The philosopher Michael Ruse has written, "With respect to the main claims of Christianity … I am pretty atheistic …. I prefer the term 'skeptic' to describe my position …. I am an ardent evolutionist …. I think that science is the highest form of knowledge—I am a philosophical naturalist." And yet, surprisingly, Ruse also ardently defends the biblical doctrine of original sin. Ruse argues:

I think Christianity is spot on about original sin—how could one think otherwise, when the world's most civilized and advanced people (the people of Beethoven, Goethe, Kant) embraced that slime-ball Hitler and participated in the Holocaust? I think Saint Paul and the great Christian philosophers had real insights into sin and freedom and responsibility, and I want to build on this rather than turn from it.