A Sinister Form of Flattery: New Book Takes Anti-Catholic Protestants to Task for Imitating Atheist Tactics

NEWS PROVIDED BY
Catholic Answers
March 7, 2023

SAN DIEGO, March 7, 2023 /Christian Newswire/ -- Faithful Protestants are pretty good at calling out the errors and fallacies of skeptical critics who attack Christianity. But what about when they start copying them? That's the question that Trent Horn (Why We're Catholic) asks in his latest book, When Protestants Argue Like Atheists.

Atheists have a diverse bag of debate tricks that they use to make belief in God and the gospel seem irrational. Some are logical, like shifting the burden of proof or begging questions about authority. Others are historical or rhetorical—such as emotional appeals to conspiracy theories or claimed Christian atrocities. Horn looks at a dozen such tricks and shows how some Protestants can go from refuting them to adapting them as a weapon against the Church. This, he says, lowers the level of discourse and creates needless obstacles to Protestant-Catholic understanding. (He also points out ways in which Catholic apologists can fall into the same habit.)

"Pointing out how Protestants employ the same bad-faith arguments that they criticize when skeptics use them isn't merely a 'gotcha' moment to label them hypocrites," says Todd Aglialoro, director of publishing for Catholic Answers Press. "Protestants and Catholics alike must commit themselves to fair standards of dialogue—rather than just scoring points by any means—if we're going to achieve the unity of spirit to which Jesus calls us. Trent Horn's new book is an important call to elevate those standards."

About the Author:
Trent Horn is a bestselling author and staff apologist at Catholic Answers.

SOURCE Catholic Answers

CONTACT: Kerry Beck, 619-387-7200, kbeck@catholic.com