General Arguments for Theism
Pascal's Wager from
The Freethought Zone
Despite its obvious logical fallacies, Pascal's Wager is one of the more often repeated reasons
for believing in God. This article refutes the wager by showing that it could just as easily be used
as a reason for rejecting belief in God.
Pascal's Wager
by Fredrik Bendz
Discusses several logical problems with the wager.
Faith from
The Freethought Zone
Shows that "faith" is not a valid reason to believe anything.
Common Arguments
from The Atheism Web
Refutations of common mistaken arguments and claims about theism and atheism.
Arguments for Theism from
The Freethought Zone
Refutations of several common arguments for the existence of God.
The 'Big Bang'
Argument for the Existence of God by Theodore Schick, Jr.
"Some believe that evidence for the big bang is evidence for the existence of god. Who else, they ask, could have caused such a thing? In this paper, I evaluate the big bang argument, compare it with the traditional first-cause argument, and consider the relative plausibility of various natural explanations of the big bang."
The Existence of God and the
Beginning of the Universe by William Lane Craig
A theologian presents the Kalam Cosmological Argument which purports to show
that the universe had a cause. The article discounts the myriad natural explanations
that could account for such a cause and states, with virtually no justification,
that it must have been God. (Our rebuttal to this
argument is here.)
The Kalam Cosmological Argument: A Rebuttal
by Andrew Lais
Argues that "the Kalam Cosmological Argument is, essentially, the Argument from First Cause
dressed up in new clothes" and that it commits the fallacy of "Argument from Personal Incredulity."
A
Discussion of the Kalam Argument by Greg Scorzo
The author argues that the existence of God cannot be
deduced on the basis of the universe having a first cause. He points out that
Craig has committed the fallacy of hasty generalization in his assumption that
if all current naturalistic interpretations of a first cause fail, it follows
that the first cause is supernatural.
Design
Evidences in the Cosmos by Hugh Ross
A creationist presents the fine-tuning argument for the existence of
God, which basically states that God is the only explanation for the particular
values of the dimensionless parameters in physics. (Our criticism of this argument
is here.)
The Fine-Tuning Argument by
Theodore Drange
Currently, a very popular theistic argument is the so-called
"fine-tuning argument," the argument that God is the best explanation for the
combination of physical constants which allow life. Drange argues that
(1) God is a poor explanation, and that (2) there are better explanations
than God for the combination of physical constants.
Design Argument - R.I.P.
by Peter Kirby
Explains why the Argument from Design doesn't work.
Analysis of the Teleological Argument by Eric Sotnak
Sotnak analyzes "some of the more
common manifestations" of the teleological argument, including those of
Hume and Plantinga, finding that the argument "fails to make it even probable
that living things were designed."
The Conception of the Miraculous
and Christian Apologetics by Keith Parsons
A lengthy discussion of the problems with claiming that miracles provide evidence of a god.
Against the Moral Argument by Mark I. Vuletic
Examines and attempts to refute two different moral
arguments for the existence of God: the metaphysical moral argument and
the epistemological moral argument.
Prayer And Healing by
Marc Petrowsky and Bill Zellner
Shows that theists' claims that prayer is correlated with medical healing are based on bad science and
even worse statistics.
Christianity
Christianity from
The Freethought Zone
Argues that Christianity is incoherent and that historical evidence casts doubts
on the accuracy of the Bible.
Why I Am Not a Christian by Bertrand Russell
The classic essay by Bertrand Russell.
Why Jesus Isn't Coming Again
by Mike McClellan
"According to the Bible, Jesus Christ said he would return in the
generation in which he lived. He said the sign of the Son of Man
would appear in heaven. He said all the tribes of Israel would
mourn. He said the tribes would see the Son of Man coming in the
clouds of heaven with power and great glory. He said he would send
his angels with a great sound of a trumpet. The angels were to
gather the "elect" from the four winds, from one end of heaven to
the other. All of these things were to have happened in his
generation. They didn't happen."
Some Reasons Why Humanists Reject the Bible
by Joseph C. Sommer
"This article sets forth some reasons why Humanists assert that the Bible is not the word of God. Humanists
are convinced that the Bible was written solely by human beings who lived in an age that was ignorant,
superstitious, and cruel. Humanists also believe that, because the writers of the Bible were people who
lived in an unenlightened and barbaric era, they produced a book which contains many erroneous statements
and harmful teachings."
Big Bible Lessons
from Exxian Educational Free Thought
An excellent and thorough critique of the Bible.
The
Argument from the Bible by Theodore Drange
Argues against claims that "alleged special features" of the Bible provides
evidence for the existence of God.
Bible Contradictions by Dan Barker and
Biblical Inconsistencies
by Donald Morgan
Collections of some of the many contradictions in the Bible.
Bible Absurdities by
Donald Morgan and
The Flat-Earth Belief
of the Bible Writers
by Adrian Swindler
Shows that Biblical literalists are wrong by pointing out some of the many absurdities in the Bible.
Bible Atrocities by
Donald Morgan,
Murder Most High
by William Sierichs, and
Is the Bible God Good?
Contrary to the claims of Christians, the Bible god is not a god of love, but a god who loves to murder.
The Jury Is In: The Ruling on
McDowell's "Evidence" edited by Jeffery Jay Lowder
A thorough rebuttal to McDowell's book Evidence That Demands a Verdict.
The Resurrection by Steven Carr
Examines the New Testament accounts of the Resurrection and concludes that there is "clear evidence
that Christians tampered with the text of the Gospels to make them better evidence for the Resurrection."
Why I Don't Buy
the Resurrection Story by Richard Carrier
As an historian with a good knowledge of Greek,
Carrier is very qualified to make a professional judgment in the
matter. This essay explains why he finds the Resurrection to be an
unconvincing argument for becoming Christian.
Historicitiy of Jesus
by Scott Oser
An introduction to the historical evidence for Jesus.
Josh McDowell's "Evidence" for Jesus -- Is It Reliable? by Jeffery Jay Lowder
Argues that although there probably was an historical Jesus, McDowell's book,
Evidence That Demands a Verdict fails to provide any reliable evidence for
the existence of any Jesus, much less the Jesus of the Bible.
The Jesus Puzzle
by by Earl Doherty
Was there no historical Jesus?
The Origins of Christianity and
the Quest for the Historical Jesus Christ
by Acharya S
Argues that Christianity was copied from other religions and that that Jesus Christ is a myth.
Christianity and Mythology
from About.com's Agnosticism/Atheism Site
A collection of articles showing the remarkable similarities between Christianity and older mythologies.
Why Jesus?
from the Freedom From Religion Foundation
"Jesus has been held in high regard by Christians and non-Christians alike. Regardless of whether
he existed in history, or whether he was divine, many have asserted that the New Testament Christ
character was the highest example of moral living. Many believe that his teachings, if truly understood
and followed, would make this a better world.
Is this true? Does Jesus merit the widespread adoration he has received? Let's look at what he said and did."
Christian Apologetics
Select Christian Apologetics
Web Sites
"The following list of links is not intended to be a comprehensive list of Christian apologetics web sites;
however, it does include many of what we consider to be the best apologetics sites on the Web. From
these initial sites, interested readers will be able to find links to practically all of the other Christian
apologetics sites on the web. We provide the following links in a spirit of understanding and open-mindedness,
and we encourage the sites listed below to reciprocate."
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