Atheists to attend pope's talks with religious leaders

Wednesday, October 26, 2011
VATICAN CITY - Agence France-Presse

Four leading atheist intellectuals will for the first time take part in interreligious talks in Assisi in a sign of Pope Benedict XVI's growing interest in dialogue between "faith and reason." French theorist and writer Julia Kristeva, Italian philosopher Remo Bodei, Mexican philosopher Guillermo Hurtado and Austrian economist Walter Baier will attend the meeting Thursday in St. Francis of Assisi's birthplace.

Kristeva will speak just before the pope at a council attended by 300 religious leaders including Islamic, Taoist and Confucianist representatives, as well as Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, a Zoroastrian and a Bahai.

The pope's decision to invite atheists to the event, which marks the 25th anniversary of the first interreligious talks in Assisi organised by John Paul II in 1986, has surprised some cardinals.

The pontiff has spoken out against "atheist extremism" and aggressive secularisation in the past -- comparing it just last year to Nazi tyranny -- and his apparent turnaround is likely to anger Catholic fundamentalists.

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