Response to Rabbi Segal

This essay offers criticism of the response written by Rabbi Ya'akov Segal to the publications of Daat Emet. The essay shows that Segal's arguments cannot be sustained and that beside vituperation, his essay offers nothing in response to the cases of matter-of-fact errors in the Pentateuch and in Rabbinic sources pointed out by Daat Emet.

author(s):
Zeligman, Naftali; published: Feb 13, 2007

Of Hare and Hyrax, of Torah and Science

This essay discusses a book by Rabbi Nosson Slifkin, The Camel, the Hare and the Hyrax: A Study of the Laws of Animals with One Kosher Sign in Light of Modern Zoology, which deals with one aspect of the problem of the contradiction between statements about the natural world contained in the traditional Jewish sources and present-day scientific knowledge. It is shown that although Slifkin's book is rich in valuable scientific detail pertaining to the topic of his study, its ultimate focus is neither science nor an attempt to use scientific findings in order to figure out the degree of scientific competence displayed by the traditional Jewish sources, but an attempt to defend a pre-conceived theological position: that the Pentateuch and at least a part of the Talmud were revealed to the ancient Israelites by an omniscient God. Yet even in this endeavor Slifkin does not develop a systematic view of the contradictions between the traditional Jewish sources and the scientific findings, but rather employs ad hoc arguments in order to re-interpret the Pentateuchal terminology in such a way that it would not contradict scientific findings -- while losing sight of the fact that such a re-interpretation turns the terminology in question meaningless. Slifkin's treatment of the Talmud also suffers from ad hoc argumentation, but to a lesser degree, and at least Slifkin is ready to admit the possibility that the scientific knowledge of the Talmudic sages was deficient.

author(s):
Goldstein, David; published: Mar 05, 2006

Plantinga's Basic Belief: Not Quite Basic

Francois Tremblay discusses Reformed Epistemology and Plantinga's defense of it in his article "Intellectual Sophistication and Basic Belief in God".
He shows that Plantinga's illustration of RE is deficient, and that the distinctly complex nature of the "basic beliefs" presented refutes the conclusion of RE.

author(s):
Tremblay, Francois; published: Aug 23, 2004

Swinburne's Justification for Naivete

In his article "The Justification of Theism", Richard Swinburne gives three arguments to justify theism, and tries to answer the Problem of Evil. Francois Tremblay analyzes these arguments, and finds them to be little more than arguments from ignorance and naive realism. Swinburne's justification falls far short of its mark.

author(s):
Tremblay, Francois; published: Aug 22, 2004

Dr. Craig's Unsupported Premise

Dr. William Lane Craig's version of the Kalam Argument is widely considered one of the most credible arguments for theism. This sophisticated cosmological argument uses temporality as evidence instead of more vulnerable criteria like causality or contingency. Nevertheless, Craig's argument suffers from a critically unsupported premise which brings its whole edifice down.

author(s):
Tremblay, Francois; published: Jun 15, 2004

Harun Yahya Retreats to Miracles

An examination of Harun Yahya's response to a previous article, Harun Yahya: An Invitation to Dogmatism.

author(s):
Tremblay, Francois; published: Jun 08, 2004

Against the Free Will Defense

When used against the Argument from Moral Evil, the Free Will Theodicy claims that God cannot stop or at least greatly reduce the number of immoral deeds committed by humans because he has a tremendous respect for their free will. In this paper the author argues that the aforementioned theodicy fails. The author presents what he believes is a new and efficacious argument against the Free Will Defense.

author(s):
Plugaru, Horia George ; published: Jun 07, 2004

A List of Some Problematic Issues

In this essay various discrepancies between the traditional interpretation of the Torah and historical evidence are discussed, including such questions as when the Torah was written, whether or not it was transferred from the time of the Sinai revelation in an uniterrupted manner through sequential generations, whether or not various parts of the Torah story are corroborated by historical evidence, etc.

author(s):
Zeligman, Naftali; published: Mar 16, 2003

Harun Yahya and Islamic Creationism

An Islamic form of creationism has become popular in Turkey. "Harun Yahya" is its most prominent promoter, and his media-savvy productions have become available not just in Turkey but throughout the Muslim world. While Yahya's works are not any more sophisticated than those by garden-variety American creationists, the Muslim variety of creationism has been more successful than its US counterpart in gaining political and educational influence.

author(s):
Edis, Taner; published: Oct 19, 2002

Letter to My Rabbi

This document, written from the viewpoint of an Orthodox Jew fairly familiar with both the fundamental texts of this religion and many aspects of modern scientific and academic knowledge, shows the irreconcilable inner contradiction in which such person finds himself. The document demonstrates a large number of issues, where beliefs and concepts immanent to Orthodox Judaism flatly contradict things that have become known to humankind as result of scientific and academic research of the last several centuries, as well as moral attitudes internalized by most people living in the modern Western world.

author(s):
Zeligman, Naftali; published: Sep 30, 2002
updated: Jun 20, 2005

Purim 1946? Not Exactly

This essay deals with a common argument of Jewish outreach activists - that in the Scroll of Esther there is, in the form of a hint, a prediction of the execution of Nazi war criminals sentenced to death at the Nuremberg trial. The essay shows this argument to be unsubstantiated.

author(s):
Rubin, Ephraim; published: Aug 09, 2002

A Masterpiece Chockfull of Inconsistencies

In this item, a number of discrepancies between various parts of the Book of Genesis are discussed as well as some of the contradictions between the biblical story and science.

author(s):
Rossow, Amiel; published: Jun 15, 1999

Harun Yahya: An Invitation to Dogmatism

A critique of the website and works of Harun Yahya (Adnan Oktar), a popular proponent of Islamic apologetics.

author(s):
Tremblay, Francois; published: Jul 21, 2002

Do we need God to explain Jewish survival?

This essay is dedicated to analysis of a phenomenon often used by Orthodox Jewish outreach activists as a proof of God's existence and special care for the Jewish people - the long survival of the Jews as a distinct nationality. The essay demonstrates that, a remarkable phenomenon though it is, Jewish survival is not without its analogies among other peoples on earth and can be comprehended in social and historical terms, without any need to posit God's existence or providence in order to explain it.

author(s):
Rubin, Ephraim; published: Jul 19, 2002

The Risale-i Nur on Naturalism

A short rebuttal to the 23rd Flash in Risale-i Nur by Bediuzaman Said Nursi, a major influential work in the Islamic community.

author(s):
Tremblay, Francois; published: Jul 07, 2002