The Lunar Society held a fascinating debate which explored the relationship between faith and public life, with a focus on whether faith can be a force for good or an obstacle for progress.
Professor Andrew Davies, Director of The Edward Cadbury Centre for the Public Understanding of Religion at the University of Birmingham, began with a presentation which touched on both the positive and negative perceptions of faith, and included some insightful stats and trends about religion in the UK, and the changing role of religion in today’s world.
Following the presentation, Lunar Society Trustee Professor Jonathan Green chaired a panel discussion which featured distinguished speakers representing different religious viewpoints. These were:
- Amrick Singh Ubhi, Director, Civic Engagement & Partnerships at Nishkam Civic Association, representing a Sikh perspective
- Benita Wishart, Research and Evaluation Lead at BVSC, representing a Jewish perspective
- Mahmooda Qureshi, West Midlands Programme Coordinator at the Faith and Belief Forum, representing a Muslim perspective
- Pastor Yvonne Brooks, Minister of Religion at New Jerusalem Church, representing a Christian perspective
Each gave an impassioned explanation of what their faith means to them and why it is so important.
The panel, and Andrew, then responded to questions and comments from the audience covering topics such as how multiple religions can all be right, how religion and politics don’t always mix, and the role religion has to play in alleviating domestic abuse.
The Chair, Jonathan Green, said: “This debate revealed common ground between the participants, a positive attitude to working together and also explored some difficult issues. There are clearly areas for discussion that can be further explored by the Lunar Society.”
We’d like to thank all our speakers and panellists as well as everyone who attended on the evening, especially for your thought-provoking questions.
