Common Word follow through

The Archbishop of Canterbury has today issued a very positive and detailed response to the 'Common Word' document issued recently by Muslim scholars, affirming the initiative and the grounds on which further dialogue should be pursued. A .pdf for the document is available for download with the title 'A Common Word for the Common Good'

With the Lambeth Conference due to start on Wednesday faced with contention, strife and the beginnings of schism on the part of the more conservative Anglicans of the world, this document shows how profoundly and patiently +Rowan is committed to reconcilaition through dialogue on every religious and spiritual direction. Which is more than can be said for his detractors.

Cardiff Legal Interfaith Network

In November 2007 Cardiff University's Law School Centre for Law and Religion launched a new initiative - a Legal Inter Faith network

"Developed in response to the large number of recent high profile court cases involving religious symbolism, and the considerable challenges for faith groups by an increase in State law on religion, the Network invited advisers to the Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Roman Catholic, Methodist, Orthodox, United Reformed Church, Church of England, Church of Scotland, Church in Wales, Quaker, Mormon and the Order of St Lazarus faiths."

Jewish comment on the festive season

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Two valuable contributions to debate between religion and secularism for the feast of Hannukah

Jewish writer Zaki Cooper in the Guardian's Face to Faith column

http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,,2224352,00.html

And another from Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks on Friday's 'Thought for the Day'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/programmes/thought/documents/t20071207.shtml

Here are two people belonging to a minority faith group, who not only respect the faiths of others but appreciate celebrations of faith other than their own in the public realm. Even the diluted consumer version of religious tradition, they argue, in its way supports binding family and social values.

Spiritual Capital - Cardiff

This new project to be launched officially in September 2007 in the Capital City of Wales Cardiff aims to promote the contribution that faith makes to the City.




Objectives of the Project

Provide up to date research, a directory and details of organisations and case studies of how religions and cultural groups work with institutions and governments across civic life in Cardiff.

Provide a setting for a vision to establish interactive networks within the City of Cardiff and project the advantages of living in a City with intimate cultural and religious diversity.

Convene and hold a landmark conference in 2008 which focuses on key matters arising from the research together with the emerging themes for the future.

What is Spiritual Capital?

The effects of spiritual , cultural and religious practices, beliefs, networks and institutions have a measurable impact on individuals, communities and societies. Cardiff is developing as City and the emphasis must be on how its inhabitants live and work together as the City develops . This Project is about what spiritual resources Cardiff can draw upon in 2007 and its aim is to help indicate how it should look to the future for communal prosperity.

Why is it important?

The concept of spiritual capital builds on recent research on social capital, which shows that religion and cultures are a major factor in the formation of social networks and trust. In addition, the impetus for focusing specifically on spiritual capital draws on the growing recognition in economics and other social sciences that religion is not an epiphenomena, nor is it fading from public significance in the 21 st century, and the importance to social/economic dynamics of human economic intangibles. Recent developments in the social sciences suggest a growing openness to non material factors, such as the radius of trust, behavioral norms, and religion as having profound economic, political, and social consequences (Source the Metanexus Institute).

Who is involved? Funding and Delivery Framework

The Community Development Foundation in Cambridge funds the Project and will monitor the progress.

A Steering Group, appointed by project sponsors, Cardiff City Centre Churches Together and the City Parish of St John the Baptist, is led by the Project initiator, the Rev. Keith Kimber, Vicar of St John's.

The Public Trust Partnership (PTP) through Roy J. Thomas, manages the Project .

Cardiff University -Regeneration Institute Dr Robert Smith and Rebecca Edwards will provide the research and will write the Report with PTP.

The Steering Group members are Professor Paul Ballard; Rev. Monica Mills; Malcolm Thomas; Chris Daley; Dr Keshav Singhal; Mohammed Jabbar and one other member who has been extended an invitation.

The work undertaken should be placed in the context of what is currently happening in the City such as the re-development of the City Centre and other parts of Cardiff, the emergence of a new private/public company Cardiff & Co. to promote the City and the economic and the community plans of Cardiff Council.

"It is my belief that no greater good has ever befallen you in this city than my service to my God; for I spend all my time going about trying to persuade you, young and old, to make your first and chief concern not for your bodies or for your possessions, but the highest welfare of your souls, proclaiming as I go, ‘Wealth does not bring goodness, but goodness brings wealth and every other blessing, both to the individual and to the state.”

—Plato, The Apology