{"id":21145,"date":"2015-10-06T06:00:10","date_gmt":"2015-10-06T10:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=21145"},"modified":"2015-09-26T18:16:22","modified_gmt":"2015-09-26T22:16:22","slug":"what-christians-and-atheists-have-in-common","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/10\/what-christians-and-atheists-have-in-common\/","title":{"rendered":"What Christians and atheists have in common"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

In the ancient Greco-Roman persecutions, Christians were put to death on the grounds of atheism; that is, they did not believe in the\u00a0 gods.\u00a0 They believed in one God, but they rejected the pantheon of all other religions.\u00a0 Catholic journalist John L. Allen discusses some similarities between Christians and atheists today, particularly in a global context.\u00a0\u00a0 Islamic radicals, he says, have two major targets:\u00a0 Christians and atheists.\u00a0 Also, worldwide, Christians join with atheists in promoting secular governments as opposed to theocracies.<\/p>\n

From John L. Allen, Jr., An Easter reflection on what Christians and atheists have in common | Crux<\/a>.:<\/p>\n

Among Islamic radicals incensed with the West, no two groups stir rage like Christians and atheists. Christians symbolize the perceived sins of the Western past, while atheists embody what Islamists see as the decadence and apostasy of the Western present.<\/p>\n

\n

In Europe and North America, we tend to think the primary cultural fault line pits liberals against conservatives, with religious believers often concentrated on one side. American pollsters, for instance, say one good predictor of whether someone will vote Republican or Democrat is how often that person goes to church.<\/p>\n

In much of the rest of the world, that\u2019s just not how things align.<\/p>\n

Instead, the clash that matters is between those who support a secular state and those seeking to impose theocracy by force. Radical Islam tends to be the most lethal version of the latter option, but it takes other forms, too, including Buddhist<\/a> radicalism in Sri Lanka and Myanmar, Hindu extremism in India, and even forms of Christian militancy in conflict zones such as the Central African Republic.<\/p>\n

When the question is framed as pluralism vs. intolerance, the result is to put religious minorities, non-fundamentalist followers of the majority religion, and non-believers in the same boat, with Christians and atheists often at special risk should intolerance prevail.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the ancient Greco-Roman persecutions, Christians were put to death on the grounds of atheism; that is, they did not believe in the\u00a0 gods.\u00a0 They believed in one God, but they rejected the pantheon of all other religions.\u00a0 Catholic journalist John L. Allen discusses some similarities between Christians and atheists today, particularly in a global […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[230,3755],"class_list":["post-21145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-religions","tag-atheists","tag-global-religion"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Christians and atheists have in common<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the ancient Greco-Roman persecutions, Christians were put to death on the grounds of atheism; that is, they did not believe in the\u00a0 gods.\u00a0 They\" \/>\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\/geneveith\/2015\/10\/what-christians-and-atheists-have-in-common\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Christians and atheists have in common\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the ancient Greco-Roman persecutions, Christians were put to death on the grounds of atheism; that is, they did not believe in the\u00a0 gods.\u00a0 They\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/10\/what-christians-and-atheists-have-in-common\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-10-06T10:00:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-09-26T22:16:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/10\/what-christians-and-atheists-have-in-common\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/10\/what-christians-and-atheists-have-in-common\/\",\"name\":\"What Christians and atheists have in common\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-06T10:00:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-09-26T22:16:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"In the ancient Greco-Roman persecutions, Christians were put to death on the grounds of atheism; that is, they did not believe in the\u00a0 gods.\u00a0 They\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/10\/what-christians-and-atheists-have-in-common\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/10\/what-christians-and-atheists-have-in-common\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/10\/what-christians-and-atheists-have-in-common\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What Christians and atheists have in common\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. 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