Religion, nationalism, conflict and community: Rory Stewart in conversation with Mukulika Banerjee and James Walters
6.30pm - 8.00pm
Wednesday 2nd October 2024
LSE Campus
While religion continues to be perceived as of diminishing significance by many in Western Europe, religious nationalisms are on the rise around the world and the religious dimensions of many conflicts are becoming more pronounced. While the early Twenty-First Century focused on political Islam, we now see new political formations across all the world’s faith traditions, as well as new faith-based initiatives to engage more constructively with global issues such as conflict and climate change. Rory Stewart – academic, podcaster and former politician – will share his perspectives on why this happening and what can be done about it, in conversation with LSE expert on Indian democracy, Mukulika Banerjee, and James Walters, founding director of LSE Faith Centre.
This event is now over. A podcast of this event is available on LSE Player, or click here to watch the discussion on YouTube.
Climate breakdown: Is religion the antidote to the poison?
A symposium with Bishop Rowan Williams
1.00pm - 5.30pm
Wednesday 23rd October 2024
Ten years ago, the LSE Faith Centre opened with a dialogue between Bishop Rowan Williams and the late French philosopher Bruno Latour on religion and the environment. In the decade that has past, political and scientific solutions to the climate emergency have seemed ever more elusive, while faith communities have become increasingly engaged in the task of challenging what Pope Francis describes as “the dominant technocratic paradigm” underlying the crisis. Responding to Latour’s challenge to provide “the antidote to the poison”, LSE Faith Centre now runs a religion and climate change module in its leadership programme, and has conducted research into emerging climate discourses among Christian and Muslim communities in Egypt and Jordan.
Using Latour’s posthumously published If we lose the Earth, we lose our souls as a springboard for discussion, this symposium will welcome Bishop Rowan back to LSE, alongside contributors from a range of faith traditions, to reflect on the nature of the task we are facing, the resources religion brings, and the significance of the legacy Latour has left us.
Watch on YouTube here, or listen as a podcast here.