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Atheist Contradictions: Cline’s Elementary Scholarship

[UPDATE: Oct 11, 2019]

By: Michelle Zorzella

As I was doing research for an essay on the topic of agnostic atheism, I came across a curious article written by one of Learn Religion’s atheism and agnosticism experts, Austin Cline. With a BA from the University of Pennsylvania, a Masters from Princeton University and 18 years of experience educating others on the subjects of atheism and agnosticism, one would not expect to encounter such a poorly written article concerning Agnosticism and Thomas Henry Huxley.

In his article, he attempts to provide some details about the life of Huxley and explain his understanding of agnosticism. He quotes the following statement from his 1889 essay on Agnosticism:

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After reading the article, I searched for a copy of Huxley’s essay and began to read it in its entirety. When I found the statement Cline quoted in the image above, I immediately became suspicious. The quote Cline offers is not quite the same as what is seen here in the following source provided by Clark University: (more…)

When Counter-Apologetics Fail

By: Monique Zorzella

2016-10-28

Atheism Expert Austin Cline of atheism.about.com sets out to debunk an alleged myth expounded by religious apologists in his work entitled Myth: Atheists Believe in Lots of  Unprovable Things, Like Love and Beauty. Cline proposes that a false claim thrown about by theists is that: “Atheists and other so-called rationalists believe in many things they cherish, but which are unprovable: love, value, beauty, etc.”  He suggests this is done as an attempt to establish a false parallel between themselves and atheists when it comes to their “approach to matters of truth”; more specifically, that both Theists and Atheists believe in things that cannot be justified by logic or evidence. Despite his attempts to falsify the claim, the essay ultimately fails to make any cogent argument that would successfully refute the proposed myth.

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Origins of Original Sin 

By: Michelle Zorzella

Original sin, the Christian doctrine regarding the moral corruption of mankind as a result of Adam and Chavah (Eve) eating the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. As consequence of their disobedience, all of humanity is imparted with an ancestral fault; that is, a hereditary state of sin which can only be remitted by the will of God.

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Theist Contradictions: Problems with Presuppositional Apologetics

By: Michelle Zorzella

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There are several varying approaches to apologetics. A common strategy among Christian Fundamentalists and Biblical literalists is Presuppositionalism; the belief that Christianity provides the only coherent foundation for rationality. This approach relies on the presupposition that the Bible is divinely authored and consequently inerrant. A presuppositional apologist therefore seeks to demonstrate that Christianity is perfectly coherent, while exposing the logical flaws in all other worldviews. A common objection to this radical approach is that by presupposing the Bible is infallible, one begs the question as to whether Christianity is actually true and internally consistent. The full extent of this problem is best illustrated in a controversial statement offered by American Pastor Peter LaRuffa, in HBO‘s 2014 documentary Questioning Darwin:

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Martin Luther King, Jr. & The Parable of the Good Samaritan

By: Alexander Ciurana

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On November 20, 1955—less than one month after becoming the pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church—Martin Luther King, Jr. preached on the parable of the Good Samaritan (Carson, 2007, pp. 239-240). The story is found in the gospel of Luke chapter 10. Doubtless, this parable has been the subject of thousands of sermons throughout Christian history. The vast majority of these would be focused on kindness and neighborliness. Yet on this Sunday service, in that Montgomery, Alabama church, the familiar story would receive an interpretation remarkably unique and insightful. The sermon’s title alone is striking, “The One-Sided Approach of the Good Samaritan” (Carson, 2007, p. 239). (more…)