A new book edited by the Rev. Peter Francis, warden of St. Deiniol’s Library in
Hawarden, Wales, has been released by Monad Press. Rebuilding Communion:
Who Pays the Price? features contributions from Anglican leaders around the
world, some of whom presented at a recent conference at St. Deiniol's. Video
summaries of the conference presentations are available on You Tube.
Contributors include Simon Sarmiento (U.K.), editor of Thinking Anglicans;
Richard Kirker (U.K.), chief executive of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement;
Savitri Hensman, a native of Sri Lanka who works in community care and writes
on topics of Christianity and social justice; Andrew Village (U.K.), senior lecturer in
practical and empirical theology at York St John University; Michael Hopkins
(U.S.), former president of Integrity; Davis Mac-Iyalla (Nigeria), president of
Changing Attitude, Nigeria; Donn Mitchell (U.S.), editor of The Anglican Examiner,
and Donald Reeves (U.K.), director of Soul of Europe, a group working for
reconciliation in Bosnia.
The book also includes chapters by Mario Ribas, a priest in the Anglican
Episcopal Church of Brazil; Muriel Porter, author and member of the Standing
Committee and Doctrine Commission of the Australian General Synod; Michael
Ingham, author and bishop of the Canadian Diocese of New Westminster; Martyn
Percy, principal of Ripon College, Cuddesdon; and Edwin Arrison, a South African
Anglican priest and social entrepreneur.
The Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement plans to furnish a copy of Rebuilding
Communion to every bishop attending this summer’s Lambeth Conference.
St. Deiniol’s, the Anglican Communion’s only residential library, was founded in
1889 by Sir William Gladstone, the churchman and Victorian era statesman.
Hawarden, Wales, has been released by Monad Press. Rebuilding Communion:
Who Pays the Price? features contributions from Anglican leaders around the
world, some of whom presented at a recent conference at St. Deiniol's. Video
summaries of the conference presentations are available on You Tube.
Contributors include Simon Sarmiento (U.K.), editor of Thinking Anglicans;
Richard Kirker (U.K.), chief executive of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement;
Savitri Hensman, a native of Sri Lanka who works in community care and writes
on topics of Christianity and social justice; Andrew Village (U.K.), senior lecturer in
practical and empirical theology at York St John University; Michael Hopkins
(U.S.), former president of Integrity; Davis Mac-Iyalla (Nigeria), president of
Changing Attitude, Nigeria; Donn Mitchell (U.S.), editor of The Anglican Examiner,
and Donald Reeves (U.K.), director of Soul of Europe, a group working for
reconciliation in Bosnia.
The book also includes chapters by Mario Ribas, a priest in the Anglican
Episcopal Church of Brazil; Muriel Porter, author and member of the Standing
Committee and Doctrine Commission of the Australian General Synod; Michael
Ingham, author and bishop of the Canadian Diocese of New Westminster; Martyn
Percy, principal of Ripon College, Cuddesdon; and Edwin Arrison, a South African
Anglican priest and social entrepreneur.
The Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement plans to furnish a copy of Rebuilding
Communion to every bishop attending this summer’s Lambeth Conference.
St. Deiniol’s, the Anglican Communion’s only residential library, was founded in
1889 by Sir William Gladstone, the churchman and Victorian era statesman.
The Anglican Examiner |
Dogma Rarely the Cause of World's
Religious Conflicts, Expert Says
Religious Conflicts, Expert Says
| Illuminating Religion and Public Affairs Around the World |
What the news media describe as religious conflict in the world’s trouble spots is
rarely about doctrinal disagreements or questions of faith. Instead, it is more likely
to be competition for state power divided along religious lines, according to David
Smock of the United States Institute of Peace, a Washington-based group
established and funded by the U.S. Congress to be an independent, non-partisan
peacemaking institution.
Smock addressed the Program on Religion, Diplomacy, and International
Relations at Princeton University in March. He noted several examples of conflict
where religion is a dimension of the dispute, but the actual dispute is not about
religion. The Arab-Israeli conflict, for instance, is about land and self-
determination. Access to religious sites may be an issue, he said, and the parties are
divided along religious lines, but the dispute is not primarily about the tenets of
either Judaism or Islam.
In other cases, language and culture may be the overarching division, even
though the populations are also different religiously. He cited the conflicts between
the Walloons and Flemish in Belgium and the French-speaking and English-speaking
in Canada as examples.
When religious identity overlaps the overtly contested differences, the
communications networks of the religious communities may be used to mobilize the
population. However, those same networks can also be mechanisms for building
peace, Smock said. He called the exclusion of religious leaders from the Oslo peace
process which generated the Oslo Accords for resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict a mistake, saying religious leaders had told him their exclusion had made it
difficult for them to build support for the Oslo Accords.
Smock, an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, cited interfaith
dialogue as a critical component of peacemaking because it can diffuse tensions and
build trust. He referred the audience to an on-line report entitled “What Works,”
which evaluates the effectiveness of various programs of interreligious dialogue.
rarely about doctrinal disagreements or questions of faith. Instead, it is more likely
to be competition for state power divided along religious lines, according to David
Smock of the United States Institute of Peace, a Washington-based group
established and funded by the U.S. Congress to be an independent, non-partisan
peacemaking institution.
Smock addressed the Program on Religion, Diplomacy, and International
Relations at Princeton University in March. He noted several examples of conflict
where religion is a dimension of the dispute, but the actual dispute is not about
religion. The Arab-Israeli conflict, for instance, is about land and self-
determination. Access to religious sites may be an issue, he said, and the parties are
divided along religious lines, but the dispute is not primarily about the tenets of
either Judaism or Islam.
In other cases, language and culture may be the overarching division, even
though the populations are also different religiously. He cited the conflicts between
the Walloons and Flemish in Belgium and the French-speaking and English-speaking
in Canada as examples.
When religious identity overlaps the overtly contested differences, the
communications networks of the religious communities may be used to mobilize the
population. However, those same networks can also be mechanisms for building
peace, Smock said. He called the exclusion of religious leaders from the Oslo peace
process which generated the Oslo Accords for resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict a mistake, saying religious leaders had told him their exclusion had made it
difficult for them to build support for the Oslo Accords.
Smock, an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, cited interfaith
dialogue as a critical component of peacemaking because it can diffuse tensions and
build trust. He referred the audience to an on-line report entitled “What Works,”
which evaluates the effectiveness of various programs of interreligious dialogue.
Home Seeing Christ In Human Rights The New York Anglicans Careers in Theological Education Christian Witness in Investments Contact Us |
When Rights are Not Right:
Author Says Theology Key to
Resolving Conflicting Rights Claims
Resolving Conflicting Rights Claims
Although most religions contain assertions of universal
equality, religion poses the greatest challenge to the
realization of human rights, according to the author of
Women’s Rights and Religious Practice: Claims in
Conflict.
In an address entitled “Religion and Human Rights:
When are Rights not Right?” the Rev. Alison Boden, an
ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, asserted
that serious theological engagement with human rights is
necessary to resolve conflicting human rights claims.
She spoke in mid-April before the Program on Religion,
Diplomacy, and International Relations at Princeton
University where she serves as Dean of Religious Life.
Describing herself as “reflexively defensive” of human
rights discourse, she dismissed arguments that rights are
“culturally relative” and that the international human
rights framework represents Western “ethical
imperialism” or “re-colonization.” She said such ideas
had their heyday in journals “a decade or two ago.”
Nonetheless, she said, an appeal to rights is not always
the best way to realize those very rights. Sometimes it
requires direct engagement with the theological content,
interpretations, and ritual practices of a given religion.
Citing practices such as female circumcision in Africa,
the shunning of widows in India, and opposition to same-
sex marriage in the U.S., Dr. Boden said religious
freedom is often cited to counter claims that such
practices violate human rights.
She noted that human rights instruments, such as the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the numerous
covenants that have written many of its principles into
international law, have been deliberately crafted to “avoid
appeals to religion” and other categories with the
intention of addressing a more basic human essence.
All that is needed to have human rights, in the view of
these instruments, is to be a member of the human
species, she said, but she noted that religious traditions
do not always concur that human beings are ends in
themselves.
Many traditions hold that humans are “reflections,”
“representations,” or “vessels” of the divine. Some
traditions understand rights as rewards that are earned
through faithful execution of duty, she said.
Although some argue that religious freedom should
take precedence over all other rights, Boden suggested
that juxtaposing competing rights claims is not as
effective as examining the tradition for evidence of values
consistent with human rights principles.
As an example of what needs to be done, she cited the
work of non-governmental organizations in India, which
are working with groups of outcast widows to read the
sacred texts of their tradition with an eye to developing
the capacity to challenge shunning. “All religions have
everything that is needed for human rights,” Boden said.
Princeton’s Program on Religion, Diplomacy, and
International Relations is sponsored by the Lichtenstein
Institute on Self-Determination.
equality, religion poses the greatest challenge to the
realization of human rights, according to the author of
Women’s Rights and Religious Practice: Claims in
Conflict.
In an address entitled “Religion and Human Rights:
When are Rights not Right?” the Rev. Alison Boden, an
ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, asserted
that serious theological engagement with human rights is
necessary to resolve conflicting human rights claims.
She spoke in mid-April before the Program on Religion,
Diplomacy, and International Relations at Princeton
University where she serves as Dean of Religious Life.
Describing herself as “reflexively defensive” of human
rights discourse, she dismissed arguments that rights are
“culturally relative” and that the international human
rights framework represents Western “ethical
imperialism” or “re-colonization.” She said such ideas
had their heyday in journals “a decade or two ago.”
Nonetheless, she said, an appeal to rights is not always
the best way to realize those very rights. Sometimes it
requires direct engagement with the theological content,
interpretations, and ritual practices of a given religion.
Citing practices such as female circumcision in Africa,
the shunning of widows in India, and opposition to same-
sex marriage in the U.S., Dr. Boden said religious
freedom is often cited to counter claims that such
practices violate human rights.
She noted that human rights instruments, such as the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the numerous
covenants that have written many of its principles into
international law, have been deliberately crafted to “avoid
appeals to religion” and other categories with the
intention of addressing a more basic human essence.
All that is needed to have human rights, in the view of
these instruments, is to be a member of the human
species, she said, but she noted that religious traditions
do not always concur that human beings are ends in
themselves.
Many traditions hold that humans are “reflections,”
“representations,” or “vessels” of the divine. Some
traditions understand rights as rewards that are earned
through faithful execution of duty, she said.
Although some argue that religious freedom should
take precedence over all other rights, Boden suggested
that juxtaposing competing rights claims is not as
effective as examining the tradition for evidence of values
consistent with human rights principles.
As an example of what needs to be done, she cited the
work of non-governmental organizations in India, which
are working with groups of outcast widows to read the
sacred texts of their tradition with an eye to developing
the capacity to challenge shunning. “All religions have
everything that is needed for human rights,” Boden said.
Princeton’s Program on Religion, Diplomacy, and
International Relations is sponsored by the Lichtenstein
Institute on Self-Determination.
New Book Asks Who Pays
Price to Rebuild Communion?
Price to Rebuild Communion?
| The Anglican Examiner Copyright by Donn Mitchell, 2008 |