Yesterday the Office for National Statistics released data for religious populations from the 2011 Census. Angus Ritchie, the Director of the Contextual Theology Centre has posted a very helpful comment on these statistics.
In his response Angus suggests that:
"In the midst of the debate which these figures will provoke, it is worth getting some perspective. The majority of English and Welsh people identify themselves as Christian, at a time when wider social pressures give less and less encouragement to such identification. There is no room for complacency – and no point in denying that this number has declined substantially in the last decade. But these figures tell of a striking persistence of religious belief and practice. The public square continues to be a place where people of faith and people of no faith coexist in large numbers – with people of faith forming the substantial majority ...
Whatever else we make of the Census figures, this much is clear: pluralism is here to stay, with a growing array of religious and secular worldviews commanding significant allegiance. Whatever challenges this presents to the churches, it is hardly the world the ‘New Atheists’ have been campaigning for. The task for us all is to negotiate and build a truly common life – bearing witness with confidence and generosity to that which we believe most deeply."
The Contextual Theology Centre’s Presence and Engagement Network (PEN) is holding an event in Southwark on Making Sense of the Census on the afternoon of Monday 18th February – before the PEN 2013 Lecture, to be given by the Dean of St Paul’s, the Very Revd David Ison.
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Bruce Springsteen - Land Of Hope And Dreams.
Showing posts with label pluralism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pluralism. Show all posts
Wednesday, 12 December 2012
Tuesday, 22 December 2009
Faith-based leadership models (5)
Shared leadership
A key aspect of shared leadership is dialogue. Good conversation involves us in cooperating, thinking of each other’s feelings and experiences, and giving each room to talk.
This is an area where faith communities hold considerable resources.
The Inter Faith Network for the UK, for example, has published a Code of Conduct for interfaith dialogue that contains useful lessons for all leaders. Their Code suggests that when “we talk about matters of faith with one another, we need to do so with sensitivity, honesty and straightforwardness. This means:
• recognising that listening as well as speaking is necessary for a genuine conversation;
• being honest about our beliefs and religious allegiances;
• not misrepresenting or disparaging other people's beliefs and practices;
• correcting misunderstanding or misrepresentations not only of our own but also of other faiths whenever we come across them;
• being straightforward about our intentions; and
• accepting that in formal inter faith meetings there is a particular responsibility to ensure that the religious commitment of all those who are present will be respected.”
Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi, has written of the way in which the “wisest is not one who knows himself wiser than others: he is one who knows all men have some share of wisdom and is willing to learn from them, for none of us knows all the truth and each of us knows some of it.”
Sacks has written about argument, debate and conversation as being a fundamental aspect of Judaism. He argues that this is because Judaism is “an attempt to do justice to the fact that there is more than one point of view; more than one truth.” He says that we must learn the art of conversation as it is only as we allow our world to be enlarged by others who think and act in radically different ways from us that truth emerges.
The Hindu understanding of pluralism holds similar potential for peaceful coexistence between those holding differing views. Because each of us are different we all approach reality in different ways. Therefore none of us can claim to know absolute truth. On this basis we can simply say, “your ideas and belief suit you and are best for you, mine are fine for my purposes so why threaten or feel threatened by each other?” True leadership therefore involves the humble recognition of the necessary limitations of what we perceive as absolute.
Soul
Deepak Chopra has become recognised as one of the top motivational speakers internationally by seeking to bridge the “technological miracles of the west with the wisdom of the east", principally Hinduism. Chopra argues that leaders are the symbolic soul of an organisation or group. At different times, groups need a parent, protector, ruler, muse or visionary. Successful leaders embody the values for which their group or organisation hungers. Leaders are born as they sense the felt need of the group or organisation.
Great leaders understand lower needs, like the need to feel safe, and meet these but also respond from the higher levels of spirit by understanding that their followers yearn for freedom, love, and spiritual worth. Great leaders, Chopra argues, are in touch with every level of human experience.
Alan Briskin has argued, in The Stirring of Soul in the Workplace, that the soul is a place of union among opposites and, in a world where there is information overload, represents our ability to hold onto the whole and create coherence through relationships with others. Soul “resides in the tension between apparent opposites” and it is in grappling with contradictions that soul is stirred into being. He quotes an ancient Sufi teaching: “You think because you understand one you must understand two, because one and one make two. But you must also understand and.” Briskin points out that the and is the point of overlap that unites in relationship. Caring for the soul, he suggests, involves an appreciation for and.
Doing so involves both dialogue and respect for uncertainty and is the source of creativity within workplaces. Dialogue is important because when we dialogue “we meet at the crossing between the forms of each other’s thought.” Respect for uncertainty is significant because by looking for patterns and attempting to find opportunities in the new patterns that emerge we can recalibrate our own intentions and forge relationships that incorporate randomness rather than condemning it. This does not mean the abandonment of planning and accountability but does involve operating in a richer perspective that tolerates “both a causal connection between events and an appreciation for the dice being thrown.”
Similarly, Danah Zohar, in SQ: The Ultimate Intelligence, has argued that Spiritual Intelligence (SQ) is our access to and use of meaning, vision and value in the way that we think and the decisions that we make. As such, it is the intelligence that makes us whole and that gives us integrity. SQ is about integrating, understanding and always adapting to new perspectives, Zohar suggests that the following generate a high SQ:
• being flexible – the world is a place of multiple realities, so live in it;
• being self-aware – look inward and don’t be afraid of what you’ll find;
• have a vision and be led by your values;
• use adversity – learn from death, failure and the things you fear;
• be holistic – see the big picture;
• be open to diversity – enjoy difference, like flexibility;
• be your own person – find true faith in your own convictions;
• ask “Why?” – it works for kids!
• reframe – step back and find the broader context;
• practice servant leadership; and
• create conditions for change.
Zohar argues that it is when we are a little uncomfortable that learning and innovation is most likely to occur.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Henryk Gorecki - Miserere.
A key aspect of shared leadership is dialogue. Good conversation involves us in cooperating, thinking of each other’s feelings and experiences, and giving each room to talk.
This is an area where faith communities hold considerable resources.
The Inter Faith Network for the UK, for example, has published a Code of Conduct for interfaith dialogue that contains useful lessons for all leaders. Their Code suggests that when “we talk about matters of faith with one another, we need to do so with sensitivity, honesty and straightforwardness. This means:
• recognising that listening as well as speaking is necessary for a genuine conversation;
• being honest about our beliefs and religious allegiances;
• not misrepresenting or disparaging other people's beliefs and practices;
• correcting misunderstanding or misrepresentations not only of our own but also of other faiths whenever we come across them;
• being straightforward about our intentions; and
• accepting that in formal inter faith meetings there is a particular responsibility to ensure that the religious commitment of all those who are present will be respected.”
Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi, has written of the way in which the “wisest is not one who knows himself wiser than others: he is one who knows all men have some share of wisdom and is willing to learn from them, for none of us knows all the truth and each of us knows some of it.”
Sacks has written about argument, debate and conversation as being a fundamental aspect of Judaism. He argues that this is because Judaism is “an attempt to do justice to the fact that there is more than one point of view; more than one truth.” He says that we must learn the art of conversation as it is only as we allow our world to be enlarged by others who think and act in radically different ways from us that truth emerges.
The Hindu understanding of pluralism holds similar potential for peaceful coexistence between those holding differing views. Because each of us are different we all approach reality in different ways. Therefore none of us can claim to know absolute truth. On this basis we can simply say, “your ideas and belief suit you and are best for you, mine are fine for my purposes so why threaten or feel threatened by each other?” True leadership therefore involves the humble recognition of the necessary limitations of what we perceive as absolute.
Soul
Deepak Chopra has become recognised as one of the top motivational speakers internationally by seeking to bridge the “technological miracles of the west with the wisdom of the east", principally Hinduism. Chopra argues that leaders are the symbolic soul of an organisation or group. At different times, groups need a parent, protector, ruler, muse or visionary. Successful leaders embody the values for which their group or organisation hungers. Leaders are born as they sense the felt need of the group or organisation.
Great leaders understand lower needs, like the need to feel safe, and meet these but also respond from the higher levels of spirit by understanding that their followers yearn for freedom, love, and spiritual worth. Great leaders, Chopra argues, are in touch with every level of human experience.
Alan Briskin has argued, in The Stirring of Soul in the Workplace, that the soul is a place of union among opposites and, in a world where there is information overload, represents our ability to hold onto the whole and create coherence through relationships with others. Soul “resides in the tension between apparent opposites” and it is in grappling with contradictions that soul is stirred into being. He quotes an ancient Sufi teaching: “You think because you understand one you must understand two, because one and one make two. But you must also understand and.” Briskin points out that the and is the point of overlap that unites in relationship. Caring for the soul, he suggests, involves an appreciation for and.
Doing so involves both dialogue and respect for uncertainty and is the source of creativity within workplaces. Dialogue is important because when we dialogue “we meet at the crossing between the forms of each other’s thought.” Respect for uncertainty is significant because by looking for patterns and attempting to find opportunities in the new patterns that emerge we can recalibrate our own intentions and forge relationships that incorporate randomness rather than condemning it. This does not mean the abandonment of planning and accountability but does involve operating in a richer perspective that tolerates “both a causal connection between events and an appreciation for the dice being thrown.”
Similarly, Danah Zohar, in SQ: The Ultimate Intelligence, has argued that Spiritual Intelligence (SQ) is our access to and use of meaning, vision and value in the way that we think and the decisions that we make. As such, it is the intelligence that makes us whole and that gives us integrity. SQ is about integrating, understanding and always adapting to new perspectives, Zohar suggests that the following generate a high SQ:
• being flexible – the world is a place of multiple realities, so live in it;
• being self-aware – look inward and don’t be afraid of what you’ll find;
• have a vision and be led by your values;
• use adversity – learn from death, failure and the things you fear;
• be holistic – see the big picture;
• be open to diversity – enjoy difference, like flexibility;
• be your own person – find true faith in your own convictions;
• ask “Why?” – it works for kids!
• reframe – step back and find the broader context;
• practice servant leadership; and
• create conditions for change.
Zohar argues that it is when we are a little uncomfortable that learning and innovation is most likely to occur.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Henryk Gorecki - Miserere.
Thursday, 17 December 2009
Faith-based leadership models (4)
Humility
Islam discourages the practice of seeking leadership; if a person desires it for power and glory rather than serving the people by implementing the divine laws, he is not fit to occupy it. In a well-known Hadith, the Prophet has said that he who seeks leadership is not fit to assume it.
A Muslim leader should restrain from behaving unjustly — whether to community members, to customers, to suppliers or to anybody else. Muslims believe that a leader with a firm faith (iman) will not get out of responsibility for his actions, and will continuously emphasize good deeds.
In Islam a leader must be kind, compassionate and forgiving towards those whom he leads. A leader must also consult the people before taking a decision but once a decision has been made no weakness is shown and the policy be pursued with single-mindedness of purpose, determination and courage. The leader, however, must first articulate the vision and demonstrate the ability to turn it into action by aligning performance with vision to create a climate of success for the realization of the stated goal.
In summary the qualities for leadership in Islam are: knowledge and hikmah (wisdom, insight); taqwa (love and fear of Allah); ‘adl (justice) and rahmah (compassion); courage and bravery; shura (mutual consultation); decisiveness and being resolute; eloquence; a spirit of self-sacrifice; and sabr (patience).
Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi, has written of the way in which the “wisest is not one who knows himself wiser than others: he is one who knows all men have some share of wisdom and is willing to learn from them, for none of us knows all the truth and each of us knows some of it.”
Sacks has written about argument, debate and conversation as being a fundamental aspect of Judaism. He argues that this is because Judaism is “an attempt to do justice to the fact that there is more than one point of view; more than one truth.” :
“Judaism gives dignity to the multiple perspectives from which we perceive reality and, most importantly, it says that the truth is not only as it appears to God looking down from heaven. Truth is also how it seems to us down here on earth. And the only ways we can handle that are either by having a dialogue and conversation, or by having different perspectives at different times.”
Sacks argues that, “we must learn the art of conversation, from which truth emerges not, as in Socratic dialogues, by the refutation of falsehood but from the quite different process of letting our world be enlarged by the presence of others who think, act, and interpret reality in ways radically different from our own.”
Hinduism contains similar resources for peaceful coexistence between those holding differing views. Jay Lakhani has spoken of the way in which the Hindu understanding of pluralism holds potential for resolving interfaith conflicts. Lakhani suggests that pluralism “says that the same ultimate reality called God can be thought of and approached in different ways.” The difference comes because each of us are different, coming from different backgrounds and inspired by different prophets and scriptures. No religion can claim absolute truth because by making that claim the religion would be claiming to be absolute as God is absolute. Therefore, each religion must always be less than the Absolute. As Hindu teaching states, “At best even the most esoteric religions can only offer a ‘perception of the Absolute’ – but never the Absolute.”
Lakhani suggests that on this basis we can simply say, “Your prophets and scriptures suit you and are best for you, my prophets and scriptures are fine for my purposes so why threaten or feel threatened by each other?” He suggests that true leadership involves the humble recognition of the necessary limitations of what we perceive as absolute.
Service
A servant style of leadership is fundamental to Christian teaching because of the example understood to be set by Jesus Christ in washing the feet of his disciples and in laying down his life for humanity. A servant style of leadership reverses the pyramid of hierarchy in an organisation by suggesting that frontline staff are those who are most important in the organisation (“the first shall be last and the last first”) because they are the people who actually deal with customers and that the role of managers/leaders is to serve these people by properly resourcing them for their work.
For Christians, the primary reason for adopting this style of leadership is that it was the approach of Jesus, the pattern for both his life and death: “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” As a result, for Christians there should be a radical rejection of hierarchical power that creates dependence and patronage in favour of a servant style of leadership.
Servant styles of leadership are found in other faith traditions too. From the Buddhist tradition comes the example of the Emperor Aśoka, a great ruler of the Maurya dynasty who lived about 200 years after the Buddha. Initially, like his father before him, Aśoka expanded his kingdom but his sorrow at the slaughter involved in conquest led him, through his understanding of Buddhist beliefs, to turn towards the service of those he governed and to the upholding of their welfare. H.G. Wells wrote, in The Outline of History, that:
“Amidst the tens of thousands of names of monarchs that crowd the pages of history … their majesties and graciousnesses and serenities and royal highnesses and the like, the name Aśoka shines, and shines almost alone, a star.”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
U2 - Peace On Earth (Remix).
Islam discourages the practice of seeking leadership; if a person desires it for power and glory rather than serving the people by implementing the divine laws, he is not fit to occupy it. In a well-known Hadith, the Prophet has said that he who seeks leadership is not fit to assume it.
A Muslim leader should restrain from behaving unjustly — whether to community members, to customers, to suppliers or to anybody else. Muslims believe that a leader with a firm faith (iman) will not get out of responsibility for his actions, and will continuously emphasize good deeds.
In Islam a leader must be kind, compassionate and forgiving towards those whom he leads. A leader must also consult the people before taking a decision but once a decision has been made no weakness is shown and the policy be pursued with single-mindedness of purpose, determination and courage. The leader, however, must first articulate the vision and demonstrate the ability to turn it into action by aligning performance with vision to create a climate of success for the realization of the stated goal.
In summary the qualities for leadership in Islam are: knowledge and hikmah (wisdom, insight); taqwa (love and fear of Allah); ‘adl (justice) and rahmah (compassion); courage and bravery; shura (mutual consultation); decisiveness and being resolute; eloquence; a spirit of self-sacrifice; and sabr (patience).
Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi, has written of the way in which the “wisest is not one who knows himself wiser than others: he is one who knows all men have some share of wisdom and is willing to learn from them, for none of us knows all the truth and each of us knows some of it.”
Sacks has written about argument, debate and conversation as being a fundamental aspect of Judaism. He argues that this is because Judaism is “an attempt to do justice to the fact that there is more than one point of view; more than one truth.” :
“Judaism gives dignity to the multiple perspectives from which we perceive reality and, most importantly, it says that the truth is not only as it appears to God looking down from heaven. Truth is also how it seems to us down here on earth. And the only ways we can handle that are either by having a dialogue and conversation, or by having different perspectives at different times.”
Sacks argues that, “we must learn the art of conversation, from which truth emerges not, as in Socratic dialogues, by the refutation of falsehood but from the quite different process of letting our world be enlarged by the presence of others who think, act, and interpret reality in ways radically different from our own.”
Hinduism contains similar resources for peaceful coexistence between those holding differing views. Jay Lakhani has spoken of the way in which the Hindu understanding of pluralism holds potential for resolving interfaith conflicts. Lakhani suggests that pluralism “says that the same ultimate reality called God can be thought of and approached in different ways.” The difference comes because each of us are different, coming from different backgrounds and inspired by different prophets and scriptures. No religion can claim absolute truth because by making that claim the religion would be claiming to be absolute as God is absolute. Therefore, each religion must always be less than the Absolute. As Hindu teaching states, “At best even the most esoteric religions can only offer a ‘perception of the Absolute’ – but never the Absolute.”
Lakhani suggests that on this basis we can simply say, “Your prophets and scriptures suit you and are best for you, my prophets and scriptures are fine for my purposes so why threaten or feel threatened by each other?” He suggests that true leadership involves the humble recognition of the necessary limitations of what we perceive as absolute.
Service
A servant style of leadership is fundamental to Christian teaching because of the example understood to be set by Jesus Christ in washing the feet of his disciples and in laying down his life for humanity. A servant style of leadership reverses the pyramid of hierarchy in an organisation by suggesting that frontline staff are those who are most important in the organisation (“the first shall be last and the last first”) because they are the people who actually deal with customers and that the role of managers/leaders is to serve these people by properly resourcing them for their work.
For Christians, the primary reason for adopting this style of leadership is that it was the approach of Jesus, the pattern for both his life and death: “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” As a result, for Christians there should be a radical rejection of hierarchical power that creates dependence and patronage in favour of a servant style of leadership.
Servant styles of leadership are found in other faith traditions too. From the Buddhist tradition comes the example of the Emperor Aśoka, a great ruler of the Maurya dynasty who lived about 200 years after the Buddha. Initially, like his father before him, Aśoka expanded his kingdom but his sorrow at the slaughter involved in conquest led him, through his understanding of Buddhist beliefs, to turn towards the service of those he governed and to the upholding of their welfare. H.G. Wells wrote, in The Outline of History, that:
“Amidst the tens of thousands of names of monarchs that crowd the pages of history … their majesties and graciousnesses and serenities and royal highnesses and the like, the name Aśoka shines, and shines almost alone, a star.”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
U2 - Peace On Earth (Remix).
Friday, 18 April 2008
Society still needs religion
This comes from the Anglican News Service (Rowan's lecture - click here - is well worth reading in full):
The Archbishop of Canterbury gave a lecture in which he acknowledges the rise in interest in spirituality, particularly in the Western World, but underlines the crucial role traditional religious allegiance continues to play in a genuinely plural society. Dr William's lecture entitled "The Spiritual and the Religious: is the territory changing?", is the third in a series "Faith and Life in Britain" being given at Westminster Cathedral.
Acknowledging the contribution that increased spiritual awareness can make to social and corporate life, Dr. Williams argues for the continued relevance of traditional religious commitment in developing and sustaining some of the deepest resources needed in a responsible plural society."When the great German philosopher Jurgen Habermas acknowledged some years ago in debate with the then Cardinal Ratzinger that traditional religion offered necessary resources to the construction of social reason and just practice, he was paving the way for some such approach on the part of secular government. There is an implicit acknowledgement, it seems, that what religious affiliation of a classical kind offers is not to be reduced just to an enhanced sense of the transcendent or of the interconnection of all things."
Dr Williams argues that religion is in fact: "...one of the most potent allies possible for genuine pluralism - that is, for a social and political culture that is consistently against coercion and institutionalised inequality and is committed to serious public debate about common good. Spiritual capital alone, in the sense of a heightened acknowledgement especially among politicians, businessmen and administrators of dimensions to human flourishing beyond profit and material security, is helpful but is not well equipped to ask the most basic questions about the legitimacy of various aspects of the prevailing global system. The traditional forms of religious affiliations, in proposing an 'imagined society', realised in some fashion in the practices of faith, are better resourced for such questions.
"The challenge for those "who adhere to revealed faith" but do not wish simply to be absorbed into an uncritical post-religious culture focused on "the autonomous self and its choices" was to rediscover what "the great Anglican Benedictine scholar Gregory Dix meant by describing Christians as a new 'species', homo eucharisticus, a humanity defined in its Eucharistic practice ... 'The unleavened bread of sincerity and truth' is the gift of the Easter Gospel, we are told in the liturgy; 'Lord, evermore give us this bread' (Jn 6.34)."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - There She Goes My Beautiful World.
The Archbishop of Canterbury gave a lecture in which he acknowledges the rise in interest in spirituality, particularly in the Western World, but underlines the crucial role traditional religious allegiance continues to play in a genuinely plural society. Dr William's lecture entitled "The Spiritual and the Religious: is the territory changing?", is the third in a series "Faith and Life in Britain" being given at Westminster Cathedral.
Acknowledging the contribution that increased spiritual awareness can make to social and corporate life, Dr. Williams argues for the continued relevance of traditional religious commitment in developing and sustaining some of the deepest resources needed in a responsible plural society."When the great German philosopher Jurgen Habermas acknowledged some years ago in debate with the then Cardinal Ratzinger that traditional religion offered necessary resources to the construction of social reason and just practice, he was paving the way for some such approach on the part of secular government. There is an implicit acknowledgement, it seems, that what religious affiliation of a classical kind offers is not to be reduced just to an enhanced sense of the transcendent or of the interconnection of all things."
Dr Williams argues that religion is in fact: "...one of the most potent allies possible for genuine pluralism - that is, for a social and political culture that is consistently against coercion and institutionalised inequality and is committed to serious public debate about common good. Spiritual capital alone, in the sense of a heightened acknowledgement especially among politicians, businessmen and administrators of dimensions to human flourishing beyond profit and material security, is helpful but is not well equipped to ask the most basic questions about the legitimacy of various aspects of the prevailing global system. The traditional forms of religious affiliations, in proposing an 'imagined society', realised in some fashion in the practices of faith, are better resourced for such questions.
"The challenge for those "who adhere to revealed faith" but do not wish simply to be absorbed into an uncritical post-religious culture focused on "the autonomous self and its choices" was to rediscover what "the great Anglican Benedictine scholar Gregory Dix meant by describing Christians as a new 'species', homo eucharisticus, a humanity defined in its Eucharistic practice ... 'The unleavened bread of sincerity and truth' is the gift of the Easter Gospel, we are told in the liturgy; 'Lord, evermore give us this bread' (Jn 6.34)."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - There She Goes My Beautiful World.
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