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Christianity and Islam

Christianity and Islam are the two largest religions in the world, with 2.8 billion and 1.9 billion adherents, respectively. Both religions are considered as Abrahamic, and are monotheistic, originating in the Middle East.

Christianity developed out of Second Temple Judaism in the 1st century CE. It is founded on the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and those who follow it are called Christians. Islam developed in the 7th century CE. It is founded on the teachings of Muhammad, as an expression of surrendering to the will of God. Those who follow it are called Muslims (meaning "submitters to God").

Muslims view Christians to be People of the Book, and also regard them as kafirs (unbelievers) committing shirk (polytheism) because of the Trinity, and thus, contend that they must be dhimmis (religious taxpayers) under Sharia law. Christians similarly possess a wide range of views about Islam. The majority of Christians view Islam as a false religion due to the fact that its adherents reject the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ.

Like Christianity, Islam considers Jesus to be al-Masih (Arabic for the Messiah) who was sent to guide the Banī Isrā'īl (Arabic for Children of Israel) with a new revelation: al-Injīl (Arabic for "the Gospel"). But while belief in Jesus is a fundamental tenet of both, a critical distinction far more central to most Christian faiths is that Jesus is the incarnated God, specifically, one of the hypostases of the Triune God, God the Son.

While Christianity and Islam hold their recollections of Jesus's teachings as gospel and share narratives from the first five books of the Old Testament (the Hebrew Bible), the sacred text of Christianity also includes the later additions to the Bible while the primary sacred text of Islam instead is the Quran. Muslims believe that al-Injīl was distorted or altered to form the Christian New Testament. Christians, on the contrary, do not have a univocal understanding of the Quran, though most believe that it is fabricated or apocryphal work. There are similarities in both texts, such as accounts of the life and works of Jesus and the virgin birth of Jesus through Mary; yet still, some Biblical and Quranic accounts of these events differ.

Similarities and differences
In the Islamic tradition, Christians and Jews are believed to worship the same God that Muslims worship. However, to some, there are many different opinions in the discussion of whether Muslims and Christians worship the same God.

Scriptures
The Christian Bible is made up of the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament was written over a period of two millennia prior to the birth of Christ. The New Testament was written in the decades following the death of Christ. Historically, Christians universally believed that the entire Bible was the divinely inspired Word of God. However, the rise of harsher criticism during the Enlightenment has led to a diversity of views concerning the authority and inerrancy of the Bible in different denominations. Christians consider the Quran to be a non-divine set of texts.

The Quran dates from the early 7th century, or decades thereafter. Muslims believe it was revealed to Muhammad, gradually over a period of approximately 23 years, beginning on 22 December 609, when Muhammad was 40, and concluding in 632, the year of his death. The Quran is written mostly in parabolically and not in form of a linear process of history. However, the stories often involve Biblical figures. By that, the Quran assumes that the audience is familiar with their associated narratives. Sometimes, stories featuring in the Bible are summarized, dwelled at length, and sometimes entirely different. Another difference in style is that the Bible offers a linear set of time, from the beginning of the narrative to its end, while the Quran implies a cyclical pattern, in which the main narrative of the Quran unfolds repeatingly at the time of each prophet.

Muslims believe that Jesus was given the Injil (Greek evangel, or Gospel) by God, however that parts or the entirety of these teachings were lost or distorted (tahrif) to produce the Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament. The majority of Muslims consider the Quran to be the only revealed book that has been protected by God from distortion or corruption.

Jesus
Muslims and Christians both believe that Jesus was born to Mary, a virgin. They both also believe that Jesus is the Messiah. However, they differ on other key issues regarding Jesus. Almost all Christians believe that Jesus was the incarnated Son of God, divine, and sinless. Islam teaches that Jesus was the penultimate and one of the most important prophets of God, but not the Son of God, not divine, and not part of the Trinity. Rather, Muslims believe the creation of Jesus was similar to the creation of Adam (Adem).

Christianity and Islam also differ in their fundamental views related to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Christianity teaches that Jesus was condemned to death by the Sanhedrin and the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate, crucified, and after three days, resurrected. Islam teaches that Jesus was a human prophet who, like the other prophets, tried to bring his people to worship the one true God, termed Tawhid. Muslims also believe that Jesus was condemned to crucifixion and then miraculously saved from execution, and was raised to the heavens. In Islam, instead of Jesus being crucified, his lookalike was crucified.

Both Christians and Muslims believe in the Second Coming of Jesus. Christianity does not state where will Jesus return, while the Hadith in Islam states that Jesus will return at a white minaret at the east of Damascus (believed to be the Minaret of Isa in the Umayyad Mosque), and will pray behind Mahdi. Christians believe that Jesus will return to kill the Antichrist and similarly Muslims believe that Jesus will return to kill Dajjal. Many Christians believe that Jesus would then rule for 1,000 years, while Muslims believe Jesus will rule for forty years, marry, have children and will be buried at the Green Dome.

Muhammad
Muslims believe that Muhammad was a prophet, who received revelations (Quran) by God through the angel Gabriel (Jibril), gradually over a period of approximately 23 years, beginning on 22 December 609, when Muhammad was 40, and concluding in 632, the year of his death. Muslims regard the Quran as the most important miracle of Muhammad, a proof of his prophethood.

Muslims revere Muhammad as the embodiment of the perfect believer and take his actions and sayings as a model of ideal conduct. Unlike Jesus, who Christians believe was God's son, Muhammad was a mortal, albeit with extraordinary qualities. Today many Muslims believe that it is wrong to represent Muhammad, but this was not always the case. At various times and places pious Muslims represented Muhammad although they never worshiped these images.

During the lifetime of Muhammad, he had many interactions with Christians. One of the first Christians who met Muhammad was Waraqah ibn Nawfal, a Christian priest of ancient Arabia. He was one of the first hanifs to believe in the prophecy of Muhammad. Muhammad also met the Najrani Christians and made peace with them. One of the earliest recorded comments of a Christian reaction to Muhammad can be dated to only a few years after Muhammad's death. As stories of the Arab prophet spread to Christian Syria, an old man who was asked about the "prophet who has appeared with the Saracens" responded: "He is false, for the prophets do not come armed with a sword."

God
In Christianity, the most common name of God is Yahweh. In Islam, the most common name of God is Allah, similar to Eloah in the Old Testament. The vast majority of the world's Christians adhere to the doctrine of the Trinity, which in creedal formulations states that God is three hypostases (the Father, the Son and the Spirit) in one ousia (substance). In Islam, this concept is deemed to be a denial of monotheism, and thus a sin of shirk, which is considered to be a major 'al-Kaba'ir' sin. The Quran itself refers to Trinity in Al-Ma'ida 5:73 which says "They have certainly disbelieved who say, "Allah is the third of three." And there is no god except one God. And if they do not desist from what they are saying, there will surely afflict the disbelievers among them a painful punishment." Islam has the concept of Tawhid which is the concept of a single, indivisible God, who has no partners.

The Holy Spirit
Christians and Muslims have differing views about the Holy Spirit. Most Christians believe that the Holy Spirit is God, and the third member of the Trinity. In Islam, the Holy Spirit is generally believed to be the angel Gabriel. Most Christians believe that the Paraclete referred to in the Gospel of John, who was manifested on the day of Pentecost, is the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, some Islamic scholars believe that the reference to the Paraclete is a prophecy of the coming of Muhammad.

One of the key verses concerning the Paraclete is John 16:7: "'Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter[Paraclete] will not come unto you; but if I go, I will send him unto you.'"

Salvation
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, the official doctrine document released by the Roman Catholic Church, has this to say regarding Muslims: "The Church's relationship with the Muslims. 'The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day.'"

Protestant theology mostly emphasizes the necessity of faith in Jesus as a savior for salvation. Muslims may receive salvation in theologies relating to Universal reconciliation, but will not according to most Protestant theologies based on justification through faith: "'The first and chief article is this: Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, died for our sins and was raised again for our justification (Romans 3:24–25). He alone is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29), and God has laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6). All have sinned and are justified freely, without their own works and merits, by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, in His blood (Romans 3:23–25). This is necessary to believe. This cannot be otherwise acquired or grasped by any work, law or merit. Therefore, it is clear and certain that this faith alone justifies us ... Nothing of this article can be yielded or surrendered, even though heaven and earth and everything else falls (Mark 13:31).'"

Some modern Muslim scholars critique the doctrinal aspects of Christianity. For example, Isma'il Raji al-Faruqi, in his work  Christian Ethics: A Historical and Systematic Analysis of Its Dominant Ideas, argues that Christianity has incorporated various influences that diverge from Jesus' original teachings. He emphasizes the need for what he considers a rational and coherent ethical framework, contrasting Christian concepts like peccatism (inherent human sinfulness) and saviorism (belief in Jesus as the redeemer) with Islamic views. This perspective includes a critique of Christian theological paradoxes and advocates for a rational and coherent ethical framework.

The Quran explicitly promises salvation for all those righteous Christians who were there before the arrival of Muhammad: "Indeed, the believers, Jews, Christians, and Sabians—whoever ˹truly˺ believes in Allah and the Last Day and does good will have their reward with their Lord. And there will be no fear for them, nor will they grieve."

The Quran also makes it clear that Christians will be nearest in love to those who follow the Quran and praises Christians for being humble and wise: "You will surely find the most bitter towards the believers to be the Jews and polytheists and the most gracious to be those who call themselves Christian. That is because there are priests and monks among them and because they are not arrogant. When they listen to what has been revealed to the Messenger, you see their eyes overflowing with tears for recognizing the truth. They say, “Our Lord! We believe, so count us among the witnesses. Why should we not believe in Allah and the truth that has come to us? And we long for our Lord to include us in the company of the righteous.” So Allah will reward them for what they said with Gardens under which rivers flow, to stay there forever. And that is the reward of the good-doers."

John of Damascus
In 746, John of Damascus (sometimes St. John of Damascus) wrote the Fount of Knowledge part two of which is entitled Heresies in Epitome: How They Began and Whence They Drew Their Origin. In this work, John makes extensive reference to the Quran and, in John's opinion, its failure to live up to even the most basic scrutiny. The work is not exclusively concerned with the Ismaelites (a name for the Muslims as they claimed to have descended from Ismael) but all heresy. The Fount of Knowledge references several suras directly often with apparent incredulity.

"From that time to the present a false prophet named Mohammed has appeared in their midst. This man, after having chanced upon the Old and New Testaments and likewise, it seems, having conversed with an Arian monk, devised his own heresy. Then, having insinuated himself into the good graces of the people by a show of seeming piety, he gave out that a certain book had been sent down to him from heaven. He had set down some ridiculous compositions in this book of his and he gave it to them as an object of veneration. ... There are many other extraordinary and quite ridiculous things in this book which he boasts was sent down to him from God. But when we ask: 'And who is there to testify that God gave him the book? And which of the prophets foretold that such a prophet would rise up?' – they are at a loss. And we remark that Moses received the Law on Mount Sinai, with God appearing in the sight of all the people in cloud, and fire, and darkness, and storm. And we say that all the Prophets from Moses on down foretold the coming of Christ and how Christ God (and incarnate Son of God) was to come and to be crucified and die and rise again, and how He was to be the judge of the living and dead. Then, when we say: 'How is it that this prophet of yours did not come in the same way, with others bearing witness to him? And how is it that God did not in your presence present this man with the book to which you refer, even as He gave the Law to Moses, with the people looking on and the mountain smoking, so that you, too, might have certainty?' – they answer that God does as He pleases. 'This,' we say, 'We know, but we are asking how the book came down to your prophet.' Then they reply that the book came down to him while he was asleep."

Theophanes the Confessor
Theophanes the Confessor (died c.822) wrote a series of chronicles (284 onwards and 602–813 AD)  based initially on those of the better known George Syncellus. Theophanes reports about Muhammad thus: "At the beginning of his advent the misguided Jews thought he was the Messiah. ... But when they saw him eating camel meat, they realized that he was not the one they thought him to be, ... those wretched men taught him illicit things directed against us, Christians, and remained with him."

"Whenever he came to Palestine he consorted with Jews and Christians and sought from them certain scriptural matters. He was also afflicted with epilepsy. When his wife became aware of this, she was greatly distressed, inasmuch as she, a noblewoman, had married a man such as he, who was not only poor, but also an epileptic. He tried deceitfully to placate her by saying, 'I keep seeing a vision of a certain angel called Gabriel, and being unable to bear his sight, I faint and fall down.'"

Niketas
In the work A History of Christian-Muslim Relations, Hugh Goddard mentions both John of Damascus and Theophanes and goes on to consider the relevance of Niketas Byzantios who formulated replies to letters on behalf of Emperor Michael III (842-867). Goddard sums up Niketas' view: "In short, Muhammad was an ignorant charlatan who succeeded by imposture in seducing the ignorant barbarian Arabs into accepting a gross, blaspheming, idolatrous, demoniac religion, which is full of futile errors, intellectual enormities, doctrinal errors and moral aberrations."

Goddard further argues that Niketas demonstrates in his work a knowledge of the entire Quran, including an extensive knowledge of Suras 2–18. Niketas' account from behind the Byzantine frontier apparently set a strong precedent for later writing both in tone and points of argument.

11th century
Knowledge and depictions of Islam continued to be varied within the Christian West during the 11th century. For instance, the author(s) of the 11th century Song of Roland evidently had little actual knowledge of Islam. As depicted in this epic poem, Muslims erect statues of Mohammed and worship them, and Mohammed is part of an "Unholy Trinity" together with the Classical Greek Apollyon and Termagant, a completely fictional deity. This view, evidently confusing Islam with the pre-Christian Graeco-Roman Religion, appears to reflect misconceptions prevalent in Western Christian society at the time.

On the other hand, ecclesiastic writers such as Amatus of Montecassino or Geoffrey Malaterra in Norman Southern Italy, who occasionally lived among Muslims themselves, would depict at times Muslims in a negative way but would depict equally any other (ethnic) group that was opposed to the Norman rule such as Byzantine Greeks or Italian Lombards. Often the depictions would depend on context: when writing about neutral events, Muslims would be called according to geographical terms such as "Saracens" or "Sicilians, when reporting events where Muslims came into conflict with Normans, Muslims would be called "pagans" or "infidels".

Similarities were occasionally acknowledged such as by Pope Gregory VII wrote in a letter to the Hammadid emir an-Nasir that both Christians and Muslims "worship and confess the same God though in diverse forms and daily praise".

The Divine Comedy
In Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, Muhammad is in the ninth ditch of Malebolge, the eighth realm, designed for those who have caused schism; specifically, he was placed among the Sowers of Religious Discord. Muhammad is portrayed as split in half, with his entrails hanging out, representing his status as a heresiarch (Canto 28).

This scene is frequently shown in illustrations of the Divine Comedy. Muhammad is represented in a 15th-century fresco Last Judgment by Giovanni da Modena and drawing on Dante, in the San Petronio Basilica in Bologna, as well as in artwork by Salvador Dalí, Auguste Rodin, William Blake, and Gustave Doré.

Second Vatican Council and Nostra aetate
The question of Islam was not on the agenda when Nostra aetate was first drafted, or even at the opening of the Second Vatican Council. However, as in the case of the question of Judaism, several events came together again to prompt a consideration of Islam. By the time of the Second Session of the Council in 1963, reservations began to be raised by bishops of the Middle East about the inclusion of this question. The position was taken that either the question will not be raised at all, or if it were raised, some mention of the Muslims should be made. Melkite patriarch Maximos IV was among those pushing for this latter position.

Early in 1964, Cardinal Bea notified Cardinal Cicognani, President of the Council's Coordinating Commission, that the Council fathers wanted the Council to say something about the great monotheistic religions, and in particular about Islam. The subject, however, was deemed to be outside the competence of Bea's Secretariat for the Promotion of Christian Unity. Bea expressed willingness to "select some competent people and with them to draw up a draft" to be presented to the Coordinating Commission. At a meeting of the Coordinating Commission on 16–17 April Cicognani acknowledged that it would be necessary to speak of the Muslims.

The period between the first and second sessions saw the change of pontiff from Pope John XXIII to Pope Paul VI, who had been a member of the circle (the Badaliya) of the Islamologist Louis Massignon. Pope Paul VI chose to follow the path recommended by Maximos IV and he therefore established commissions to introduce what would become paragraphs on the Muslims in two different documents, one of them being Nostra aetate, paragraph three, the other being Lumen gentium, paragraph 16.

The text of the final draft bore traces of Massignon's influence. The reference to Mary, for example, resulted from the intervention of Monsignor Descuffi, the Latin archbishop of Smyrna with whom Massignon collaborated in reviving the cult of Mary at Smyrna. The commendation of Muslim prayer may reflect the influence of the Badaliya.

In Lumen gentium, the Second Vatican Council declares that the plan of salvation also includes Muslims, due to their professed monotheism.

Recent Catholic-Islamic controversies

 * For the controversy surrounding Muslim prayer in Spain, see Muslim campaign at Córdoba Cathedral
 * For criticism of interfaith dialogue with Muslims, see Pierre Claverie
 * For the controversy over whether Islam is a religion or a political system, see Raymond Leo Burke
 * For the controversy over advice not to marry a Muslim and move to an Islamic country, see José Policarpo
 * For the controversy over whether Catholics may call God "Allah" if they want to, see Titular Roman Catholic Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur v Menteri Dalam Negeri
 * For the controversy over remarks by Pope Benedict XVI, see Regensburg lecture and Pope Benedict XVI and Islam

Protestantism and Islam
Protestantism and Islam entered into contact during the 16th century, at a time when Protestant movements in northern Europe coincided with the expansion of the Ottoman Empire in southern Europe. As both were in conflict with the Catholic Holy Roman Empire, numerous exchanges occurred, exploring religious similarities and the possibility of trade and military alliances. Relations became more conflictual in the early modern and modern periods, although recent attempts have been made at rapprochement.

Mormonism and Islam
Mormonism and Islam have been compared to one another ever since the earliest origins of the former in the nineteenth century, often by detractors of one religion or the other—or both. For instance, Joseph Smith, the founding prophet of Mormonism, was referred to as "the modern Mahomet" by the New York Herald, shortly after his murder in June 1844. This epithet repeated a comparison that had been made from Smith's earliest career, one that was not intended at the time to be complimentary. Comparison of the Mormon and Muslim prophets still occurs today, sometimes for derogatory or polemical reasons but also for more scholarly and neutral purposes. While Mormonism and Islam certainly have many similarities, there are also significant, fundamental differences between the two religions. Mormon–Muslim relations have historically been cordial; recent years have seen increasing dialogue between adherents of the two faiths, and cooperation in charitable endeavors, especially in the Middle and Far East.

Christianity and Druze
Christianity and Druze are Abrahamic religions that share a historical traditional connection with some major theological differences. The two faiths share a common place of origin in the Middle East, and consider themselves to be monotheistic. Even though the faith originally developed out of Ismaili Islam, Druze do not identify as Muslim.

The relationship between the Druze and Christians has been characterized by harmony and coexistence,   with amicable relations between the two groups prevailing throughout history, with the exception of some periods, including 1860 Mount Lebanon civil war. Over the centuries a number of the Druze embraced Christianity,   such as some of Shihab dynasty members, as well as the Abi-Lamma clan.

Contact between Christians (members of the Maronite, Eastern Orthodox, Melkite and other churches) and the Unitarian Druze led to the presence of mixed villages and towns in Mount Lebanon, Jabal al-Druze, Galilee, and Mount Carmel. The Maronites and the Druze founded modern Lebanon in the early eighteenth century, through the ruling and social system known as the "Maronite-Druze dualism" in Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate.

Christianity does not include belief in reincarnation or the transmigration of the soul, unlike the Druze. Christians engage in evangelism, often through the establishment of missions, unlike the Druze who do not accept converts; even marriage outside the Druze faith is rare and strongly discouraged. Similarities between the Druze and Christians include commonalities in their view of views on marriage and divorce, as well as belief in the oneness of God and theophany. The Druze faith incorporates some elements of Christianity, and other religious beliefs.

Both faiths give a prominent place to Jesus: Jesus is the central figure of Christianity, and in the Druze faith, Jesus is considered an important prophet of God,  being among the seven prophets who appeared in different periods of history. Both religions venerated John the Baptist, Saint George, Elijah, and other common figures.

Cultural influences
Scholars and intellectuals agree Christians have made significant contributions to Arab and Islamic civilization since the introduction of Islam, and they have had a significant impact contributing the culture of the Middle East and North Africa and other areas. Eastern Christian scientists and scholars of the medieval Islamic world (particularly Nestorian Christians) contributed to the Arab Islamic civilization during the Ummayads and the Abbasids periods by translating works of Greek philosophers to Syriac and afterwards to Arabic. They also excelled in philosophy, science, theology and medicine. Byzantine science played an important and crucial role in the transmission of classical knowledge to the Islamic world.

During the High Middle Ages, the Islamic world was at its cultural peak, supplying information and ideas to Europe, via Al-Andalus, Sicily and the Crusader kingdoms in the Levant. These included Latin translations of the Greek Classics and of Arabic texts in astronomy, mathematics, science, and medicine. Translation of Arabic philosophical texts into Latin "led to the transformation of almost all philosophical disciplines in the medieval Latin world", with a particularly strong influence of Muslim philosophers being felt in natural philosophy, psychology and metaphysics. The Islamic world also influenced other aspects of medieval European culture, partly by original innovations made during the Islamic Golden Age, including various fields such as the arts, agriculture, alchemy, music, pottery, etc.

Artistic influences
Islamic art and culture have both influenced and been influenced by Christian art and culture. Some arts have received such influence strongly, particularly religious architecture in the Byzantine and medieval eras.

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The Omen

The Omen is a 1976 supernatural horror film directed by Richard Donner and written by David Seltzer. An international co-production of the United Kingdom and the United States, it stars Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner, Harvey Spencer Stephens (in his film debut), Billie Whitelaw, Patrick Troughton, Martin Benson, and Leo McKern. The film's plot follows Damien Thorn, a young child replaced at birth by his father, unbeknownst to his wife, after their biological child dies shortly after birth. As a series of mysterious events and violent deaths occur around the family and Damien enters childhood, they come to learn he is in fact the prophesied Antichrist.

Released theatrically by 20th Century-Fox in June 1976, The Omen received mixed reviews from critics but was a commercial success, grossing over $60 million at the U.S. box office and becoming one of the highest-grossing films of 1976. Retrospective reviews of the film have been more favorable as the film earned two Oscar nominations, including a win for Jerry Goldsmith's musical score. The film spawned the Omen franchise, with Damien - Omen II released two years later, followed by The Final Conflict (1981) and Omen IV: The Awakening (1991), as well as a 2006 remake and 2024 prequel. It also spawned a 2016 television series that ran for one season on A&E.

Plot
American diplomat Robert Thorn and his wife Katherine are living in Rome, where Katherine gives birth to a boy who Robert is told died immediately. Hospital chaplain Father Spiletto persuades Robert to secretly adopt another baby whose mother just died in childbirth. Robert does not tell Katherine the child is not their own. They name him Damien.

Five years later, Robert is Ambassador to the United Kingdom in London when mysterious phenomena begin to plague the Thorns: a menacing Rottweiler appears at their home, Damien's nanny publicly hangs herself during his fifth birthday party, new nanny Mrs. Baylock arrives unexpectedly, Damien violently resists entering a church, and Damien's presence frightens animals at a safari park. Father Brennan warns Robert about Damien's origins, hinting that he is not human and insisting Robert take Holy Communion. He tells Robert that Damien is the son of Satan, that Katherine is pregnant, and that Damien will kill his unborn sibling and parents. Later, Father Brennan is killed by a falling lightning rod. Katherine tells Robert she wants an abortion, which he opposes. Damien knocks Katherine over a railing to the floor below, injuring her and causing her to miscarry.

Photographer Keith Jennings notices shadows in photographs of the nanny and Father Brennan that presaged their deaths. Keith shows Robert the photos along with news clippings and Biblical passages that suggest the coming of the Antichrist. He accompanies Robert to Rome to investigate Damien's birth. They learn that a fire destroyed the hospital, including Katherine's maternity records, and killed the staff on duty. They find Father Spiletto in a monastery severely burned, mute, blind in one eye, and partially paralyzed. He directs them to the cemetery where Damien's biological mother is buried. In Damien's mother's grave, Robert and Keith find a jackal carcass and, in the next plot, a child's skeleton with a shattered skull. Robert realizes that the child was his own son, murdered so that Damien could take his place. A pack of Rottweilers drives Robert and Keith from the cemetery.

Robert calls Katherine in the hospital to tell her she must leave London. Before she can do so, Mrs. Baylock throws her to her death from a window. Robert and Keith befriend Antichrist exorcism expert Carl Bugenhagen in Israel who says that if Damien is the true Antichrist, he will bear a birthmark in the shape of three sixes. Carl gives Robert seven daggers with which to kill Damien on hallowed ground. Robert refuses to do so, but Keith remains convinced about the necessity of it. Afterward, Keith is decapitated by a sheet of glass. Robert then reluctantly accepts his task.

Robert finds the birthmark on the sleeping Damien's scalp and is attacked by Mrs. Baylock, whom he stabs to death. Armed with the daggers, Robert drives Damien to a cathedral. His erratic driving draws the attention of the police. Robert drags a screaming Damien onto the altar to kill him and begs God to forgive him, but the police arrive on the scene and shoot him to death before he can do so.

The double funeral of Katherine and Robert is attended by the U.S. President and the First Lady, who has Damien with them. Damien turns and smiles at the camera.

Development
According to producer Harvey Bernhard, the idea of a motion picture about the Antichrist came after a discussion about the Bible with Bob Munger, a friend of Bernhard's. When Munger told him about the idea in 1973, the producer immediately contacted screenwriter David Seltzer and hired him to write a screenplay. It took a year for Seltzer to write the script.

The film was considered by Warner Bros. Pictures, but the project did not move forward until optioned by Alan Ladd Jr. of 20th Century Fox. Seltzer and Donner differed over the film's message. Donner favored an ambiguous reading of the script under which it would be left for the audience to decide whether Damien was the Antichrist or whether the series of violent deaths in the film were all just a string of unfortunate accidents. Seltzer rejected the ambiguity favored by Donner and pressed for an interpretation of his script that left no doubt for the audience that Damien Thorn was the Antichrist and that all of the deaths in the film were caused by the malevolent power of Satan, the interpretation that Bernhard chose to go with.

Casting
Bernhard claims Gregory Peck had been the choice to portray Ambassador Thorn from the beginning. Peck got involved with the project through his agent, who was friends with producer Bernhard. After reading the script, Peck reportedly liked the idea that it was more of a psychological thriller rather than a horror film and agreed to star in it. He was at first displeased with the props and effects for making the death scenes but was relieved to find how restrained and non-exploitative they were in the final film.

Despite Bernhard's claim, there were other actors considered for the role because studios were reluctant to cast Peck as a child killer. Warner Bros. Pictures thought the role would be ideal for Oliver Reed. William Holden had also been approached for the role, but turned it down, claiming he did not want to star in a film about the devil. Holden would later portray Thorn's brother, Richard, in the sequel, Damien: Omen II (1978). A firm offer was made to Charlton Heston on July 19, 1975. He turned down the part on July 27, not wanting to spend an entire winter alone in Europe and also concerned that the film might have an exploitative feel if not handled carefully. Roy Scheider, Dick Van Dyke, and Charles Bronson were also considered for the role of Robert Thorn. Van Dyke turned down the role because of the violence and gore; he would later call the decision "stupid".

According to separate interviews with Donner and Harvey Stephens, over 500 boys had auditioned for the role of Damien. The then four-year-old Stephens won the role after Donner encouraged the boys to attack him during a group audition, following which Stephens reportedly clawed at Donner's face and kicked him in the groin. Because Stephens had curly blonde hair, Donner had Stephens' hair straightened and dyed black, and gave him colored contacts to make him look scarier.

Filming
Principal photography of The Omen began on October 6, 1975, and lasted eleven weeks, wrapping on January 9, 1976. Scenes were shot on location in Bishops Park in Fulham, London and Guildford Cathedral in Surrey. The Thorns' country manor was filmed at Pyrford Court in Surrey. The church featured in the Bishop's Park neighbourhood is All Saints' Church, Fulham, on the western side of Putney Bridge Road. The church used in the final climactic scene is St Peter's in Staines-upon-Thames. Additional photography took place at Shepperton Studios outside London, as well as on location in Jerusalem and Rome.

For the scene where Katherine's car is attacked by baboons, production initially tried to have the baboons attack by placing food around the car (after having the zoo staff members deliberately not feed the baboons the night before filming), whilst also placing a baby baboon in the back seat of the car with a zoo official. After it failed to earn the desired effect, the official swapped out the baby baboon for the alpha baboon, which got the baboons to attack the car. According to Richard Donner, Lee Remick's terror during the scene was authentic.

Analysis
American scholar Brad Duren argued that The Omen was part of a trend of films featuring cosmic horror that started with Rosemary's Baby in 1968, but the film was unusual at the time because it concerned the "end times" predicted in The Book of Revelation and focused on a form of premillennialism favored by American dispensationalists. Duren further maintained that the box office success of The Omen, which concerned the first stages of the Apocalypse as the Antichrist is born, reflected the zeitgeist of 1970s America.

In 1973, an advertising executive and evangelical Christian, Robert Munger, who had read Hal Lindsey's book The Late, Great Planet Earth, speculated to film producer Harvey Bernard about the possibility that the Antichrist might be walking the earth in the form of a child, unknown to the vast majority of humanity. This conversation inspired Bernard with the idea for the film that became The Omen. Bernard commissioned scriptwriter David Seltzer to write a script for the film. Seltzer in turn borrowed many ideas from dispensationalism, especially The Late, Great Planet Earth, while also inventing his own. For an example, a supposed quote from the Book of Revelation featured in The Omen ("When the Jews return to Zion and a comet rips the sky and the Holy Roman Empire rises, then you and I must die; from the eternal sea he rises, creating armies on either shore, turning man against his brother, 'til man exists no more") is not in fact in that book. Likewise, the sinister figure who will rule the world for seven years predicted in Revelation, commonly known as the Antichrist, is not described in the Bible as the son of Satan, whereas Satan is the father of the Antichrist in The Omen.

Jim Knipfel in The Omen: The Pedigree of a Horror Classic on Den of Geek, opines of The Omen, "[T]here is no single source quite as central and clearly influential as "The Devil's Platform", a 1974 episode from the first season of Kolchak: The Night Stalker, with stars Tom Skerritt (credited as "Tom Skerrit") as Robert Palmer, a young politician whose meteoric rise seemed to come out of nowhere. He seems a shoo-in to become the new state senator from Illinois, but is already gunning for the White House. ...Palmer is rising quickly in the world of politics, which of course was the subtext of the entire Omen franchise. Anyone who threatens his rise or stands in his way — major political donors, speechwriters for the opposing candidate, even the opposing candidate himself — ends up dying mysteriously as the result of a tragic and freakish accident, which was the hook that brought most people to the theaters to see the Omen films in the first place. ...Palmer, again like Damien, also has a very protective Rottweiler familiar, who is impervious to harm. ... Like David Warner's photographer in the first film, inexplicable photographic anomalies help point Kolchak in the right direction. ... And finally, in the end the ambitious Satanic candidate is dispatched with a holy instrument (blessed daggers in The Final Conflict, holy water in The Night Stalker). So there. In a way, watching "The Devil's Platform" is a bit like watching all three Omen films from an outsider journalist's perspective, except Kolchak is able to wrap the whole thing up neatly in an hour."

The success of the film in 1976 may have been due to a sense of malaise in the West at the time. As film critic John Kenneth Muir wrote: "What if the Bible is correct? What if all the signs of the Apocalypse are happening around about now? Would we believe them? Heck, would we even notice?" Duren wrote that, although it was unlikely that most people who viewed the film in 1976 accepted the dispensationalist viewpoint, the mere feeling that the world or the West was in terminal decline gave the film a resonance that its subsequent sequels lacked. Beyond the success of the film, Duren wrote that the impact of the film on popular culture can be seen in the way that many people accept the dispensationalist reading of the Book of Revelation as the correct interpretation whereas in fact, the dispensationalist interpretation was and still is rejected by many churches. Duren wrote that dispensationalism had once been a "fringe" theory within Protestant theology, but due to the popularity of The Omen it is now widely accepted as doctrine.

Duren notes that in the film it has to be explained to Robert Thorn that the number 666 is the "mark of the beast" and speculates that audiences in 1976 were not familiar with this aspect of the Book of Revelation, but because of the film's popularity, the number 666 has entered popular culture and most people, even those of a secular bent, are aware of the sinister significance attached to the number.

Music
An original score for the film, including the movie's theme song "Ave Satani", was composed by Jerry Goldsmith, for which he received the only Oscar of his career. The score features a strong choral segment, with a foreboding Latin chant. According to Goldsmith's wife, Carol, the composer initially struggled with ideas for the score until one evening when he suddenly, happily announced to her, "I hear voices", referring to an orchestral chorus or choir. The Latin of this song contains some errors: "We drink the blood" must be Sanguinem bibimus (accusative form of sanguis), also "Hail Satan!" is Ave Satana (vocative form), and as for Ave Versus Christus is nonsense in Latin: the correct form is Ave Antichriste (vocative form of Antichristus, the Latin name for the Biblical Antichrist).

Deluxe Edition soundtrack (2001)
For the film's 25th anniversary, a deluxe version of the soundtrack was released with eight additional tracks.

40th Anniversary edition soundtrack (2016)
A limited-edition soundtrack was released for the film's 40th anniversary with six additional tracks and a bonus track.

Box office
The Omen was released following a successful $2.8 million marketing campaign inspired by the one from Jaws one year prior, with two weeks of sneak previews, a novelization by screenwriter David Seltzer, and the logo with "666" inside the film's title as the centerpiece of the advertisement. An early screening of the film took place in numerous U.S. cities on June 6, 1976.

The film was a massive commercial success, opening in the United States and Canada on June 25, 1976, in 516 theaters. It grossed $4,273,886 in its opening weekend (a then-record for Fox) and $60,922,980 in total, ($334,414,696 in 2024,) generating theatrical rentals of $28.5 million in the United States and Canada. Worldwide it earned rentals of $46.3 million from a budget of $2.8 million. In the United States, the film was the sixth-highest-grossing movie of 1976.

During its release in South Africa under the apartheid regime, the Publication Approval Board cut the final scenes showing the killing of Robert Thorn and Damien's survival.

Contemporary
Richard Eder of The New York Times called it "a dreadfully silly film" but "reasonably well-paced. We don't have time to brood about the sillinesses of any particular scene before we are on to the next. There is not a great deal of excitement, but we manage to sustain some curiosity as to how things will work out." Variety praised Richard Donner's direction as "taut" and the performances as "strong", and noted that the script, "sometimes too expository, too predictable, too contrived, is nonetheless a good connective fibre." Roger Ebert gave the film 2.5 stars out of 4. Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune also awarded 2.5 stars out of 4, lauding the "firepower sound track" and several "memorable" scenes, but finding the story "goofy." Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called it "an absolutely riveting, thoroughly scary experience, a triumph of sleek film craftsmanship that will inevitably but not necessarily unfavorably be compared to The Exorcist." Tom Shales of The Washington Post declared, "It's probably the classiest Exorcist copy yet, but as a summer thriller, it can hardly challenge the human appeal and exhilarating impact of last year's Jaws ... Seltzer, busy justifying his baloney premise with Biblical quotations, forgets about narrative logic or empathetic characters."

Gene Shalit called the film "a piece of junk", and Judith Crist said it "offers more laughs than the average comedy." Jack Kroll of Newsweek called it "a dumb and largely dull movie." Duncan Leigh Cooper of Cineaste wrote, "Despite its improbable story line and abundance of gratuitous violence, The Omen does succeed in its attempt to frighten, terrorize, and just plain scare the pants off most of the audience. Impressive performances ... plus a chilling mock-religious score by Jerry Goldsmith and the skillful direction of Richard Donner, all contribute to the suspension of disbelief required to draw the audience into the film's web of terror." Richard Combs of The Monthly Film Bulletin described the movie as "[a] matter-of-fact exercise in Satanic blood and thunder, both less grandiloquently and less pretentiously put together than The Exorcist ... In fact, the narrative is so straightforward, and so mundanely concerned with developing ever more ingenious ways, at a rapidly increasing clip, of disposing of its starry cast, that the spiritual torment is skimped."

Retrospective
In 1978, two years after its release, The Omen was included in Harry Medved and Harry Dreyfuss's book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time. It was the most recent movie featured.

Retrospective reviews of the film have been more favorable. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, it has an approval rating of 85% based on 53 reviews and an average rating of 7.20/10. The site's consensus reads: "The Omen eschews an excess of gore in favor of ramping up the suspense—and creates an enduring, dread-soaked horror classic along the way". On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 62 out of 100 based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

The Omen was ranked number 81 on the American Film Institute's 100 Years... 100 Thrills, and the score by Jerry Goldsmith was nominated for AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores. The film was ranked #16 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments. Similarly, the Chicago Film Critics' Association named it the 31st-scariest film ever made. It has also been ranked as one of the best horror films of 1976 by Filmsite.org.

The film was criticized by the Catholic Church, which accused it of misrepresenting Christian eschatology. On the other hand, some Protestant groups praised the film, and the California Graduate School of Theology in Glendale presented the filmmakers with a special award during its 1977 commencement ceremonies.

Home media
The Omen was released on VHS by 20th Century Fox Home Video in 1980. A VHS reissue was released by Fox under their "Selection Series" in 2000. The same year, a special-edition DVD was released by 20th Century Fox Home Video as a standalone release as well as in a four-film set that included its three sequels. A newly restored two-disc collector's edition DVD of the film was issued in 2006, coinciding with the release of the remake.

The film had its debut on Blu-ray in October 2008 as part of a four-film collection, featuring the first two sequels—Damien: Omen II and The Final Conflict—as well as the 2006 remake. The fourth sequel, Omen: The Awakening, was not included in this set. On October 15, 2019, Scream Factory released a deluxe-edition box set—featuring the original film, along with all three sequels and the remake—and featuring newly commissioned bonus materials. The Scream Factory release features a new 4K restoration of the original film elements.

Films
A novelization of The Omen was written by screenwriter David Seltzer and released two weeks before the film. For the book, Seltzer augmented some plot points and character backgrounds and changed minor details, including some character names: Holly became Chessa Whyte, Keith Jennings became Haber Jennings and Father Brennan became Father Edgardo Emilio Tassone.

The Omen was followed by three sequels: Damien - Omen II (1978), Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981), and Omen IV: The Awakening (1991). A remake of the same title was released in 2006, starring Liev Schreiber and Julia Stiles in the roles of Robert and Katherine, and Mia Farrow portraying Mrs. Baylock. A prequel to the first film titled The First Omen was released on April 5, 2024.

The Omen (1995)
In 1995, a television pilot titled The Omen aired on NBC, on September 8 of that year. Directed by Jack Sholder, the hour-long episode was intended as an attempt to develop The Omen franchise into a TV series. Although Donner was attached to the project as an executive producer, the pilot failed and the series never moved forward. Unrelated to the previous films, The Omen follows a group of people who are tracking down an entity to which they are all independently linked.

Damien (2016)
A television series called Damien was in development at the network Lifetime before it was moved to A&E with Bradley James starring in the title role. The series aired from March 7 to May 9, 2016. The series, acting as a direct sequel to the original film, follows 30-year-old Damien, who has forgotten his demonic past, facing his true identity. Ann Rutledge (Barbara Hershey), who has protected Damien all his life, helps him embrace his Antichrist side.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: The Omen


text:
List of United States Navy ships

List of United States Navy ships is a comprehensive listing of all ships that have been in service to the United States Navy during the history of that service. The US Navy maintains its official list of ships past and present at the Naval Vessel Register (NVR), although it does not include early vessels. The NVR US Navy Inactive Classification Symbols is a concise list of inactive definitions. The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships includes much detail on historical ships, and was used as the basis for many of Wikipedia's ship articles.

Due to the large number of entries, this list has been divided into the lists to be found in the infobox:
 * Ships in current service
 * Ships grouped alphabetically by the first letter of the ship's name
 * Ships grouped by type

Secondary

 * navy.mil: List of homeports and their ships
 * NavSource Naval History

title: List of United States Navy ships


text:
Athens, Georgia

Athens is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia. Downtown Athens lies about 70 mi northeast of downtown Atlanta. The University of Georgia, the state's flagship public university and an R1 research institution, is in Athens and contributed to its initial growth. In 1991, after a vote the preceding year, the original City of Athens abandoned its charter to form a unified government with Clarke County, referred to jointly as Athens–Clarke County where it is the county seat.

As of 2020, the U.S. Census Bureau's population of the consolidated city-county (all of Clarke County except Winterville and a portion of Bogart) was 127,315. Athens is the sixth-most populous city in Georgia, and the principal city of the Athens metropolitan area, which had a 2020 population of 215,415, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Metropolitan Athens is a component of the larger Atlanta–Athens–Clarke County–Sandy Springs Combined Statistical Area.

The city is dominated by a pervasive college town culture and music scene centered in downtown Athens, next to the University of Georgia's North Campus. Major music acts associated with Athens include numerous alternative rock bands such as R.E.M., the B-52's, Widespread Panic, Drive-By Truckers, of Montreal, Neutral Milk Hotel, and Harvey Milk. The city is also known as a recording site for such groups as the Atlanta-based Indigo Girls. The 2020 book Cool Town: How Athens, Georgia, Launched Alternative Music and Changed American Culture describes Athens as the model of the indie culture of the 1980s.

History
In the late 18th century, a trading settlement on the banks of the Oconee River called Cedar Shoals stood where Athens is today. On January 27, 1785, the Georgia General Assembly granted a charter by Abraham Baldwin for the University of Georgia as the first state-supported university. Georgia's control of the area was established following the Oconee War. In 1801, a committee from the university's board of trustees selected a site for the university on a hill above Cedar Shoals, in what was then Jackson County. On July 25, 1801, John Milledge, one of the trustees and later governor of Georgia, bought 633 acres from Daniel Easley and donated it to the university. Milledge named the surrounding area Athens after the city that was home to the Platonic Academy of Plato and Aristotle in Classical Greece. The first buildings on the University of Georgia campus were made from logs. The town grew as lots adjacent to the college were sold to raise money for the additional construction of the school. By the time the first class graduated from the university in 1804, Athens consisted of three homes, three stores, and a few other buildings facing Front Street, now known as Broad Street. Completed in 1806 and named in honor of Benjamin Franklin, Franklin College was the first permanent structure of the University of Georgia and the city of Athens. This brick building is now known as Old College.

Athens officially became a town in December 1806 with a government made up of a three-member commission. The university and town continued to grow with cotton mills fueling the industrial and commercial development. Athens became known as the "Manchester of the South" after the city in England known for its mills. In 1833 a group of Athens businessmen led by James Camak, tired of their wagons getting stuck in the mud, built one of Georgia's first railroads, the Georgia, connecting Athens to Augusta by 1841, and to Marthasville (now Atlanta) by 1845. In the 1830s and 1840s, transportation developments and the growing influence of the University of Georgia made Athens one of the state's most important cities as the Antebellum Period neared the height of its development. The university essentially created a chain reaction of growth in the community which developed on its doorstep.

During the American Civil War, Athens became a significant supply center when the New Orleans armory was relocated to what is now called the Chicopee building. Fortifications can still be found along parts of the North Oconee River between College Avenue and Oconee Street. In addition, Athens played a small part in the ill-fated "Stoneman Raid" when a skirmish was fought on a site overlooking the Middle Oconee River near what is now the old Macon Highway. A Confederate memorial that used to stand on Broad Street near the University of Georgia Arch was removed the week of August 10, 2020.

During Reconstruction, Athens continued to grow. The form of government changed to a mayor-council government with a new city charter on August 24, 1872, and Henry Beusse was elected as the first mayor of Athens. Beusse was instrumental in the city's rapid growth after the Civil War. After serving as mayor, he worked in the railroad industry and helped bring railroads to the region, creating growth in many of the surrounding communities. Freed slaves moved to the city, where many were attracted by the new centers for education such as the Freedmen's Bureau. This new population was served by three black newspapers: the Athens Blade, the Athens Clipper, and the Progressive Era.

In the 1880s, as Athens became more densely populated, city services and improvements were undertaken. The Athens Police Department was founded in 1881 and public schools opened in the fall of 1886. Telephone service was introduced in 1882 by the Bell Telephone Company. Transportation improvements were also introduced with a street paving program beginning in 1885 and streetcars, pulled by mules, in 1888.

By the centennial in 1901, Athens had experienced a century of development and growth. A new city hall was completed in 1904. An African-American middle class and the professional class grew around the corner of Washington and Hull Streets, known as the "Hot Corner", where the Morton Building was constructed in 1910. The theater at the Morton Building hosted movies and performances by black musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, and Duke Ellington. In 1907 aviation pioneer Ben T. Epps became Georgia's first pilot on a hill outside town that would become the Athens-Ben Epps Airport.

The last, and perhaps only, lynching in Athens occurred on February 16, 1921, when a mob of 3,000 people attacked the Athens courthouse and carried off John Lee Eberhart. Eberhart had been arrested for the murder of his employer, Ida D. Lee, with a shotgun in Oconee County. That night he was driven back to the Lee farm where a mock trial was held. Though he refused to confess, he was tied to a stake and burned to death. The lynching received widespread attention.

During World War II, the U.S. Navy built new buildings and paved runways to serve as a training facility for naval pilots. In 1954, the U.S. Navy chose Athens as the site for the Navy Supply Corps school. The school was in Normaltown in the buildings of the old Normal School. It closed in 2011 under the Base Realignment and Closure process. The 56 acre site is now home to the Health Sciences Campus, which contains the University of Georgia/Medical College of Georgia Medical Partnership, the University of Georgia College of Public Health, and other health-related programs.

In 1961, Athens witnessed part of the civil rights movement when Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes became the first two black students to enter the University of Georgia. Despite the Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling in 1954, the Athens–Clarke County school district remained segregated until 1964.

Timeline

 * 1801
 * Franklin College opens.
 * Clarke County formed from part of Jackson County.
 * 1806 - Town of Athens incorporated.
 * 1808 - Georgia Express newspaper begins publication.
 * 1810
 * Jackson Street Cemetery in use (approximate date).
 * Population: 273.
 * 1832 - Southern Banner newspaper in publication.
 * 1834 - Camak House and T. R. R. Cobb House built (approximate date).
 * 1841 - Railroad begins operating.
 * 1842 - Joseph Henry Lumpkin House built.
 * 1850 - Population: 1,661.
 * 1856
 * Oconee Hill Cemetery established.
 * Benjamin H. Hill House built.
 * 1859 - Lumpkin Law School and Lucy Cobb Institute (girls school) established.
 * 1870 - Population: 4,251.
 * 1871 - Athens becomes seat of Clarke County.
 * 1872
 * City of Athens incorporated.
 * State School of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts opens.
 * 1882 - Gospel Pilgrim Cemetery established.
 * 1883 - Synagogue built.
 * 1891
 * Electric streetcar begins operating.
 * Ladies Garden Club organized.
 * 1895 - State Normal School opens.
 * 1896 - Electric lighting introduced.
 * 1900 - Population: 10,245.
 * 1903 - University of Georgia College of Pharmacy founded.
 * 1904 - City Hall built.
 * 1906 - School of Forestry founded.
 * 1908 - Southern Mutual Insurance Company building constructed.
 * 1910 - Morton Theatre in business.
 * 1912 - School of Commerce founded.
 * 1914
 * Reese Street School was founded.
 * Clarke County Courthouse built.
 * 1917 - Athens Ben Epps Airport opens.
 * 1921 - Lynching of John Lee Eberhart
 * 1924 - Athens Country Club founded.
 * 1928 - WTFI radio begins broadcasting.
 * 1929 - University's Sanford Stadium opens.
 * 1932 - University of Georgia begins administering previously separate colleges of agriculture, education, law, etc.
 * 1938
 * WGAU radio begins broadcasting.
 * University of Georgia Press established.
 * 1940 - Population: 20,650.
 * 1948 - Georgia Museum of Art opens.
 * 1949 - State Farmers Market established near Athens.
 * 1954 - Prince Avenue Drive-In cinema in business.
 * 1958 - Athens Area Vocational-Technical School founded.
 * 1959 - Athens Historical Society organized.
 * 1963 - Beechwood Shopping Center in business.
 * 1965 - Daily News in publication.
 * 1971 - Clarke Central High School opens.
 * 1976
 * Athens Transit bus begins operating.
 * The B-52's musical group formed.
 * 1977 - Georgia Theatre in business.
 * 1979 - Pylon musical group begins performing.
 * 1980
 * Georgia Square Mall in business.
 * R.E.M. musical group formed.
 * 1987 - Athens-Clarke County Correctional Institution built.
 * 1990 - Population: 45,734.
 * 1991 - Governments of Athens and Clarke County consolidate.
 * 1992 - Athens-Clarke County Library's Heritage Room (for local history) established.
 * 1996 - Part of 1996 Summer Olympics takes place in Athens.
 * 2000
 * City-county website online (approximate date).
 * Population: 100,266.
 * 2001
 * Athens Institute for Contemporary Art founded.
 * Athens Banner-Herald newspaper in publication.
 * 2007 - Paul Broun becomes U.S. representative for Georgia's 10th congressional district.
 * 2010 - Population: 115,452.
 * 2011 - Nancy Denson becomes mayor.
 * 2015 - Jody Hice becomes U.S. representative for Georgia's 10th congressional district.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the balance has a total area of 118.2 sqmi, of which 117.8 sqmi is land and 0.5 sqmi (0.41%) is water.

Athens lies within the humid subtropical climate zone, with hot, humid summers and mild to moderately cold winters. Annual rainfall averages 49.7 in. Light to moderate sporadic snowfall occasionally can occur in winter. In the spring, sporadic thunderstorms can occasionally become severe, rarely producing tornadoes. The city sits on a series of hills, unique to the Piedmont region.

Climate
Athens has a humid subtropical climate. Its climatic regime is in many ways typical of Southeastern United States with hot summers transitioning into cool winters, but with precipitation being consistently high throughout the year. Normal monthly temperatures range from 43.5 °F in January to 80.6 °F in July; on average, maxima reach 90 °F or higher and stay below 40 °F on 58 and 5.8 days annually, and there are 48 days annually with a minimum at or below freezing.

Official record temperatures range from -4 °F on January 21, 1985 to 109 °F on June 29, 2012; the record cold daily maximum is 18 °F on January 30, 1966, while, conversely, the record warm daily minimum is 79 °F as recently as August 11, 2007. Temperatures rarely fall below 10 °F, having last occurred January 7, 2014. The average window for freezing temperatures is November 5 to March 24, allowing a growing season of 225 days.

Precipitation is relatively well spread (though the summer months are slightly wetter), and averages 46.3 in annually, but has historically ranged from 28.61 in in 1954 to 71.39 in in 1964. Snowfall is sporadic, averaging 2.9 in per winter, but has reached 13.6 in in 2010–2011.

2020 census
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 127,315 people, 51,640 households, and 23,615 families residing in the city. As of the census of 2010, there were 100,266 people, 39,239 households, and 19,344 families residing in the city. The population density was 851.5 PD/sqmi. There were 41,633 housing units at an average density of 353.6 /mi2. The racial makeup of the city was 64.71% White, 27.37% Black or African American, 0.21% Native American, 3.15% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 3.11% from other races, and 1.41% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.39% of the population.

The large population increase from 1990 to 2000 reflects the city's expanded boundaries that came with the consolidation of Athens and Clarke County, and not merely an influx of new residents. Since that time the population has increased an average of 12.7% every ten years.

There were 39,239 households, of which 22.3% had children under 18 living with them, 32.3% were married couples living together, 13.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 50.7% were non-families. 29.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 2.95.

In the city, 17.8% of the population was under the age of 18, 31.6% was from 18 to 24, 27.3% from 25 to 44, 15.3% from 45 to 64, and 8.0% was 65 years of age or older. The median age was 25 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.4 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $28,118, and the median income for a family was $41,407. Males had a median income of $30,359 versus $23,039 for females. The per capita income for the balance was $17,103. About 15.0% of families and 28.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 25.2% of those under age 18 and 13.5% of those age 65 or over.

Government
In 1990, the City of Athens and Clarke County voters voted to unify their governments, becoming only the second unified government in Georgia and the 28th nationwide.
 * Legislative: The government is headed by an elected mayor and 10 elected commissioners from 10 equally divided districts. Previously, they have been formed from 8 geographical districts and two super-districts covering districts 1–4 and 5–8
 * Executive: The Unified Government of Athens-Clarke County's day-to-day operations is overseen by a manager appointed by the Mayor and Commission. There are 24 main departments, divisions, and offices under the managerial group.
 * Judicial: Athens-Clarke County houses Magistrate, Juvenile, Municipal, Probate, State, and Superior Courts. Superior Court covers the Western Judicial Circuit, which also includes Oconee County.

Law
The Athens-Clarke County Police Department (ACCPD) was formed by the merger of the law enforcement agencies of the City of Athens and Clarke County. , Jerry Saulters was sworn in as the new Chief of Police. ACCPD is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) and was named a "Gold Standard Agency" in 2013. ACCPD's 911 Communications Center is also CALEA certified and has reached "Gold Standard" status. ACCPD is also the first law enforcement agency certified by the State of Georgia.

Businesses
Athens is home to a growing number of young technology companies including Docebo, Roundsphere, and Cogent Education. The city is also home to more established technology companies such as Partner Software, Peachtree Medical Billing, and Digital Insight.

Athens is home to several pharmaceutical manufacturing and biotechnology companies such as Boehringer-Ingelheim and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. The University of Georgia also hosts its own biotechnology research centers mostly from the lower east side of town bordering Oconee county. In May 2020, RWDC Industries, a company that develops alternatives to single-use plastics, announced its plan to invest $260 million into the city and the surrounding area and acquire an existing 400,000-square-foot facility.

Independent publisher Hill Street Press is headquartered here. Authors with previous, or current, residence in the city include Pulitzer Prize winners Deborah Blum and Edward Larson, as well as Judith Ortiz Cofer, Reginald McKnight, Coleman Barks, and Jon Jefferson.

Athens' music industry has also continued to grow as Tweed Recording acquired an 11,000-square-foot facility in downtown Athens to house their new recording studio, academy, and community space.

Tourism
Each spring, there are bicycle races collectively known as the Twilight Series. One of these races is the Athens Twilight Criterium.

Competitiveness
In 2010, the average household rent in Athens was $962. The national average was $1,087. Of the Athens population 25 years of age or older, 39.3% have earned a bachelor's degree or higher.

Arts and culture
The Georgia Museum of Art at the University of Georgia has been, since 1982, the official state art museum. Culture coexists with the university students in creating an art scene, music scene, and intellectual environment. The city has music venues, restaurants, bars, and coffee shops that cater to its creative climate.

Points of interest

 * One of the remaining two double-barreled cannons produced during the American Civil War is located in Athens.
 * The "Tree That Owns Itself", which is now an offspring of the original tree
 * The Georgia Museum of Art, the official state museum of art, at the University of Georgia
 * The State Botanical Garden of Georgia at the University of Georgia
 * The University of Georgia Campus & Arboretum
 * St. Mary's Church steeple, all that remains of the site of the first show by what became R.E.M.
 * The Globe bar was voted by Esquire magazine as the bar ranked third highest in America in 2007
 * Founded in 1955, Allen's was Athens' oldest bar and grill despite closing in 2004, re-opening in 2007, and closing again in November 2011
 * Sandy Creek Park
 * Memorial Park

Music
The music of Athens, Georgia, includes a wide variety of popular music and was an important part of the early evolution of alternative rock and new wave. The city is well known as the home of chart-topping bands like R.E.M. and The B-52s, and several long-time indie rock hip-hop groups. The Athens music scene grew in the early 1970s and later during the 1980s with the Georgia Theatre and 40 Watt Club as the aforementioned bands scored breakout hits. Other notable bands were Widespread Panic, Dreams So Real, Indigo Girls, Vigilantes of Love, Matthew Sweet, The Method Actors, Love Tractor, Pylon, Flat Duo Jets, The Primates, Modern Skirts, The Whigs, Squalls, Drive-by Truckers, Futurebirds, Bloodkin, Randall Bramblett, Vic Chesnutt, Tishamingo, Bubba Sparxxx, Dead Confederate, Corey Smith, and Humble Plum. In his insider book, Party Out of Bounds: The B-52's, R.E.M., and the Kids Who Rocked Athens, Rodger Lyle Brown described the indie rock scene in Athens.

National acts that have come out of Athens include: The Whigs, Reptar, Danger Mouse, Dreams So Real, Nana Grizol, Jucifer, Servotron, Vic Chesnutt, Drive-By Truckers, Elf Power, Neutral Milk Hotel, Lera Lynn, The Sunshine Fix, Colt Ford, Brantley Gilbert, Harvey Milk, The Olivia Tremor Control, of Montreal, Widespread Panic, Perpetual Groove, Five Eight, Dead Confederate, Thayer Sarrano, Jet by Day, Mothers, and Humble Plum. R.E.M. members Michael Stipe, Mike Mills and Peter Buck still maintain residences in Athens. The photo book Athens Potluck, by Jason Thrasher, documents the town's musical legacy.

Every summer since 1996 the city has hosted AthFest, a nonprofit music and arts festival in the downtown area.

In September 2020, the city launched the Athens Music Walk of Fame. The public art walk spans a two-city blocks loop around West Washington and Clayton Streets connected by North Lumpkin Street. Guitar pick plaques were laid on the sidewalk in front of significant music venues like the Georgia Theatre, the 40 Watt Club, and the Morton Theatre. The first round of inductees included The B-52s, Danger Mouse, Drive-By Truckers, The Elephant 6 Recording Company, Hall Johnson, Neal Pattman, Pylon, R.E.M., Vic Chesnutt, and Widespread Panic.

Clarke County School District
The Clarke County School District supports grades pre-school to grade twelve. The district consists of fourteen elementary schools, four middle schools, and three high schools (one non-traditional). The district has 791 full-time teachers and 11,457 students.

Private schools

 * Athens Academy (grades K-12)
 * Athens Christian School (grades K-12)
 * Athens Montessori School (grades K-8)
 * Downtown Academy (grades K-3)
 * Joy Village School (grades K-8)
 * Saint Joseph Catholic School (grades K-8)
 * Monsignor Donovan Catholic High School (grades 9–12)
 * Double Helix STEAM School (grades 5–8)
 * Al Huda Islamic Center of Athens Sunday School (5 years and older)

Colleges and universities

 * The University of Georgia (UGA), an R1 Doctoral University with very high research activity, is the state's flagship research university, the oldest institution of higher learning in Georgia and, founded in 1785, it is the first state-chartered university in the United States.
 * Athens Technical College is a Technical College System of Georgia public college. It offers certificates, diplomas, and associate degrees in business, health, technical, and manufacturing-related fields.
 * Augusta University (AU) through its Medical College of Georgia has a Medical Partnership with the University of Georgia housed at the University of Georgia Health Science Campus, and the AU College of Nursing has had a campus in Athens since 1974.
 * Piedmont University, a private liberal arts institution, established a campus in Athens in 1995 that now is on Prince Avenue in the Normaltown neighborhood.
 * College of Athens (CoA) is a private Christian college that was established in 2012. CoA currently offers certificates, undergraduate, and graduate degrees in nine various major areas.

Newspapers
The Athens Banner-Herald publishes daily. UGA has an independent weekly newspaper, The Red & Black. Flagpole Magazine is an alternative newspaper publishing weekly. Classic City News is a not-for-profit local news source.

Radio and television
Local radio stations include:
 * WPLP-LP Bulldog 93.3 FM is Athens' locally owned and operated adult album alternative station
 * WPUP 100.1 FM, Athens top 40 station featuring all of today's hits. Owned by Cox Radio
 * WMSL 88.9 FM, a religious station featuring traditional Christian music and teaching
 * WUOG 90.5 FM, UGA's student-run radio station
 * WUGA 91.7 and 94.5 FM, an affiliate of Georgia Public Broadcasting and National Public Radio also broadcasting from the UGA campus
 * WPPP-LP 100.7 FM (Hot 100), a low-power, non-commercial alternative/progressive rock station
 * WRFC (AM) 960 AM, ESPN Radio (formerly Athens' local Top 40 music station during the 1960s and 1970s). Owned by Cox Radio.
 * WGAU 1340 AM, news and talk. Owned by Cox Radio.
 * WXAG 1470 AM, urban gospel music

Athens is part of the Atlanta television market. Two Atlanta-market television stations, WGTV (channel 8) and WUVG (channel 34), are licensed to Athens, though their transmitters are in the Atlanta metropolitan area. WGTV broadcasts from the top of Stone Mountain. From 2009 until 2015, UGA operated a television station, WUGA-TV (formerly WNEG-TV) from studios on the UGA campus, but maintained its transmitter near Toccoa, its city of license; what is now WGTA has since moved its studios back to Toccoa after being sold by UGA.

Amateur radio has a long history in Athens. The Athens Radio Club 2-meter repeater operates on 145.330 MHz with a (-) offset and a PL tone of 123.0/123.0. Its antenna is located at 390’ AGL on a tower in the northern part of the city. The Athens Radio Club is affiliated with the American Radio Relay League and sponsors four community events each year.

In popular culture
The 1940 film The Green Hand was shot in Athens, using local townspeople and students and faculty from the University of Georgia as its cast. The film had its premiere in Athens in January 1940, at an event attended by Governor Eurith D. Rivers.

The 1980 TV series Breaking Away was filmed in Athens.

The movie Darius Goes West was shot in Athens.

In 2000, the fictional Ithaca University scenes in Road Trip were filmed on the North Campus of the University of Georgia.

In 2012, Trouble with the Curve was partially filmed at The Globe in downtown Athens. In the same year, The Spectacular Now was filmed entirely in Athens and the surrounding area.

Highways
The city is the focus of U.S. Highways U.S. Route 29 (US 29), US 78, US 129, US 441, and Georgia State Route 72 (SR 72), and near the eastern terminus of SR 316 and the southern terminus of SR 106. Other state routes in Athens are SR 8 and SR 15, which follow US 29 and US 441 respectively, SR 10 which follows US 78 east and west of Athens but deviates to US 78 Bus. to go through Athens, and SR 15 Alt. which starts at the SR 10 Loop interchange at Milledge Avenue and follows Milledge and Prince Avenues to US 129 which it follows to the north. The SR 10 Loop serves as a limited-access perimeter. The city is bisected east to west by Broad Street/Atlanta Highway (US 78 Bus. and SR 10) and north to south by Milledge Avenue (SR 15 Alt.). Lumpkin Street, Prince Avenue (SR 15 Alt.), North Avenue, and Oconee Street (US 78 Bus.) along with Broad Street are major thoroughfares radiating from downtown. College Station Road and Gaines School Road are major thoroughfares on the east side of Athens, along with US 78 east (Lexington Road). On the west side, most major thoroughfares intersect US 78 Bus. (Broad Street/Atlanta Highway), including Alps Road/Hawthorne Avenue, Epps Bridge Parkway, and Timothy Road/Mitchell Bridge Road.

Airports
Athens-Ben Epps Airport (FAA code AHN) has been operational since 1917. It is east of downtown outside Georgia State Route 10 Loop and north of US Route 78. AHN qualifies for air service to be provided under the Essential Air Service provisions. SeaPort Airlines provides commercial air service to Nashville International Airport, TN. Until 2012, Georgia Skies and Wings Air provided commercial air service to Atlanta, and until 2008 (before either airline's current AHN service), US Airways provided service to Charlotte. Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL) is the primary point of departure and arrival for Athenians due to the relative lack of air service to AHN.

Alternative Transportation
Athens encourages the use of alternative transportation. Bike lanes are provided on major thoroughfares. A rail-to-trail redevelopment is being considered to connect Downtown with the East Side. Organizations such as BikeAthens support and encourage biking. Skateboarding and small scooters are also common sights around the UGA campus and Downtown.

Public Transit
Athens Transit provides intracity transit seven days per week. UGA Campus Transit provides fare-free transit around the University of Georgia campus, Milledge Avenue and Prince Avenue on the way to UGA's newest campus, the Health Sciences Campus. Southeastern Stages, a subsidiary of Greyhound Lines, provides intercity bus services. Low cost curbside bus service to Atlanta and Charlotte is also provided by Megabus.

Rail
Athens has no direct passenger rail service; the closest Amtrak stations are in Atlanta, Gainesville, and Toccoa. Until the 1950s and 1960s the Seaboard Air Line Railroad's daily Cotton Blossom (ended, 1955), Washington - Atlanta, Silver Comet, New York - Birmingham and Tidewater (ended, 1968), Norfolk - Birmingham service made stops at the SAL's Athens depot at College Avenue and Ware Street, north of downtown. Train service to Athens ended with the last run of the Silver Comet in 1969. Until the early 1950s, the Southern Railway ran a passenger service to Lula on the Southern's main line northeast of Gainesville. Into the same period, the Central Railroad of Georgia ran mixed passenger and freight trains south to Macon's Terminal Station.

Passenger service is proposed to return to Athens via a proposed route of the Charlotte to Atlanta segment of the Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor. The alignment with a proposed station stop in Athens was chosen as this segment's preferred alternative on September 30, 2020.

Freight service is provided by CSX and Athens Line, the latter having leased tracks from Norfolk Southern. The Georgia Department of Transportation has proposed the city as the terminus of a commuter line that links Atlanta and Gwinnett County along the Georgia 316 corridor.

Utilities
Electric service in Athens-Clarke is provided by three customer-owned electric cooperatives, Walton EMC, Rayle EMC, and Jackson EMC, as well as by Georgia Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company. The water utility is provided by the city. Garbage is provided by private companies according to customer purchase, though the city does offer municipal garbage pick up as a service. Natural gas is supplied by Atlanta Gas Light through various marketers within the deregulated market.

Healthcare
Athens is served by two major hospitals, the 359-bed Piedmont Athens Regional and the 170-bed St. Mary's Hospital. The city is also served by the smaller 42-bed Landmark Hospital of Athens. Piedmont Athens Regional was formerly Athens Regional Medical Center before being acquired by Piedmont Healthcare in 2016. In March 2018, Piedmont Healthcare announced a $171 million capital investment project for Piedmont Athens Regional which would include the addition of a fourth story to the Prince 2 building as well as the demolition of the 100-year-old 1919 Tower to make space for a new, state of the art, seven-story tower. The entire project is slated for 2022 completion.

St. Mary's Hospital was founded in 1906 and became a Catholic hospital in 1938. The hospital became St. Mary's Health Care System in 1993. Today, St. Mary's is part of the Trinity Health, one of the nation's largest non-profit Catholic healthcare systems that includes 92 hospitals in 22 states and includes St. Mary's Hospital in Athens, and nearby 56-bed St. Mary's Sacred Heart Hospital in Lavonia, Ga., and 25-bed St. Mary's Good Samaritan Hospital in Greensboro, Ga.

Sister cities
The City of Athens maintains trade development programs, cultural, and educational partnerships in a twinning agreement with Bucharest, Romania.

Notable people
• David Barbe – musician and producer/engineer

• Coleman Barks – poet, interpreter of the 13th-century Sufi poet Rumi

• John Barrow - member of Congress, 2005-2015

• Kevin Barnes – founding member of the band of Montreal

• Kim Basinger – film actress

• Bill Berry – founding member of R.E.M.

• John Berry – singer

• Fred Birchmore – adventurer and centenarian

• Byron Bowers – Stand Up Comedian

• Brian Bowles – martial artist

• Titus Burgess – actor and singer

• Frank Bush – former NFL player and linebackers coach for the Atlanta Falcons

• Phil Campbell – farmer and politician

• Henry Hull Carlton – member of the U.S. House of Representatives

• Eve Carson – 2004, slain Student Body President of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

• Vic Chesnutt – singer-songwriter

• Howell Cobb – Secretary of the Treasury

• Bob Cole – composer

• Jeff Daniels – actor, born in Athens

• Leila Denmark – pediatrician and supercentenarian

• Ben T. Epps – aviation pioneer

• Colt Ford – country musician

• Adam Frazier – MLB player

• Houston Gaines – politician, member of Georgia House of Representatives.

• Marianne Gordon – actress

• Henry W. Grady – journalist and orator; helped reintegrate the former Confederate States

• Willie Green – former NFL player

• Forrest Griffin – MMA fighter

• Elizabeth Guess – professional soccer player

• Young Harris – judge, philanthropist, and namesake of Young Harris College

• Al Hester – professor of journalism, historian

• Henry R. Jackson – Major General in the Georgia militia during the Civil War

• Wadsworth Jarrell – artist

• Andy Johnson – former NFL player

• Hall Johnson – American composer and arranger of spirituals

• John Kasay – Carolina Panthers kicker

• Brian Kemp – Governor of Georgia

• Todd Kimsey – actor (Seinfeld)

• Jack Kingston - member of Congress representing Georgia's 1st district

• Leo Kottke – acoustic guitarist

• NeNe Leakes – reality TV star and actress, raised in Athens

• Bill Mallonee – American singer-songwriter

• Jeff Mangum – indie folk musician (lived in Athens until the early 2000s)

• Quavious Marshall - American rapper and producer, born in Athens

• Eaddy Mays – television and film actress

• Brian McCann – MLB player, born in Athens

• Mary Jackson McCrorey – educator, mission worker

• Lou McGarity – jazz trombonist

• Zach Mettenberger – NFL quarterback

• Ron Meyers – potter/ceramics artist and teacher

• Fred Mills – classical music professor and Grammy nominee

• Mike Mills – founding member of R.E.M.

• Quentin Moses – football linebacker for the Miami Dolphins, born in Athens

• Phaedra Parks – Reality TV star and attorney

• Billy Payne – former chairman of Augusta National Golf Club

• Madeleine Peyroux – jazz singer, songwriter, and guitarist, born in Athens

• Edwin Pope – Miami sportswriter, born in Athens

• Leonard Postero – Radio personality, Leonard's Losers

• Dunta Robinson – NFL player

• Claire Merritt Hodgson Ruth – second wife of baseball great Babe Ruth

•  Claudio Saunt – professor, author, and historian of early America, the U.S. South, and Native American studies

• Mildred Seydell – one of the first female newspaper journalists in Georgia

• Chuck Smith – former NFL defensive end

• Sophie Sosnowski - educator of young women in Athens after Civil War

• Scott Spillane – musician, The Gerbils, and Neutral Milk Hotel

• Lucy May Stanton – artist known for portrait miniatures

• Michael Stipe – founding member of R.E.M.

• Keith Strickland – musician, composer, and founding member of The B-52s

• Fran Tarkenton – Hall of Fame quarterback

• Jason Thrasher – rock photographer

• Laura Slade Wiggins – actress and musician

• Cindy Wilson – founding member of The B-52s

• Ricky Wilson – founding member of The B-52s

title: Athens, Georgia