BEGIN:VCALENDAR
PRODID:-//Columba Systems Ltd//NONSGML CPNG/SpringViewer/ICal Output/3.3-
 M3//EN
VERSION:2.0
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20130614T084139Z
DTSTART:20131025T080000Z
DTEND:20131026T160000Z
SUMMARY:Churches\, Communities\, and Society: Public Negotiations and Int
 erventions
UID:{http://www.columbasystems.com/customers/uom/gpp/eventid/}d1y-hhn4r1n
 x-r8v6pi
DESCRIPTION:In contemporary British society\, Christian religion refuses 
 to stay in its place. Unruly\, it is established in some places (England
 \, Scotland) and yet in all places numerically in decline\; public\, and
  yet caught off guard by an Occupy movement\; suborned\, and yet capable
  of protest\; lordly\, and yet attempting to represent the common good\;
  proactively interfaith\, and yet caught up in its own internal concerns
 \; national\, yet present in very different ways in city and country\; a
  witness for peace\, and yet offering pastoral support to all.\n\nIt rem
 ains true that the older Christian denominations decrease in size\, and 
 with this comes a certain defensiveness. Admittedly\, this decline is so
 metimes obscured by immigration from within the European Union and the g
 rowth of Christian churches that are the result of “Empire”. Nonetheless
 \, British Christianities remain public in remarkably diverse ways and v
 igorously active in civil society. Witness the furore over Sharia\, an A
 rchbishop penning a column in Britain’s best-selling tabloid\, and the d
 ispute over whether public prayers should be banned. The 2008 report Mor
 al\, But No Compass: Government\, Church and the Future of Welfare gave 
 some indication of the formal engagement of the churches in civil societ
 y. The informal contribution of the churches to social capital in civil 
 society is incalculable.\n\nThis publicness is mixed: it is not always t
 o the credit of these Christianities. The reception is mixed\, too: the 
 wider culture continues to find Christianities fascinating and infuriati
 ng—and not always for the best of reasons. Yet there is a grudging\, com
 mon recognition that the challenges British society faces—climate change
 \, for example—require moral resources that are not generated by consume
 rism.\n\nThis is not only an issue for the churches in the UK. So there 
 will be an important international dimension to the conference with pape
 rs from the contexts of India and Argentina.\n\nThis two-day conference 
 explores some of the issues\, concerns and contradictions generated by t
 his remarkable state of affairs. It does so from a variety of perspectiv
 es: theological\, ethical\, political\, and social. And the voices raise
 d range from the concerned to the sceptical.
STATUS:TENTATIVE
TRANSP:TRANSPARENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
LOCATION:Samuel Alexander Building\, Manchester
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR