[ref001] The Skeptical Review (Volume One, Number One) [ref002] [ref003]The Skeptical Revi

[ref001]
The Skeptical Review (Volume One, Number One)
[ref002]




[ref003]The Skeptical Review: 1990: Number One: Why Another 
Religious Publication?

   If there is anything the world already has enough of, surely that would
be religious publications.  The pouches of our mail carriers bulge with
religious journals, magazines, periodicals, and bulletins already
circulating through our postal system.  The Church of Christ, which the
publishers of _The_Skeptical_Review_ were once affiliated with,
produces the _Gospel_Advocate_, _Firm_Foundation_, _Christian
Chronicle_, _Reason_&_Revelation_, _Power_, and at least a
score of smaller, less known publications, and the journalistic production
of many other churches is just as prolific.  Why then would anyone want to
add anything else to this mountainous glut?  

     We could quibble and say that ours is not a religious publication. 
In the strictest sense of the word, religion is the expression of belief
in and reverence for a supernatural entity, so in that respect ours will
certainly not be a "religious" publication. At no time will we
be found admonishing our readers to "believe in God"; we won't
even get involved in the theism-atheism controversy.  Being primarily
agnostic in our convictions, we will leave this matter to those who are
far more sure of their positions (on both sides) than we could ever be. 


     Our purpose will be to promote critical examination of the Bible
inerrancy doctrine, and that will make ours an unusual publication. There
are journals that devote some space to this subject, but only one other we
know about that exists only to challenge traditional assumptions on which
this belief has thrived.  As our readers get to know us, we suspect that
many will concur in saying that we are far from religious. Some might even
insist that "irreligious" more appropriately describes us.
Nevertheless, our editorial purpose will focus in each issue on an
important religious matter--the doctrine of Bible inerrancy--and so to
that extent we have to agree that ours is a religious publication.  We
just can't think of _The_Skeptical_Review_ as being only
"another" religious publication.  We think we will be quite
different from the others.

     An important difference will be our editorial policy of publishing
competently written responses to our lead articles. Not many religious
journals do this. Most of them publish only materials that agree with the
particular doctrinal beliefs they were created to promulgate.  In this
issue, for example, we are publishing "[ref004]The Inerrancy Doctrine Is
Found To Be Impregnable," which Jerry Moffitt was invited to
write in reply to "[ref005]The Last Hurrah of the
Inerrancy Doctrine," our lead article that begins on the next
page.  In future issues, we will continue to publish dissenting views. 

     We had a twofold purpose in adopting this policy.  First, we firmly
believe that no philosophical opinion, not even our own, is worthy of
acceptance if it cannot survive the scrutiny of public forum. 
Secondly, we believe that printing responses to our articles will
demonstrate the soundness of our position. If the best qualified minds
in the inerrancy camp cannot refute our arguments--and we believe they
can't--that should be a strong indication, at the very least, that our
position deserves further consideration.  

     With the publication of our first issue, we earnestly solicit your
consideration of our views on this important matter. If you disagree
with us, write a response.  We will consider it for publication.  If you
have questions, send them to us.  We will try to answer them.



FREE SUBSCRIPTION: A free one-year subscription to _The_Skeptical_
Review_ can be obtained by emailing [ref006]Jftill@aol.com or by writing to P.O. Box 
717, Canton, IL 61520-0717.

File contributed by [ref007]Farrell Till; page
maintained by the [ref008]Internet Infidels.

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[ref010]infidel@freethought.tamu.edu
[ref011]JL

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