Faith's Role in Public Life Debate

“There’s
no
place
for
faith
in
our

public
life”

Dr
Bex
Lewis

Research
Fellow
in
Social
Media
and
Online

Learning,
CODEC,
St
John’s
College,
Durham

University;
Director,
Digital
Fingerprint

17th
April
2014:
AJernoon
Lecture:
#SH2014

CreaMve
Commons
Non-‐Commercial
Licence

Dr
Bex
Lewis

Research
Fellow
in
Social
Media
&

Online
Learning

CODEC,
St
John’s
College,
Durham

Director,
Digital
Fingerprint

T:
@drbexl

F:
/drbexl

W:
drbexl.co.uk

Are
they
right?

A
lot
of
people
now
argue
that,
because

we’re
living
in
a
post-‐ChrisBan,
secular

culture,
religion
and
faith
shouldn’t
be

allowed
a
voice
in
discussions
on
public

policy
issues.

TwiEer
Responses

• "The
personal
is
poliMcal“
@johngcanning

• Every
aspect
of
public
life
is
built
and

moMvated
by
"faith":
faith
in
the
state/human

goodness/God/ourselves
etc.
@98rosjon

• Faith=EssenMal.
I
ws
Cllr
and
took
my
faith

with
me
in
to
chamber.
But
diﬀ
to
integrate,
I

got
a
lot
of
#c***
from
ppl
at
Church

@MckRich

TwiEer
Responses

• “@drbexl:
“There’s
no
place
for
faith
in
our

public
life”#SH2014?”
I
don’t
understand
the

hate
that
goes
hand
in
hand
with
faith
#auspol

@Bazzamahaz

• Having
faith
tends
to
give
us
the
impetus
to

work
for
jusMce
and
the
good
of
others,
plus
a

sense
of
compassion.
All
essenMal
for
those
in

public
life.
@MurielSowden

Twitter Responses
• can't
separate
my
faith
from
my
acMons,

including
those
in
public
life.
If
people
of
faith

are
in
public
life
faith
is
there
too.

@JennRiddlestone

• how
can
you
separate
faith
from
your
public

life?
Is
private
faith
true
faith?

@loulou_uberkirk

Twitter Responses
• Wrong.
Stupid.
Dumb.
They're
my
thoughts
:)

@samhailes

• no
clear
dividing
line
between
'faith'
and
'non-‐
faith',
all
people
have
a
bias
and
beliefs,
not

just
'religious'
people
@jameslee42

• we
can't
seek
the
welfare
of
the
city
if
we

refuse
to
engage
with
the
policies
that
aﬀect

its
inhabitants
@garethdavies66

We
all
have
faith
in
something.
The
quesMon
isn't

whether
people
have
faith,
but
what
they
put
their

faith
in.
The
argument
that
some
people
have
faith

and
others
don't
is
a
complete
lie.

An
atheist
is
someone
of
tremendous
faith.
To

believe
in
no
supernatural
divine
being
whatsoever

takes
a
lot
of
faith.

James
Prescoh,
@JamesPrescoh77

The
problem
with
the
quesMon
is
that
it
presupposes

that
the
'secular'
perspecMve
found
in
the
phrase

'public
life'
is
without
'faith'
in
the
ﬁrst
place.
If
faith
is

a
combinaMon
of
worldview
(or
how
we
imagine
the

world
to
be),
praxis
(a
combinaMon
of
rituals,
liturgies,

ethics
and
ﬁnancial
consideraMons),
and
life

expectaBons
(what,
in
light
of
worldview
and
praxis

you
expect
life
to
be
like,
a
kind
of
telos)
then
the

'secular'
is
as
much
a
faith
as
orthodox
ChrisManity.
If

this
is
the
case,
then
it's
not
so
much
'should
faith
be
in

the
public
square'
but
rather,
'which
faith
would
we

prefer
to
be
in
the
public
square?’

Joshua
Penduck,
Ordinand

“There’s
no
place
for
faith
in
our
public
life”
sounds
like
a
form
of

oppression
to
me.
Firstly,
what
does
one
mean
by
"faith"
in
this

context?
Too
many
people
use
the
word
faith
to
me
"things
you

believe,
which
I
do
not
believe"
or
vice
versa.
I
this
context,
I'd

subsMtute
"faith"
for
"belief
system"
(and
add
that
atheism
is
a

belief
system).
Now
the
statement
reads
"There's
no
place
for

belief
systems
in
our
public
life."
Now
the
statement
sounds
like,
at

best
a
form
of
denial,
or
worse
wilful
ignorance
of
the
psychology.

Faith
is
inherently
involved
in
public
life,
the
only
quesMons
are:

what
kind
of
faith
(or
faith
in
what)
and
is
that
faith
declared
or

undeclared.
Generally,
when
people
have
said
to
me
"there's
no

place
for
faith
in
our
public
life"
what
they
meant
was
"there's
no

place
for
your
belief
system
in
my
world."
-‐
and
that
is
most

deﬁnitely
a
belief
(form
of
faith)
that
is
trying
to
shape
public
life.

Benjamin
Ellis

Ben
Whitnall,
Bible
Society

That
statement,
unqualified,
is
a
logical
impossibility,
I'd
say.
Like
saying
'there's
no

place
for
water
in
a
human
body'.
It's
not
true,
it
shouldn't
be
true
and
it's
almost

impossible
to
imagine
a
real,
live
situaMon
in
which
it
could
be
true.
Being
a
lihle
less

obdurately
literal,
I
think
there's
a
context
behind
this
quesMon
that's
been
created
by
a

linguisMc
trick/synecdoche
–
something
like
saying
'there's
no
place
for
insisMng
that

overpriced,
arMficial,
carbonated,
bohled,
super-‐chilled
water
be
the
only
liquid
in
the

human
body'.
That
is,
people
take
a
parBcular
and
very
specific
understanding/
manifestaBon
of
the
thing
at
hand
and
use
it
to
stand
in
for
the
general
term.
In
the

case
of
'faith',
it
will
variously
mean
'unquesBoning
adherence
to
a
major
world

religion'
or
'supersMMous
behaviour
based
on
claims
without
any
verifiable
evidence'
or

'brash
confidence
in
the
ability
to
change
a
situaMon'
–
or
even
more
specific
stuff,
like

'telling
people
not
to
have
sex
before
marriage'
or
'serng
economic
policy
on
advice

from
bankers,
not
econometricians'
or
any
one
of
a
million
other
things.
And
then,

without
anyone
saying
so
explicitly,
*that*
specific
noMon
becomes
the
basis
for
arguing

for
or
against
the
inclusion
of
something
as
general
as
'faith'
in
public
life.
In
almost
any

other
context,
we
know
how
crazy
and
dangerous
it
is
to
be
so
careless
but
the
faith

thing
seems
oddly
vulnerable
to
this
haziness.
/rant

*
Responses
to
the
statement

*
Responses
to
the
responses

Discuss

Worldview

Foucault
maintained
that
rules
of
discourse
are

applied
within
historically
defined
periods
and

socially
specific
groups.
These
define
and
produce

ideas
of
‘truth’
and
knowledge
which
govern,
at
any

given
Mme,
‘what
is
valid,
sayable
and
possible’.

Such
rules
are
associated
with
insMtuMons,
which,

structured
themselves
by
discourses,
also
play
a
key

part
in
the
regulaMon
of
populaMons
through

discourse.

Lewis,
PhD
Thesis,
2004
(p27)
See
hhp://ww2poster.co.uk

The
Archbishop
of
Canterbury
complained

that
‘what
is
primarily
a
moral
problem
with

a
medical
aspect
is
being
treated
as
if
it

were
primarily
a
medical
problem
with
a

moral
aspect’,
and
that
‘there
is
a
great
evil

and
a
grave
menace
to
be
met’.

The
Archbishop
of
Canterbury:
Most
Rev.
W.
Temple
D.D.,
Wellcome
SA/PVD,
Dr
Maitland
Radford

(Medical
Oﬃcer
of
Health,
St
Pancras),
‘The
Central
Council
for
Health
EducaMon:
Conference
on
Health

EducaMon
and
the
Venereal
Diseases’,
February
26
1943,
p.10.

Trigg,
Religion
in
Public
Life,
p4

‘Faith’
is
oJen
contrasted
with
‘reason’
so
that
it

appears
that
science
deals
with
what
is

objecBve,
and
can
command
agreement,
whilst

religion
is
leJ
with
subjecBve
reacMons.

Individuals
can
search
for
a
meaning
in
their

personal
lives,
and
that
is
seen
as
the
province

of
religion.
Truth,
on
the
other
hand,
is
publicly

established,
and
that
is
said
to
be
the
realm
of

science.

Power
of
Secularism

The
NaMonal
Secular
Society
campaigns
for
the

separaBon
of
religion
and
state
and
promotes

secularism
as
the
best
means
to
create
a
society
in

which
people
of
all
religions
or
none
can
live
together

fairly
and
cohesively.
The
NSS
sees
secularism
—
the

posiMon
that
the
state
should
be
separate
from

religion
—
as
an
essenMal
element
in
promoMng

equality
between
all
ciMzens.
hhp://www.secularism.org.uk/about.html

A.C.
Grayling

We
have
the
spectacle
of
the
righteous
wriMng

lehers
of
complaint
about
televised
nudity,

while
from
the
factory
next
door
tons
of

armaments
are
exported
to
regions
of
the

world
gripped
by
poverty
and
civil
war.

hhp://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/mar/22/religion.uk1

The
Henley-‐on-‐Thames
town
councillor,
73,

said
the
country
had
been
'beset
by
storms'

since
the
passage
of
the
new
law
on
gay

marriage
because
Mr
Cameron
had
acted

'arrogantly
against
the
Gospel'.

In
a
leher
to
the
Henley
Standard
he
wrote:

'The
scriptures
make
it
abundantly
clear
that

a
ChrisMan
naMon
that
abandons
its
faith
and

acts
contrary
to
the
Gospel
(and
in
naked

breach
of
a
coronaMon
oath)
will
be
beset
by

natural
disasters
such
as
storms,
disease,

pesMlence
and
war.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2541774/UKIP-councillor-David-
Silvester-blames-UK-storms-gay-marriage-
legalised.html#ixzz2z86TrVD6

Judge
Rutherford
(Bull
vs
Hall/Preddy,
2011)

“In
our
parliamentary
democracy
it
is
for

parliament
to
frame
laws
which
reﬂect
these

changes
in
artude
or
which
give
a
lead
to

such
changes,”
he
said.
“Whatever
may
have

been
the
posiMon
in
past
centuries
it
is
no

longer
the
case
that
our
laws
must,
or
should,

automaBcally
reﬂect
the
Judeo-‐ChrisBan

posiBon.”

State
Religion

Communist
Europe

Prominent
ﬁght:

for
religious
freedom

against
state
atheism.

Trigg,
Religion
in
Public
Life,
p10

Trigg,
p231

• …
raMonality
is
something
we
all
hold
in
common
as
humans.
If

public
reasoning
can
have
no
relevance
to
religion,
or
equivalent

systems
of
belief,
we
are
restricMng
the
scope
of
what
may
help
us

to
understand
each
other
more,
even
if
it
does
not
always
bring

agreement.
In
fact,
relaBvism,
the
opponent
of
such
raBonality,

always
sinks
into
incoherence,
by
having
in
the
end
to
assume

something
as
true.
When
JusMce
Stevens
talks
of
the
‘evil’
of

discriminaMng
between
systems
of
belief,
where
is
he
standing
to

make
that
judgement
about
evil?
He
clearly
has
a
system
of
belief

himself,
encompassing
toleraMon
of
all
belief,
and
he
considers
it

important
enough
to
impose
it
in
others
using
the
full
force
of
law.

hhp://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/03/24/gov-‐scoh-‐walker-‐refuses-‐to-‐take-‐down-‐religious-‐tweet/

For
the
public
good?

Miroslav
Volf

"For
ChrisMans,
faith
is
a
precious
good,

the
most
valuable
personal
and
social

resource.
When
it
is
leJ
untapped,
the

common
good
suﬀers
-‐
not
just
the

parMcular
interests
of
ChrisMans.”

HT
@partakers_dave

For
me,
"working
in
the
public

sphere"
looks
like
Wilberforce

ﬁghBng
slavery
or
the
alliance

of
organisaBons
who
fought

for
debt
relief,
not
publishing

posiBon
papers.

Mark
Howe

Rowan
Williams
–
Faith
in
the
Public
Square,
p5

• The
sense
that
human
beings
are
limited
and
dependent
is

not,
for
religious
believers,
something
humiliaMng
and

disempowering;
it
is
simply
an
acknowledgement
of
the
way

things
are…
This
bears
very
obviously
on
our
environmental

challenges.

• A
good
many
advocates
and
acMvists
in
this
area
have
urged

people
of
faith
to
arMculate
more
clearly
the
religious

imperaMves
around
responsibility
for
the
environment;
and

whatever
the
precise
scienMﬁc
predicMons
around
climate

change,
there
should
be
no
debate
as
to
the
rightness
of
a

sober
and
realisBc
scaling
down
of
our
consumpBon
and

polluBon.

•

Rowan
Williams
–
Faith
in
the
Public
Square,
p5

• But
it
is
the
same
concern
that
ought
to
inform
our
response

to
economic
crisis,
where
it
is,
once
again,
a
mythology
of

control
and
guaranteed
security,
combined
with
the
fantasy

that
unlimited
material
growth
is
possible,
that
has
poisoned

social
and
poliMcal
life
across
a
growing
number
of
countries.

No
theologian
has
automaMc
skill
in
economics,
but
there
is

an
ethical
perspecBve
here,
plainly
rooted
in
theology,
that

obliges
us
to
quesMon
the
nostrums
of
recent
decades,
and

above
all
persistently
to
ask
the
awkward
quesMon
of
what

we
want
growth
for,
what
model
of
well-‐being
we
actually

assume
in
our
economics.

“Theology
…
has
a
role
in

arBculaBng
and
displaying
some

of
the
ways
in
which
the
church

contributes
to
the
public
good.”

hhp://www.slideshare.net/drbexl/does-‐doctrine-‐maher-‐some-‐thoughts-‐from

As
an
atheist…
I
have
a
strong
spiritual
side….

For
me,
faith
originates
within
me,
influenced
by
the
world

that
I
am
in,
but
it
is
first
and
foremost
a
personal
venture.
Of

course,
it
affects
how
I
live.
Anything
to
do
with
meaning
and

the
'more'
to
life
has
to,
I
think.
I
don't
subscribe
to
a
religion

but
a
lot
of
the
Mme
I
enjoy
talking
to
and
living
alongside

those
who
do.
Their
beliefs
can
be
inspiring
and
thought-‐
provoking
and
challenging,
and
I
value
them
as
people
and

so
I
like
that
conversaBon
being
a
public
one
-‐
and
hope
it
is

respechul.
I
think
faith
is
less
likely
to
become
oppressive
or

dangerous
if
there
is
a
very
strong
personal
convicMon
and
it
is

not
just
treated
as
a
social
way
of
life
with
everything
coming

from
outside
of
you

Miranda
Cooper-‐Beglin

Trigg,
p234

Those
who
see
some
religions
as

dangerous
should
acknowledge
that

pushing
religion
into
the
dark

recesses
of
private
life
merely
shields

it
from
public
scruBny
and
criBcism.

The
(New)
Guide
Promise

I
promise
that
I
will
do
my
best:

To
be
true
to
myself
and
develop
my
beliefs,

To
serve
the
Queen
and
my
community,

To
help
other
people

And
to
keep
the
(Brownie)
Guide
law.

hhp://heathermaystanley.wordpress.com/2013/06/19/i-‐promise/

@hstanley_

*
The
State
and
formal
religion:
yes
or
no?

*
PoliMcians
expressing
beliefs:
yes
or
no?

*
Teaching
faith
in
educaMon:
yes
or
no?

Discuss

“The
real
bahles
of
faith
today
are
being
fought
in

factories,
shops,
oﬃces
and
farms,
in
poliMcal
parMes

and
government
agencies,
in
countless
homes,

in
press,
radio
and
tv,
in
the
relaMonship
of
the

naMons.
Very
oJen
it
is
said
that
the
Church
should
go

into
those
spheres
but
the
fact
is
that
the
Church
is

already
in
those
spheres
in
the
persons
of
the
laity.”

World
Council
of
Churches
1955

H/T
@jaybutcher

“No
life
of
faith
can
be
lived

privately.
There
must
be

overﬂow
into
the
lives
of

others.”
C.S.
Lewis

H/T
@jaybutcher

Life’s
a
Peach
and
Not
an
Orange

Peter,
always
the
ﬁrst
to
speak

and
act
in
support
of
Jesus,
and

fearless
of
making
public

statements
about
his
faith,
now

speaks
just
as
impulsively
in

denial,
simply
to
save
his
own

skin.
In
this
moment
of
danger

he
aEempts
what
is
ulBmately

impossible
–
to
stay
faithful

only
in
private.

Giving
It
Up,
p193

Maggi
Dawn

Image Source: Premier Christian Media

• If
being
a
ChrisMan
is
loving
God
and
loving
others,

even
if
I
don't
announce
why
I'm
doing
something,

my
faith
is
unavoidably
in
*public.*
Heather
Stanley

• 
I
would
suggest/argue
that
faith
is
already
'out

there',
that
all
things
in
the
words
of
Rob
Bell
are

spiritual
so
to
suggest
that
there
is
no
place
for
it
is

the
wrong
quesMon...
its
there
anyway.
As
we
listen

to
life
and
the
world
the
quesBons
of
faith
are
all

around
us.
Rob
Wylie

• Agree
with
Rob.
I
don't
believe
in
a
separaBon

between
secular
and
spiritual
so
how
can
faith
NOT

be
everywhere.
Heather
Stanley

I
think
that
faith
naturally
overflows
into

public
life,
if
it
is
deep,
mature
and
confident.

(Not
over
confident
which
can
be
harmful).

And
if
faith
is
held
at
that
level,
it
will
pervade

all
our
life,
both
public
and
private.
Faith
can't

be
kept
in
a
box
and
troEed
out
to
suit
an

occasion.
It's
something
intrinsically
linked
to

our
'being'
that
makes
us
who
we
are.

Ernie
Feasey

• Faith
can
be
personal,
but
it
was
never
meant
to
be
private...

Therefore
it
has
to
interact
with
public
life,
because
faith
is
a
very
part

of
our
being...
That
said,
ChrisMans
are
not
to
force/compel
others
to

hold
their
standard
(what
ever
that
is!)...
That
said,
ChrisBans
should

be
allowed
in
the
public
discussion,
simply
because
they
are
humans,

and
free
speech
is
part
of
human
rights...
Hope
that
makes
some

semblance
of
sense!

Dave
Roberts

• But
Faith
in
the
Public
Square
is
about
whether
faith
has
a
place
in

public
life
in
general
-‐
in
poliMcs,
in
government,
in
university
research

and
so
on.
It
isn't
just
about
whether
ChrisBans
should
be
publicly

ChrisBan
-‐
that's
obvious.
It's
the
issue
you
have
in
the
States
about

the
separaMon
of
state
and
religion
but
the
rather
fuzzier
mix
we
have

in
the
UK.
Pete
Phillips

• there
are
plenty
of
ChrisBans
who
keep
their
faith
private
and
never

talk
about
it
in
the
public
square...
and
it
maybe
obvious
to
you
and
I,

but
it
isn't
to
them...
Dave
Roberts

@MurielSowden

If you have faith, then you
live that faith 24/7. Not
something that can be
switched off in differing
contexts.

• I
think
we
need
to
look
for
and
experience
faith
in

every
walk
of
life,
whether
it
be
personal,
or
public.

If
we
don't
show
it,
we
may
be
denying
it
to

someone
else.
For
some
people
sadly
we
may
be
the

only
contact
they
have
with
someone
of
faith.
So
we

need
to
share
our
experiences
wherever
and

whenever
we
can
without
going
over
the
top
and

coming
oﬀ
as
some
religious
nuher.
(In
the
nicest

possible
sense)

• Pennie
Ley

#DIGIdisciple

• We
all
have
something
to

contribute
to
the
digital

space:

• Living
24/7
for
God

• Online/Oﬄine,
not
Virtual/
Real

• Are
we
the
same
person,

living
by
the
same
values
in

both
‘spaces’?

Image Credit: The Worship Cloud

The
Methodist
Church
social
media
policy:

• Be
credible.
Be
accurate,
fair,
thorough
and
transparent.

• Be
consistent.
Encourage
construcMve
criMcism
and
deliberaMon.

• Be
cordial,
honest
and
professional
at
all
Mmes.
Be
responsive.
When
you
gain

insight,
share
it
where
appropriate.

• Be
integrated.
Wherever
possible,
align
online
parMcipaMon
with
other

communicaMons.

• Be
a
good
representaMve
of
the
Methodist
Church.
Remember
that
you
are
an

ambassador
for
Christ,
the
Church
and
your
part
of
it.
Disclose
your
posiMon

as

a
member
or
officer
of
the
Church,
making
it
clear
when
speaking
personally.

Let
GalaBans
5:22–26
guide
your
behaviour
(fruits
of
the
spirit).

• Be
respec•ul:
respect
confidenMality.
Respect
the
views
of
others
even
where

you
disagree.

• hDp://www.methodist.org.uk/ministers-‐and-‐office-‐holders/technology-‐and-‐church/social-‐media-‐guidelines

*
Can
you
have
a
‘private’
faith?

*
Do
you
believe
in
something
enough
to
die
for
it?

*
Any
parMculariMes
of
the
digital
age?

Discuss

Faith's Role in Public Life Debate

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