” by John Danaher “PhilPapers Survey Results“ “A Bayesian Approach to Absent Evidence Reasoning” by Christopher Stephens “Air Force Academy Dogged by Anti-Christian Pressure” by Baptist Press    When Are Supernatural Claims Worth Investigating? Should Links and News — 19-Dec-11

The Definition of Atheism, the Anal-Retentive Defense of Etymological Purism, and Linguistic Relativism

Back when I was the moderator of the USENET newsgroup alt.atheism.moderated, I used to debate the definition of atheism and I used to defend the atheism as the lack of belief position. I’m persuaded, however, by Ted Drange that by default we should define our terms in a way which matches ordinary usage. Ordinary usage The Definition of Atheism, the Anal-Retentive Defense of Etymological Purism, and Linguistic Relativism