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On Thursday the 4th of February our AS level philosophy class had the privilege of attending a prestigious conference in London at Lambeth Palace, focused on the relevant topic of ‘Faith in The World’.
The day began with Mr. Wright kindly driving the mini bus to take us all up to the station. After a quick Starbucks coffee, eight very eager girls arrived safely in London with Mr. McNally, who was equally excited, and had the opportunity to spend time in Westminster Cathedral. The Cathedral, as expected, was breath-taking and extremely thought provoking for everyone. It was a rare and moving experience for us to be able to take a moment of silence and absorb the atmosphere around us. Some lit candles for loved ones or took a moment to think about the people suffering in Haiti and managed to donate to the Cathedral’s fund-raising box. The morning in the Cathedral was an excellent start to the day setting us up for our conference by igniting our thoughts about the wonders of religion, the faith people hold within them and the relevance of it in our world today.
A slightly lighter mood was adopted for lunch as we persuaded Mr. McNally we did indeed have time for pizzas at Pizza Express. This allowed us all to relax and prepare ourselves for the afternoon, while impressing the waiters with our speedy consumption of our meals, so as not to worry Mr. McNally about being late.
Before departing for our conference we had been informed that it was compulsory for every school to create a poster highlighting issues that we felt were important when thinking about Faith in the World. We had addressed issues such as the standards of morality in the world today. Are they slipping? Are the people who are constantly in the media good role models for future generations and should they be attracting so much of our attention? Does the concept of war go against all our morals? Has it become acceptable? These were just a few of many crucial issues we reviewed on our poster, and also feature prominently on our AS syllabus.
After discussing and contrasting many of the other posters on display before the conference, we were invited into the main hall for the speakers to begin. Reverend Richard Coles was the first speaker, getting the afternoon off to a brilliant start. He addressed issues around the subject ‘thinking differently’ and ‘changing perceptions of stereo-types’, raising some interesting points. He successfully managed to tackle ideas about global poverty, discrimination and inequality, and the role of the media in shaping what people think about faith. He challenged everyone listening to rethink what it means to share responsibility in society. Coles speech was eye-opening and made everyone reconsidered their possible preconceptions which many students in the room held. He did, however, avoid a few issues which we felt could have been addressed. Many intelligent questions arose after the speeches, such as one about the recent incident concerning Pope Benedict XVI and homosexual adoption. We felt that perhaps this issue was avoided and should have been more thoroughly covered due to its relevance in society today.
Professor Elaine Graham from the University of Chester focused on the next 10 years thinking about which questions facing society need us to understand faith so we find answers we can share. Increasing diversity in religions, combined with the globalisation of businesses and climate change, means we need to find new ways of living with differences in our communities. I found this speech covered many different angles of modern religion and how religion in our society today affects us. Different points of view, traditions, religions and beliefs now need to be accepted. Although, Graham did considered many different aspects, we felt these could have been explored in more depth. One example of this was ‘the way new technologies now shape the way we live and affect religion and society’. Important moral issues such as modern In Vitro Fertilisation technology and Artificial Insemination Fertilisation were only briefly touched on with little detail when their importance when thinking about the issue of changing modern religion is vital.
Finally, Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, spoke about the role of faith in holding on to a full view of what it means to be human. He looked at the story of a young Jewish woman living through the Holocaust and her dependency on faith in her times of darkness. This led him to the idea of how religion makes a space for things when they can fit nowhere else in life, giving the example of failure and trauma. Religion allows us to see something’s differently, unveiling different meanings and purposes for the events in our lives, giving us a way to cope and understand. This speech was wonderfully delivered by The Archbishop who was an extremely thought provoking and captivating speaker. This beautifully rounded up a thoughtful and eye-opening day.
Every one of us was extremely grateful to have been given the privilege to attend such an important event with such inspiring speakers and benefited hugely from the conference as it brought our studies to life.
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