Network Digest – April 2010
Please read below for news from our network.To include any items in next month’s digest, please email m.shaw@gold.ac.uk.
News
FaithxChange Event 2
The Faiths & Civil Society Unit’s research network, FaithxChange brings together established researchers,practitioners and policy makers interested in youth, faith and social action with new, younger and emerging ones.
(See www.faithxchange.org.uk for more details)
We are currently planning the second in a series of events. Building Up - Research Capacity in “Religion & Youth” will be held at Leeds University on 2nd July 2010. This event will present current research focused on religion and young people and will explore the issues and challenges arising from research in this field.
If you are interested in attending the event, please email m.shaw@gold.ac.uk. Spaces are limited, so please email soon to avoid disappointment.
The Religious Literacy Leadership in HE Programme continues with its first Strategic Leadership for Faith in HE Event on 23 April.
The programme works on the understanding that universities help shape society’s understandings of and attitudes to faith and that Vice Chancellors’ leadership will contribute to the formation of future leaders, thinkers, scientists, and artists on matters of religious faith. As the Dearing Report suggests (1997), universities have a “special responsibility…to help shape a democratic, civilised and inclusive society.” Yet as Lord Parekh commented at the programme launch, the university environment is, although not normally hostile to religion, rarely hospitable and sometimes benignly indifferent to the role religion plays. There is the potential for universities to play a key part in how religious faith re-emerges as a public category, and for leading an approach to religious diversity, which is both positive and well informed.
By drawing on a range of experiences and responses identified in new primary research, the Religious Literacy Leadership Programme aims to pose the challenge: what sort of leadership can universities give to this issue, both within HEIs and in wider society? This begins with exploring a shift from secular assumptions about religious faith in universities, followed by working through the implications in concrete settings including student services, chaplaincies, curricula, admissions and registries, timetabling, food and accommodation.
For further information on the programme please see www.religiousliteracyhe.org
Call for Session Proposals for the 11th Nordic Youth Research Conference; Global / Local Youth- New Civic Cultures, Rights and Responsibilities
The conference is organized by the Finnish Youth Research Society and will be held on 13-15 June 2011,
University of Turku & Ã…bo Akademi, Finland.
The conference focuses on youth as a global and local construction. The proposals for sessions may be on any topic relevant to the conference theme. Proposals concerning following questions are especially welcome:
* Knowledge production and the politics of knowledge in youth studies
* Global and local inequality and human rights
* Economics, consumption and labor market
* Multiculturalism, immigration and ethnicity
* Global democracy, civic culture and participation of young people
* Child and youth protection in local and global contexts
* Violence, politics of fear
* Health and addictions
* Spatial, social, emotional and educational transitions
* Global and local youth cultures and lifestyles
* Virtuality, media and social media
* Gender, sexualities and embodiment
Deadline for session submissions is May 31st, 2010. Call for individual papers will be announced in autumn 2010. For more information about the conference see www.nyris11.com
News from RELIGIONS for PEACE: Religious leaders commit to visible and active leadership on HIV.
Religious leaders from every continent and many of the world's faiths commit to stronger, more collaborative efforts to eliminate stigma an discrimination against people living with HIV. Den Dolder, The Netherlands, 23 March 2010. High level religious and spiritual leaders from many of the world’s major religions pledged stronger, more visible and practical leadership in the response to HIV at the first global High Level Summit of Religious Leaders on HIV in The Netherlands.
Read more at: http://www.rfp-europe.eu/index.cfm?id=287584
Publications
What is a Faith Community?
Adam Dinham’s article, What is a Faith Community? has been published in Community Development Journal.
This article explores the notion of the faith community and the implications of policies about them for faith-based practices in community settings. It argues for the application of community development values to understanding ‘faith communities’.
Please use the links below to access the article;
Abstract:
http://cdj.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/bsq016?
Full Text:
http://cdj.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/bsq016?
Public theology think tank Theos has launched a new report entitled Free to Believe?The paper, written by Roger Trigg, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick and Academic Director of the Centre for the Study of Religion in Public Life at Kellogg College, Oxford, tackles the silent downgrading of religious rights in contemporary Britain. It argues that human beings are naturally religious animals and have a prima facie natural right to freely exercise their religion, which should not simply to be equated with the right to free speech.
The Theos report comes at a time of growing concern about restrictions of religious liberties in the UK. In a poll, conducted on behalf of Theos by ComRes, nearly a third of people (32%) said they believed religious freedoms had been restricted in the UK over the last ten years.
In the report, Professor Trigg argues that:
"If religious freedom is itself one of the most important rights, it must itself by the same token be entitled to equal respect from others. It cannot automatically be overridden in a clash of such rights."
In recognising that the importance of Christianity in establishing the rights which people in Britain currently enjoy, Professor Trigg adds:
"The role of religion in public life and the scope and limits of religious freedom cannot be decided simply by the democratic will of the people… The right to religious freedom is itself a basic right."
Theos research undertaken in conjunction with the polling company ComRes, revealed that voters with a religious faith commitment could determine the outcome of the general election, widely expected to be on 6 May. The latest snapshot of the state of the parties put the Conservatives on 38%, Labour on 30% and the Lib Dems on 20%. However, there were some striking differences among people with a religious faith.
Despite the government’s support of the Iraq war and a stack of'anti-terror' legislation, 57% of Muslims intend to vote Labour. Only 18% plan to vote Conservative. In a close election, the Muslim vote could be critical for Gordon Brown's prospects. The problem for the government, however, is that only 32% of Muslims are 'absolutely certain' to vote, well below the national average of 47%.
In relation to the Conservatives, support amongst people of 'no religion' has increased sharply since the 2005 election (up from 21% to 34%) but amongst Christians it has only increased by a modest 2% to 40%. However, David Cameron can be encouraged by the fact that 48% of self-identified Christians are 'absolutely certain' to vote, a figure which rises to 61% amongst those Christians who claim that their faith is 'very important' to their lives.
Events
Christian Muslim Forum Events
15 May 2010, Cross, Crescent and Cool, London
A training day looking at how Christians and Muslims can build bridges between young Christians and Muslims. The day will be led by Nadeem Javaid and Andrew Smith.
Nadeem Javaid is one of 30 global fellows for Inter Faith Youth Core where he runs a multi-faith campaign on the Millennium Development Goals. He is also a member of the Young Muslims Advisory Group advising the UK Government on Muslim youth issues, the Youth Representative on the Waltham Forest Inter Faith Forum and the Chair of the Youth Supporter Group of MADE in Europe.
Dr Andrew Smith is the Christian youth specialist for the Christian Muslim Forum. He is the Director of Youth Encounter for Scripture Union and has pioneered the Faith and Young People project which brings together Christian and Muslim teenagers. He is chair of Trustees of The Feast which works in Birmingham with Christian and Muslim teenagers.
Time: 10:30 to 16.00, 27 March 2010
Venue: St Ethelburga's Centre for Peace and Reconciliation, Bishopsgate. London
Cost: £25
FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF ABRAHAM - A CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM MEN'S RETREAT, 4th-6th June 2010
Exploring the significance that Abraham's journey plays out in the lives of Muslim and Christian Men.
Abraham's spiritual journey is one shared by both Christian and Muslim alike and is a story that continues to inspire and guide us throughout our lives as men of faith.
In the beautiful setting of St. Deiniol's Library in North Wales, we hope to reflect on the deeper significance the story of Abraham has in our lives and look at how as men of faith, this helps us throughout our own journey.
This years retreat will be led by Symon Hill (Author of the 'No nonsense guide to religion') and Abdullah Trevathan (Senior Lecturer in Religious Education at Roehampton University and leader in the BBC's'Retreat'.
Our men's retreat aims to provide a relaxed, safe space, to share our faith and experiences of our own spiritual journey and explore what it really means to be men of faith.
To reserve your place or find out more about the retreat please email: mustafa@christianmuslimforum.org
Or call: 0207 820 0444. Cost: £120 per person. Bursaries available.