The Evangelical Alliance is inviting Christians to use its website to help set the agenda for discussions on faith and the law following the Archbishop of Canterbury’s controversial lecture last week.
14 February 2008
The Evangelical Alliance is inviting Christians to use its website to help set the agenda for discussions on faith and the law following the Archbishop of Canterbury’s controversial lecture last week.
The Alliance will be inviting a group of church leaders, theologians and community practitioners to look at faith and law in the public square, and the impact this has on community relations and social cohesion.
The organisation is also keen to get the wider Christian community involved in this discussion, by feeding in their opinions to the debate through the Alliance website.
Rev Joel Edwards, General Director of the Evangelical Alliance, said: “The way faith operates in the political and legal sphere has always been extremely important to the Alliance, but the response to the Archbishop’s speech has given this debate a real sense of urgency.
"We want to use this as a spring-board to find a way forward for those in our, and other, faith communities who feel disenfranchised on matters of conscience by the changing meaning of what it is to be British.
"We are encouraging the wider Christian community to join in this important conversation, by giving us their views through our website, which we will feed into our discussions.”
The Alliance will publish the findings of the consultation – to give your views, please go to the website, www.eauk.org.
Notes to editors:
The Evangelical Alliance, formed in 1846, is the largest body serving evangelical Christians in the UK, and has a membership including denominations, churches, organisations and individuals. The mission of the Evangelical Alliance is to unite evangelicals to present Christ credibly as good news for spiritual and social transformation. According to a Tearfund survey (Churchgoing in the UK, 2007), there are approximately 2 million evangelical Christians in the UK. For more information, go to www.eauk.org.
The Alliance has posted the following questions on its website to help guide the thinking of contributors:
1. How can religious conscience and values be protected in a secular state?
2. What is your view of Sharia law operating within the British legal system? Do you see any acceptable way aspects of Sharia could be integrated?
3. What is the relationship like between Christians and Muslims in your area? Can you describe any local examples of good or bad relations?
4. Do you agree with the Archbishop of Canterbury that, as the established/majority religion, Christians should attempt to speak for the liberties and consciences of people of other faiths in Britain as well as our own?
