The role of religion and politics in the UK – report & podcast; Why the Anglican establishment is good for a liberal society; Inspection report on Lancashire and Cumbria Theological Partnership; National prayer day organisers sign Wembley contract
The role of religion and politics in the UK
Last week, a debate took place about the role of faith and politics in the UK. The forum included Former Prime Minister Tony Blair, The Most Rev. Rowan Williams, and Charles Moore, biographer to Margaret Thatcher and former editor of the Telegraph.
Andrew Brown writes at the Guardian:
The former prime minister was speaking at a debate with Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Charles Moore, Lady Thatcher’s biographer and, like Blair, a convert from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism.
Challenged by Moore as to why he called Islam a religion of peace when no one would feel it necessary to call Methodism “a religion of Peace”, Blair replied that there were times in Christian history when you would have doubted that Christianity, too, was a religion of peace. Yet he believed that religion and democracy should grow together.
“How do we create a situation in which every religion has its truth claims reconciled with the existence of different ones? I believe there is a simple and obvious way to do this – to recognise it would be very arrogant towards God’s purpose for us, not to recognise that others have their own ideas.”
Williams rephrased the argument slightly: “A lot of religious people assume that they have to win God’s arguments for him. That seems to me a preposterous religious position to be in.” Blair suppressed a giggle of recognition.
But when it came to actual practical clashes between religious and political beliefs, the panel talked about gambling rather than sex or even assisted dying. Williams recalled the Lords debate in which the Blair government’s plans for supercasinos had been defeated. “The idea that you could regenerate an impoverished corner of Manchester by importing a supercasino seemed to me utterly utterly bizarre.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jul/25/tony-blair-denies-praying-george-bush?CMP=twt_gu
A podcast for the discussion can be found here:
http://www.religionandsociety.org.uk/faith_debates/public_life
Why the Anglican establishment is good for a liberal society
Theos has published a two part series on the establishment of the Church of England. Jonathan Chaplin writes that it is Time for the Church to cut the knot, whereas Nigel Biggar writes Why the Anglican establishment is good for a liberal society.
http://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comment/2012/07/17/time-for-the-church-to-cut-the-knot
Inspection report on Lancashire and Cumbria Theological Partnership published
The Church of England has published an inspection report on the Lancashire and Cumbria Theological Partnership.
http://churchofengland.org/media-centre/news/2012/07/inspection-report-on-lancashire-and-cumbria-theological-partnership-published.aspx
National prayer day organisers sign Wembley contract
As crowds were flocking to the Olympic Stadium for the opening ceremony of the Games Global Day of Prayer for London trustees were on their way to Wembley to sign a historic document to hire Wembley Stadium for tens of thousands of Christians to gather for the National Day of Prayer Worship on September 29
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/national.prayer.day.organisers.sign.wembley.contract/30364.htm