Contact: Anthony Horvath, Athanatos Christian Ministries, 202-280-7971, director@athanatosministries.org

MEDIA ADVISORY, April 21 /Christian Newswire/ -- Athanatos Christian Ministry's online apologetics academy is offering as one of its courses a study in atheism, in particular the 'new' atheism of Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and others.

"The outrage expressed by the atheistic community at Ben Stein's movie, "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" has been so palpable you could bottle it up and sell it as an energy drink. They are practically foaming at the mouth," says Anthony Horvath, the executive director of the ministry and online academy.

Horvath continues, "The blogosphere reveals the utter disdain that the hard core atheists have for anyone who merely suggests that it might be possible to scientifically detect design. If all Stein's movie accomplishes is revealing more publicly what many in the scientific community have been saying quietly all along, that is a major accomplishment."

The academy is offering the course "Studies in Atheism" to help people understand why the 'new atheists' think the way they do.

In fact, the launching of the academy acknowledges the fact that the Church itself needs to do more to prepare Christians for modern challenges- in particular, from 'New Atheists' like Richard Dawkins. He was featured prominently in the Expelled movie. Many Christians struggled with Dawkins's book, "The God Delusion."

"Needlessly," says Horvath. "Very few educated Christians think that Dawkins even understands what Christians mean by 'God.' Perhaps the problem is that there aren't enough informed Christians to know that."

Horvath states that the "Studies in Atheism" course exposes participants to the writings and arguments of prominent and vocal atheistic spokespersons and lays out ways in which Christians can respond. This includes pointing out areas where the 'New Atheists' misrepresent Christianity.

The course, however, is not about understanding Christianity itself. Horvath urges other courses for that, including "Historicity of the Resurrection," "Elements of Basic Christianity," "Reliability of the New Testament Documents" the "Formation of the New Testament Canon," "Biblical Greek," and importantly, "Survey on the Historical Jesus."

Horvath, who strayed into disbelief himself in college while studying to be a pastor, knows well the challenges to the Faith. The courses reflect Horvath's ten years of experience in apologetics, primarily working with atheists. Future sessions will make available other courses of study.

The "Studies in Atheism" course begins April 30th and is enrolling now. Interested individuals are directed to the Academy portal page for the start dates of other courses.

The Academy portal page is www.athanatosministries.org/academy/