I’ll be taking part in a half-day conference, ‘Belief in the Future: Religion and Changing Identity’, on Tuesday 2 July at the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin. I’ll be making the opening presentation, providing a snapshot of the island’s current religious landscape and change over time.
The conference is free but you need to register here in advance.
It is organised by the Irish Association for Cultural, Economic and Social Relations, and is described as follows:
Religion has long been seen as a marker of identity – and division – across the island of Ireland. This has not been without some validity but it is no longer an adequate starting point from which to approach the future. The Association believes that now is a good time to explore the role that religion plays and could or should play in the future, in our changing societies on the island.
In a time of increasing diversity, the development of multi-faith communities and increasing numbers who profess no faith, North and South, these matters have a particular relevance to the quality of relations on the island.
Our hope is that the conference will allow reflection on how religion can act as an agent for good in changing circumstances, on how faith communities and those without faith can contribute to public discourse and on what needs to change to ensure that cohesive communities can develops across the island of Ireland.
The Speakers and Topics are as follows:
2:00 Welcome and Introduction
President of the Irish Association: Bob Collins
2:10 Opening Presentation
Dr Gladys Ganiel, Research Fellow
Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, Queen’s University, Belfast
2:30 Religion and Identity
Bishop John McDowell, Bishop of Clogher
Amanullah De Sondy, Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Islam, Study of Religions Department, UCC
Panellist 3 tba
3:20 Religion and Education
Dr Niall Coll, Senior Lecturer, St. Mary’s University College, Belfast
Jan O’Sullivan TD, Minister of Education 2014 – 2016
Prof Anne Lodge, Director of the Church of Ireland Centre (CIC) DCU
4:10 Coffee Break
4:30 Religion in Community and Public Life
Nicola Brady, General Secretary, Irish Council of Churches
Rev Trevor Sargent, Green Party Leader 2001 – 7
Justin Kilcullen, Former Executive Director, Trócaire
5:30 Q & A / Next Steps/ Implications
6:15 Concluding Remarks
President of the Irish Association: Bob Collins
While religion in a relatively identifiable community provided a medium for social cohesion and order, the spread of people across community boundaries, bringing with them their own religions, led and continues to lead to conflict, particularly when religion is based on faith i.e. belief and trust in the unbelievable.
We need a rational alternative to faith and mythology based religions; a universally acceptable social code.
Religious believers cannot do this without abandoning their beliefs. So what does the conference aim to achieve?