Religious Skepticism: A Bibliography

I’m delivering a guest lecture at a local community college this morning on religious skepticism. The following is a bibliography of further reading on the main topics I’m covering for any students who want to follow up. Please feel free to add more in the comments.

I haven’t done this lecture since starting at Freethought Blogs, so it’s a bit light on some of the better resources around the network. The decision to include religious sources in many of these cases, however, is deliberate.

Modern Skepticism in Historical Context
At PhilosophyOnline, Gareth Southwell presents an introductory theory of knowledge, including a history of classic skepticism.

At the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, Steven Novella and David Bloomberg differentiate scientific skepticism from other modern definitions of “skepticism” and discuss untestable religious claims.

External Evidence for God(s) and Religion
Theopedia discusses the problem of “God of the Gaps” apologetics.

Nonauthoritarian sources of ethics: Virtue Ethics and Consequentialism.

Primate Diaries discusses the existence and origin of morality in nonhuman animals:

The Altruism Equation: Seven Scientists Search for the Origins of Goodness (book)

Cognitive Daily reports on a study discussing how belief in free will versus determinism affects cheating behavior.

The Frontal Cortex looks at the complicated relationship between religious identity and moral behavior.

Internal Contradictions Within Religions
One bible school points up the “dangers” of several versions of the Bible that claim to be inerrant.

Another Christian group takes on the idea of inerrancy by looking at the contradictions between biblical passages.

August Berkshire tackles common apologetics addressing the problem of evil.

Deacon Duncan writes an ongoing series of gospel “disproofs”.

Common Philosophical Stances on Religion, Defined
John Wilkins of Evolving Thoughts delves into definitions of agnosticism and what can and can’t be known of the existence of god(s).

Additional Reading
Doubt: A History: The Great Doubters and Their Legacy of Innovation from Socrates and Jesus to Thomas Jefferson and Emily Dickinson (book) and an interview with author Jennifer Michael Hecht on NPR’s Speaking of Faith.

Lousy Canuck discusses types of prayer and why prayer is nonsense.

Daniel Fincke on how atheism extends beyond skepticism. Daniel also has a highly browsable set of posts on basic topics in his sidebar.

Greta Christina on atheists and anger.

Feeling Alone?
Minnesota Atheists
Humanists of MN
Campus Atheists, Skeptics, and Humanists
Minnesota Atheists Meetup
Twin Cities Atheists Meetup
Skeptic Meetups

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Religious Skepticism: A Bibliography
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4 thoughts on “Religious Skepticism: A Bibliography

  1. 3

    Dan-o, you follow all of FtB by feed and come along to make your conservative comments whenever you see something you don’t like. That means you have access to the information that this is a very busy week for me. Piss off.

    Also, I was at Normandale talking to a comparative religion class.

  2. 4

    Thank you. I find this very interesting. How many colleges do you give this lecture?

    P.S. I will not finish with any name calling but rather will simply say cheers!

    P.P.S. Please keep in mind though that cheers for christians is code for God Bless.

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