professor adam dinham, faiths & civil society unit, goldsmiths, university of london

Professor Adam Dinham,

Faiths & Civil Society Unit,

Goldsmiths, University of London

www.gold.ac.uk/faithsunit www.religiousliteracy.org a.dinham@gold.ac.uk

Accident & Emergency: the loss and REcovery of religious literacy

“…a characteristic assumption of the post war period: that religion has become a purely private matter with no public or political significance. So long as this idea prevailed, both in scholarship and in society, it was possible to treat religions as discrete entities which could be analysed solely in terms of their inner logics”

(Woodhead & Catto 2012 p2)

Phase 1: ‘Willing Transfer’

“The structure of life as we knew it has already been profoundly modified. How far do we want to restore it if we can?” (p84).

“Every citizen should be in secure possession of such an income as will enable him to maintain a home” (p99)

“The aim of a Christian social order is the fullest possible development of individual personality in the widest and deepest possible fellowship” (p100).

"the first time anyone had set out to embody the whole spirit of the Christian ethic in an Act of Parliament”

William Temple 1942

Phase 2: Invisible Presence

• at least two community action projects for each faith centre in the region.

• 180,000 beneficiaries of faith based community development in the region.

• 7000 projects in 2200 faith buildings.

• 80% of faith groups deliver some kind of service to the wider community.

• more than 5000 social action projects generating income of ｣ 69m - ｣ 94m per annum.

• 90% of churches involved in social action

• 6500 social action projects in churches.

• 165,000 people supported by faith groups in the region by 4762 activities.

• on average, churches run nine community activities each.

The Real Religious Landscape

• Christianity, as the largest religion, has 33.2 million people (59.3 per cent of the population). This is down from 71.7 per cent in 2001.

• The second largest religious group is Muslims with 2.7 million people (4.8 per cent of the population). This is the most increasing group (from 3.0 per cent to 4.8 per cent).

• 14.1 million people, around a quarter of the population in England and Wales, reported they have no religion. This is an increase (from 14.8 per cent to 25.1 per cent).

• 1950-1980 Church attendance halved• 1980-2005, it halved again to 6.3%• <1/3=Anglican,

<1/3=Catholic,>1/3=Independent (44%)• Belief in ‘a personal god’ <50% 1961-2000• Belief in ‘a spirit or life force’ >100% 1961-

2000• 41% believe in angels• 53% believe in an afterlife

“a vanishing point beyond which rational discourse proves impossible’

“It is imperative that we begin speaking plainly about theabsurdity of most of our religious beliefs: while religious people are not generally mad, their core beliefs absolutely are. The danger of religious faith is that it allows otherwise normal human beings to reap the fruits of madness and consider them holy”

(Harris, 2006, pp 48-9)

“The real perfume in the smokescreen lies in the claim that the contemporary Churches, with their charities and their aid for the suffering in the Third World, are models of goodness in action. They accordinglypresent themselves as institutions devoted to peace, kindness, brotherly love and charitable works. But this soft face is turned to the world only when the Church is on the back foot: whenever religion is in the ascendant, with hands on the levers of secular power too, it shows a very different face – the face presented by the Inquisition, the Taliban, and the religious police in Saudi Arabia” (Grayling, 2004, p 81)