The Vatican announced a new initiative aimed at promoting dialogue between theists and atheists to be launched with a two-day event this March in Paris.<\/p>\n
The Vatican\u2019s Pontifical Council for Culture will sponsor a series of seminars on the theme of \u201cReligion, Light and Common Reason,\u201d at various locations in the city, including Paris-Sorbonne University.<\/p>\n
The events will conclude with a party for youth in the courtyard of the Cathedral of Notre Dame, followed by prayer and meditation inside the cathedral.<\/p>\n
The initiative, called \u201cCourtyard of the Gentiles,\u201d takes its name from a section of the ancient Temple of Jerusalem accessible to non-Jews, which Pope Benedict XVI has used as a metaphor for dialogue between Catholics and non-believers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe that the church should also today open a sort of `courtyard of the gentiles\u2019 where men can in some way hook on to God, without knowing him and before having gained access to his mystery,\u201d Benedict said in Dec. 2009.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Well, who\u2019d a thunk? How long until they get their own ordinariate? From the Religion News Service: The Vatican announced a new initiative aimed at promoting dialogue between theists and atheists to be launched with a two-day event this March in Paris. The Vatican\u2019s Pontifical Council for Culture will sponsor a series of seminars on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,45],"tags":[118],"class_list":["post-1418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-converts","category-ripped-from-the-headlines","tag-atheism"],"yoast_head":"\n
Vatican to atheists: let's talk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Well, who'd a thunk? How long until they get their own ordinariate? From the Religion News Service: The Vatican announced a new initiative aimed at\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/01\/vatican-to-atheists-lets-talk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vatican to atheists: let's talk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Well, who'd a thunk? How long until they get their own ordinariate? 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