Some years ago, Urban Expression in partnership with the Anabaptist Network and Bristol Baptist College ran several webinars. These were hosted and recorded by the Church of the Brethren in the US.
Throughout history, Atheism has been marked by a subversion of gods of the state. As such, from classical Greece, Imperial Rome and Medieval Christendom, Atheism was a criminal charge. After the European Reformations (16th Century), Atheism became a term of abuse and after the Enlightenment (18th Century) it became a badge of honour. In the postmodern era (21st Century) Atheism has become a measure of religious orthodoxy. The more domesticated Atheism has become, the more it has lost its subversive element, climaxing today in the endorsement of the very type of state activity it once opposed.
Simon Perry is Chaplain to Robinson College, University of Cambridge. He is author of Atheism after Christendom: Disbelief in an Age of Encounter.
