Is there an Absolute Truth in Buddhism?

In his book, What the Buddha Taught, Walpola Rahula has a chapter on the Third Noble Truth — Nirodha. There, he discussed the notion of Absolute Truth in Buddhism:

Now, what is Absolute Truth? According to Buddhism, the Absolute Truth is that there is nothing absolute in the world, that everything is relative, conditioned and impermanent, and that there is no unchanging, everlasting, absolute substance like Self, Soul, or Ātman within or without. This is the Absolute Truth.

This is a relativist position, one that many conservatives detest. The problem with this position is that it could be self-contradicting. Rahula made this statement: “The Absolute Truth is that there is nothing absolute in the world.” But if this is an absolute statement, then the statement refutes itself — since it is a statement of absolute truth. It would be the same as saying, “The Absolute Truth is that there is no Absolute Truth.” Many Christian thinkers, especially Christian apologists, love to use this charge of self-contradiction to refute the Buddhist position and the moral relativist position. By refuting the no-Absolute-Truth position, they conclude that there must be Absolute Truth. But that is a non sequitur. For it presumes a false dichotomy — that there is either Absolute Truth or there is not. No everything in life is binary. Take the statement that “Francis is a…