Network digest
October 2009
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
West Midlands Inter Faith Week website officially launched
This vibrant website is dedicated to giving you the latest news on West Midlands Inter Faith Week. It will be the only point of call for information on all the exciting activities that will be taking place throughout the West Midlands Region. The events calendar will be frequently updated with new content so please visit regularly to find out about all the informative and stimulating events that will be taking place.
The Christian Muslim Forum and MADE in Europe are holding a Christian-Muslim Youth Forum on Climate Change (CMYF) on Thursday 15 October 2009 at Lambeth Palace in London hosted by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Following an online discussion, 40 young Christians and Muslims aged 18-25 will spend the day discussing climate change with Muslim and Christian scholars and scientists and produce a statement to deliver to the UK negotiators for the UN Summit in Copenhagen in December. The key issues being discussed at the Copenhagen summit are: Mitigation, Adaptation, Technology Transfer and Funding.
Call for papers - Young people, religion and place
Organised by Peter Hopkins (Newcastle University)
In recent years, there has been increasing attention given to both religion and youth in geography. However, relatively few studies have sought to explore the intersections between the experiences and practices of young people who follow, adhere to, or are affiliated with particular religious groups and the spiritual or sacred places associated with young people of faith. This session will provide a forum where researchers working with religious youth can reflect critically on a range of theoretical, conceptual and methodological issues. The session aims to include papers exploring the experiences of religious young people in a diverse range of geographical contexts. This includes young people who are affiliated with formalised religious groups as well as those who practice different forms of faith or spirituality. Papers about religion, youth and place might examine topics including but not limited to:
- Understandings of concepts associated with religion, youth and place
- Intersections of personal social identities (such as class, sexuality, gender and race) with religion and age
- Personal embodied practices and expressions of faith
- Experiences of the transition to adulthood
- Youth subcultures
- Negotiations of spaces of education
- Migrations and mobilities
- Nationhood, religion and spirituality
- Government policy about religion and youth
- Globalisation and the religious and spiritual practices of young people
Please submit a title and 250 word abstracts to Peter Hopkins by October 16th 2009. For further information on the event, please email (peter.hopkins@ncl.ac.uk)
Events
One Day Inter Faith Conference - Building a Society for the Future:
Bridges and Bonds in the East Midlands
Multi-Faith Centre at the University of Derby , Monday 16 November 2009, 10am – 4pm
Building on the work of the Face to Face and Side by Side initiative this one day Inter Faith Conference is part of the start to the National Inter Faith Week 2009, supported by the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Inter Faith Network UK.
Themes for the conference are constructed around the four building blocks of Face to Face and Side By Side:
1) Developing the confidence and skills to 'bridge' and 'link';
2) Shared spaces for interaction and social action;
3) Structures and processes which support dialogue and social action; and
4) Opportunities for learning which build understanding.
The conference aims to engage academics in the field and practitioners alike, and will showcase current thinking and working across the four strands (outlined above) within the East Midlands region. It will seek to challenge the potential to build better futures in society through the construction of inter faith activity and will look critically at the building blocks.
The morning session will feature:
The Keynote speaker, Dr Adam Dinham
Respondent to Dr Dinham is Professor Paul Weller; Professor of Inter Religious Relations whose research interests focus on the relationship between religions in the public sphere and between religions, the state and society in respect of the institutions and processes of governance. Professor Weller’s interests extend to religions and discrimination, religious freedom, human rights, and dialogue.
Complementary to these speakers is Riaz Ravat whose work with the St Philips Centre in Leicester is well known in the region. Riaz will concentrate on practical approaches to inter faith work, showcasing aspects of good practice undertaken in his work in Leicester.
Lunch will be followed by four workshops based on each of the four building blocks, with a concluding plenary.
The workshops feature presentations from around the East Midlands region and details will be circulated upon booking requests.
£10 including Lunch and Refreshments and a copy of
Religions in the UK: Directory 2007-2010
Pre-booking is essential - for a booking form contact the Multi-Faith Centre:
01332 591285 or j.thornewill@derby.ac.uk
European Week of Christian-Muslim Encounters, 12 to 22 November 2009.
Organised by GAIC (Groupe d'Amitie Islamo-Chretiennes), supported by the St. Philip's Centre. Please contact the Christian Muslim Forum for further details.
www.christianmuslimforum.org
“What is the role of faith in community development and cohesion work?” - 19 November, 1.45pm-5.30pm
A discussion seminar presented by the British Humanist Association for Interfaith Week 2009 - The Brockway Room, Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1 4RL - www.conwayhall.org.
Chair: Polly Toynbee, BHA President and Guardian Journalist
Speakers:
Gabriel Chanan, Community Development Consultant and former Director of
Policy and Research at Community Development Foundation
Dr. Doreen Finneron, Executive Director, Faith Based Regeneration Network UK
Prof. A.C. Grayling, Professor of Philosophy, University of London
Prof. Marjorie Mayo, Professor in Community Development
Pragna Patel, Southall Black Sisters and Women Against Fundamentalism
Dr. Henry Tam, Community Empowerment, Department for Communities and Local
Government
£25 per person - includes tea and coffee. Tickets available from http://www.humanism.org.uk/shop/tickets
or 020 7079 3580
Religion and Development Conference 21-23 July 2010, University of Birmingham:
First announcement and call for papers
Religion shaping development: inspirational, inhibiting, institutionalised?
Organised by the Religions and Development Research Programme, this conference will bring together research findings that address three central questions and explore their policy and practice implications:
* How do religious values and beliefs drive the actions and interactions of
individuals and faith-based organisations?
* How do religious values and beliefs and religious organisations influence the relationships between states and societies?
* In what ways do faith communities interact with development actors and what are the outcomes with respect to the achievement of development goals?
The first two days of the conference will concentrate on the presentation and discussion of research findings. The final day will explore the implications of the research undertaken during the Religions and Development Research Programme in India, Pakistan, Nigeria and Tanzania with policy makers, practitioners and development agencies. Participants may attend either or both parts of the conference.
21-22 July - Progressive, paradoxical, pragmatic: exploring religion and human development
23 July - Religious organisations and development agencies: possibilities, partnerships and pitfalls - a dialogue
In addition to plenary sessions with invited speakers, a series of panel sessions will be held on a number of themes. Papers are invited on any of these themes.
For further information visit the RaD Website (booking will open on 1st December)
Publications
God and Government, the latest Theos publication, published in association with KLICE by SPCK, will be launched on 22 October 2009.
It comprises a series of essays which explore the functions of government is. It seeks to equip people to consider what they should be attempting to achieve in their roles as 'political Christians', that is, Christians employed, engaged or simply interested in politics.
The writers are Philip Booth, Professor of Insurance and Risk Management at Cass Business School; Andrew
Bradstock, Professor of Theology and Public Life at the University of Otago; Jonathan Chaplin, Director of the Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics; David McIlroy, Visiting Lecturer in Law at SOAS; Clifford Longley, author, broadcaster and journalist; Julian Rivers,Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of Bristol; Nick Spencer,Director of Studies at Theos; Nicholas Townsend, Lecturer in Christian Ethics at the South East Institute for Theological Education; Nigel G.Wright, Principal of Spurgeon’s College, London; and Tom Wright, Bishop of Durham.
In his foreword, the Archbishop of Canterbury writes that 'God and Government offers invaluable resources for what is now a sharply urgent task “thinking through the ethical and spiritual foundations of our Democracy”.
Available from Theos. www.theosthinktank.co.uk