This slide presentation was used for a group of Catholic young adults to underline the importance of dialogue and cooperation.

1. Common Ground:
Conversations BetweenAtheists,
Humanists, and Religious Believers

2. Checking out Some Basic Assumptions
• When you hear the words "atheism" and "humanism" what do you think of?
• If have friends or families who consider themselves atheist, humanist,
nones, or secular...., agnostic, etc..., do you engage in conversations about
belief and unbelief? If so, what would you say characterizes these
conversations most signficantly?

3. Disillusionment with Religious Institutions
• One of the most important factors in the
declining share of Christians and the growth of
the “nones” is generational replacement. As the
Millennial generation enters adulthood, its
members display much lower levels of religious
affiliation, including less connection with
Christian churches, than older generations. Fully
36% of young Millennials (those between the
ages of 18 and 24) are religiously unaffiliated, as
are 34% of older Millennials (ages 25-33).And
fewer than six-in-ten Millennials identify with
any branch of Christianity,

4. Some assumptions Behind the "Catholic bleed"
• The absence of a "meta-narrative"
or sense of absolute truth
• Distrust for spiritual authority
• Disagreement with Church
teaching

5. Our atheist and agnostic friends
• Skeptics either do not believe God
exists (atheists) or are not sure God
exists, but are open to the possibility
(agnostics). Skeptics represent one-
quarter of all unchurched adults (25%).
Nearly one-third of skeptics have never
attended a Christian church service in
their lives (31%). That’s nearly double
the proportion of “virgin unchurched”
who are not skeptics (17%).
• With the nones, athesits, and

6. What does it mean to be Catholic in a diverse
world religiously and non-religiously?
• The Mission "ad Gentes" of the Church.
• His Church: "God Himself took the initiative
in the dialogue of salvation. "He hath first
loved us." We, therefore, must be the first
to ask for a dialogue with men, without
waiting to be summoned to it by others."
Pope Paul VI
• The ecumenical and interfaith tradition of
the Church grew dramatically soon after
this period.

7. Catholic/Secular Dialogue:The impetus of
Vatican II
• In 1965 Pope Paul VI created the Secretariat
for Non-believers: It was founded by Pope
Paul VI in 1965, and its function is to deal
with the subject of atheism in the modern
world. Besides studying the causes of atheism
and ways of coping with them, it is charged
with promoting constructive dialogue with
non-believers.
• St. John Paul II integrated the Sec for Non
Believers with the Pontifical Council for
Culture

8. Pope Francis & the Social Communication of
the Gospel
• As believers, we also feel close to those who do not
consider themselves part of any religious tradition,
yet sincerely seek the truth, goodness and beauty
which we believe have their highest expression and
source in God. We consider them as precious allies
in the commitment to defending human dignity, in
building peaceful coexistence between peoples and
in protecting creation.
• A special place of encounter is offered by new
Areopagi such as the Court of the Gentiles, where
“believers and non-believers are able to engage in
dialogue about fundamental issues of ethics, art and
science, and about the search for transcendence”.
This too is a path to peace in our troubled world.

9. Common Ground: Conversations between
Atheists, Humanists, and Religious Believers
• The dialogue conference of November 2013 in
Glasgow, Scotland through the Xaverian
Missionaries
• Meetup of dialogue that meets monthly in Wayne
with about 50 members
(http://www.meetup.com/Conversations-Among-
Humanists-and-Religious-Believers/)
• CommonGround conference at Rutgers
University on October 8, 2015
(commonground2015.org)
• Program presentation at the Parliament ofWorld
Religions October 2015

11. What AreWe Learning?
• TheAtheist and Humanist communities are extremely diverse and cannot be understood with one
paintstroke
• We know little in truth about each other and have conjured stereotypes and conclusions about each other
that are not based in fact
• In this pre-evangelization stage, our main concern is to earn each other's trust
• Conversion is a much more complex experience that involves discovering the meaning of our relationship
on this earth.
• Our common areas: a fulfilled life, a moral outlook, meaningful experience of community and a desire to
shape the world into a better place for all.