The Secular Frontier

It might seem that the religion industry in its many brands continues to be a powerful force in human societies. And of course in some regards it remains so here and abroad, what with most Americans being divinity worshippers, and the religious right enjoying oversized political power despite its minority status, to the degree it may be establishing a right wing Christian nationalist autocracy. But at the same time theism is in grave crisis as it suffers enormous losses in popularity in much of the world as explained in the late Ronald Inglehart’s Religion’s Sudden Decline (and https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/03/26/around-the-world-many-people-are-leaving-their-childhood-religion). Most of the first world has been highly secularized for decades. Even the United States, long thought the last bastion of popular western religion Christianity especially, is seeing the churches losing ground like a downhill ski racer, with membership down forty percent since the turn of the century to unde ... Read Article

CRAIG'S 20TH-CENTURY CASE AGAINST THE SWOON THEORY In the 20th Century, the Christian apologist William Craig made a case against the Swoon Theory (which he refers to as the "Apparent Death Theory") in these books: The Son Rises (1981) Apologetics: An Introduction (1984) Reasonable Faith, Revised Edition (1994) This case consisted of three objections: Craig's Objection #1: Jesus' Physical Injuries Craig's Objection #2: The Sickly Jesus Objection Craig's Objection #3: The Deceptive Jesus Objection Craig's Objection #2, the Sickly Jesus Objection, is the same as Objection #5 against the Swoon Theory presented by Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli in their Handbook of Christian Apologetics (hereafter: HCA). In Chapter 3 of my upcoming book Thinking Critically about the Resurrection of Jesus, Volume 1: The Resuscitation of the Swoon Theory (hereafter: TCAR1), I show that HCA Objection #5 fails, so there is no need to do a careful analysis and evaluation of Craig's Objection #2 bec ... Read Article

Martin Heidegger's Contributions to Philosophy reflects his famous philosophical "turning." In this work, Heidegger returns to the question of being from its inception in Being and Time to a new questioning of being as event. Heidegger opens up the essential dimensions of his thinking on the historicality of being that underlies all of his later writings. Contributions was composed as a series of private ponderings that were not originally intended for publication. They are nonlinear and radically at odds with the traditional understanding of thinking. In the previous posts on Holderlin I talked about the importance of the “between,” how for example in the appearing of a mansion as housness incarnate (Now that’s a house!), Beauty is the medium through which houseness appears / various degrees of Beauty (Mansion vs average house vs dilapidated shack) – the Parousia of houseness in the various kinds of houses.  So, this “between” is important and Heidegger describes it in this way: The ... Read Article

Do you think religion is in decline around much of the globe because of the advances of science and prosperity? True. But there is another factor that is being ignored. Ancient Aliens. Specifically the now wide spread belief in the ETs of olden days that folks mistook for gods. If you believe the first is true, then you won't believe the second are real deities to be worshipped. ... Read Article

CRAIG'S CASE AGAINST THE SWOON THEORY IN THE SON RISES In my upcoming book Thinking Critically about the Resurrection of Jesus, Volume 1: The Resuscitation of the Swoon Theory (hereafter: TCAR1), I critically examine cases against the Swoon Theory presented by different Christian Apologists. In Chapter 6 of my book, I show that William Craig's case against the Swoon Theory in his book The Son Rises (hereafter: TSR) FAILS. Craig presents three objections to the Swoon Theory in TSR: CRAIG'S OBJECTION #1: Jesus' Physical Injuries CRAIG'S OBJECTION #2: The Sickly Jesus Objection CRAIG'S OBJECTION #3: The Deceptive Jesus Objection His second objection, the Sickly Jesus Objection is the same as Objection #5 against the Swoon Theory by Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli in their Handbook of Christian Apologetics (hereafter: HCA). In Chapter 3 of my book TCAR1, I show that HCA Objection #5 FAILS, so there is no need to do a careful analysis and evaluation of Craig's Objection #2 because it has prev ... Read Article

Bradley BowenCritical Thinker & SkepticKirkland, WA 98034March 23, 2024 Brian CornellChair & Chief Executive OfficerTarget Corporation1000 Nicollet Mall, TPS-2670Minneapolis, Minnesota 55403 Dear Brian Cornell, I have been a Target customer for at least three decades.  I have shopped at the Target store in Redmond, Washington many many times.  I also own stock in Target.  However, for the rest of my life, I will not shop at Target ever again, and I have requested my financial advisor to sell all of my stock in Target.  I thought you might like to know why I am making these changes in my life. Our federal government and the Republican party are now controlled by racist, sexist, bigoted fascists.  I see that Target has decided to take sides with the new regime currently in power by eliminating DEI.  Diversity means embracing a variety of people with different colors of skin, different ethnicities, different cultures, different religions, different genders an ... Read Article

THE CASE AGAINST THE SWOON THEORY IN THE RESURRECTION FACTOR In Chapter 6 of The Resurrection Factor (hereafter: TRF), published in 1981, Josh McDowell makes a case against the Swoon Theory, a case that draws on historical claims made in Chapter 3 of TRF. McDowell’s case against the Swoon Theory in TRF can be understood in terms of four general objections, each of which focuses on an alleged implication of the Swoon Theory and constitutes a reduction-to-absurdity argument: TRF OBJECTION #1: IMPROBABLE SURVIVAL OF CRUCIFIXIONThe Swoon Theory implies that Jesus was still alive when he wastaken down from the cross on Friday afternoon. TRF OBJECTION #2: IMPROBABLE SURVIVAL OF ENTOMBMENTThe Swoon Theory implies that Jesus survived in his tomb from his burial onFriday evening (the day he was crucified) until around sunrise Sundaymorning, about 36 hours after he was buried in that tomb. TRF OBJECTION #3: IMPROBABLE DEPARTURE FROM TOMBThe Swoon Theory implies that Jesus walked away from his tombaroun ... Read Article

There is a helpful post by Daniel Mocsny on the Evil God Challenge over on the Debunking Christianity website: https://www.debunking-christianity.com/2025/03/the-evil-god-challenge-part-one.html The post includes a link to this interesting video of Stephen Law discussing the Evil God Challenge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR1Lh0FcVeM The post by Mocsny also includes a number of other helpful links to more articles on the Evil God Challenge. ... Read Article

“We ask: How long then?  So long that it even reaches beyond our present, godless age (Heidegger, Elucidations of Holderlin’s Poetry, 211)” We are looking at a poet from the lens of our secular age, Heidegger's and Hölderlin's theological language conveying a message that is also available to a secular reader.  Hölderlin says “Gods who are fled!  You too, present still, once more real, you had your times (Germania)!”  Somehow, the old gods are gone and yet still present, as though our concepts that are vague and general ghosts once had a more animated and lofty sense.  And who are the gods who are to come and yet can’t be named because “Whoever has a name is known far and wide (Heidegger, E, 215)?” – and such naming is not proper here? What is a poem or thought?  You can impotently struggle all night to try to figure something out when suddenly in a flash it is given (Es Gibt) to you (Heidegger, E, 140-141), like finally seeing difference between objects and things w ... Read Article

Today on "X (Twitter)' Kant Specialist Prof Anita Leirfall posted about the nature of being religious and here is my response: Jesus is speaking here of how his teaching is an innovation of the Judaism of his time: 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you," We often go astray trying to understand the nature of religion because we think in terms of the hermetically sealed ego of the enlightenment and so fail to see Heidegger's insight of our "Being in the world." For example, Dickens in David Copperfield writes of love: “I was sensible of a mist of love and beauty about Dora, but of nothing else … it was all Dora to me. The sun shone Dora, and the birds sang Dora. The south wind blew Dora, and the wildflowers in the hedges were all Doras, to a bud  (Dickens, 2004, ch 33 Blissful).” We see this when we have a headache or stomachache, and this casts a pall over ... Read Article

It seems that a straightforward reading of our New Testament sources does not equate Jesus with God as we would later see with the gospel of John and even later with the doctrine of the Trinity. For example, Jesus in desperate prayer in Gethsemane doesn't seem to be praying to himself, just as Paul says Jesus "was raised," which suggests something being done to Jesus, not something Jesus did to himself. But here's a connection you might not have considered: Paul seems to be doing exegetical work on the book of Esther. For example, Paul says 5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he existed in the form of God,    did not regard equality with God    as something to be grasped,7 but emptied himself,    taking the form of a slave,    assuming human likeness.And being found in appearance as a human,8     he humbled himself    and became ob ... Read Article

This is my final post on Heidegger's reading of Hölderlin's Hymn The Ister in the lecture course of 1942. The measure of truth in Hölderlin’s river poetry is not found in the actuality of the geographical river, Hölderlin saying “Is there a measure on earth?  There is none (Hölderlin, In Beautiful Blue).”  Heidegger says we must confront Hölderlin's encounter with the Antigone, “which means bearing and suffering it (167).” The titular character in Sophocles’ Antigone can absolutely symbolize how the causes, those gleams in our eyes that animate our lives can lead to destruction (Antigone) and Nothingness (Creon), much like Ahab in Moby-Dick. The characters are driven by an unshakable commitment to a personal principle or obsession, and their stories illustrate how such fervor can spiral into tragedy.  Back in 2002 in my MA thesis on Heidegger I explored that the tragic insight into the human condition by the melancholic is that unlike him, at least the oppressed person has a cause. ... Read Article

I’ve been working to uncover the tragic insight into the human condition that Heidegger finds in Sophocles’ Antigone – in the tradition of Hölderlin’s translation and interpretation.  This is the arche tamechana, that against which nothing can avail. In Sophocles’ Antigone, the conflict between Creon and Antigone can be interpreted as a dramatic representation of the tension between the communal, polis-oriented nature of the ancient Greek soul and the rising individualism influenced by the sophists and philosophers of the time. This clash reflects broader cultural and intellectual shifts in ancient Greece during the 5th century BCE, when traditional values were increasingly challenged by new ideas about personal autonomy, justice, and morality. Creon embodies the ethos of the polis—the city-state as a collective entity that demands loyalty, order, and obedience to maintain social stability. As the newly appointed king of Thebes, he prioritizes the rule of law and the welfare of the state ... Read Article

*This post finishes up party 2 of Heidegger's lecture course. The Parable of Vengeance   Mr. X and Mr. Y were parents of a boyfriend and girlfriend who were killed by a drunk driver.  Mr. X showed up every day for the trial, demanded justice in a victim impact statement, and felt he got it when the criminal was found guilty and sentenced.  Mr. Y didn’t go to the trial or fill out a statement. Often as people we will make time for ourselves to go out for the evening with friends. In doing this we are able to leave ourselves behind for a time, that empty us which we would have had to live with if we remained at home. Even this, though, doesn't allow us to escape our boredom entirely, as evidenced by a slight yawn or polite tapping of the fingers during the conversation. And in any event, you know it is just for one night, and that your desire to eliminate boredom will not be properly satiated by it. Everyone knows that, for instance, the luster of a new favorite song quickly wears off af ... Read Article

Last time I did a standalone post on William Lane Craig and the Kalam Cosmological argument, but now back to Heidegger’s interpretation of Holderlin. Looking on to section 15, Heidegger draws a distinction between kalon and me kalon, “non beings / non beautiful.  We noted previously how the idea of the beautiful in Plato was the vehicle for the appearing of the being (e.g., houseness appears incarnate in the mansion, merely present in the average house, and efficient in the dilapidated shack). Plato calls the beautiful, kala/ekphanestaton, “that which, as most of all and most purely shining from itself, shows the visible form and thus is unhidden” (Heidegger, 1998c [PA], Vol. 1, p. 78; also at 1979 [Nl], p. 80). Referring to Plato’s Phaedrus, Heidegger says that beauty is “what is most radiant and sparkling in the sensuous realm, in a way that, as such brilliance, it lets Being scintillate at the same time” (Heidegger, 1979 [Nl], p. 197). "Kalon" in Antigone leans toward moral or beauti ... Read Article