St Albans - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

St Albans

Diocesan Synod 14th

March 2015

Engaging with Civil Society beyond the General Election

Prof Chris Baker, Director of Research

William Temple Foundation

William Temple Professor of Religion and Public Life, University of ChesterSlide2

williamtemplefoundation.org.uk

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dynamics shaping the relationship between religion and the public sphere

1) Religion has struck a chord – but is this simply a pre-election blip?

2) A Postsecular public sphere? – The new visibility of Religion in the 21

st

century

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) The rise of spiritual capital – the search for deeper values in public life and the impetus to act upon them (since 2008?)

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) Progressive Localism? – what does this looks like at the local level? – Three Case Studies Slide3

williamtemplefoundation.org.uk

A change in the Political Weather?

The Bishops’ Pastoral letter

‘[expresses the] longing for a more humane society that reflects St Paul’s injunction – a better politics for a better nation. Amen you might say to that’ Will Hutton

They’re calling on us to make a leap of faith – not to a belief in eternal life, but to the liberal conviction that society is better, that collectively and individually we’ll be happier, if we look for and expect the best in each other, if our first instinct is compassion, not

anger

David MitchellSlide4

williamtemplefoundation.org.uk

Are we now living in a postsecular public sphere – the new visibility of religion in the 21

st

century?

Empirical reality – post-Soviet Europe; 84% of the world’s citizens identify with a religious identity

Moral reality – need to reconnect with religious sources of wisdom in response to the thre

a

t to democracy from neo-liberal globalised capitalism

We need

to adopt ‘a postsecular self-understanding of society as whole in which the vigorous continuation of religion in a continually secularizing environment must be reckoned with

’(Habermas 2006)Slide5

williamtemplefoundation.org.uk

Spiritual capital – the search for norms and deeper values.

Vital element in the creation of social capital -

the importance of relationships, networks and norms that can be used to enrich individuals and

communities

The resilience and effectiveness of faith-based contribution to social capital is the dynamic interplay the what and why

Religious

capital

is, ‘the practical contribution to local and national life made by faith

groups’ (i.e. the what)

Spiritual

capital meanwhile, ‘

energises 

religious capital by providing a theological identity and worshipping tradition, but also a value system, moral vision and a basis of faith

’

(the why)Slide6

williamtemplefoundation.org.uk

Leveraging the ethical and political power of spiritual capital?

S

piritual capital

not the sole preserve of citizens attending religious institutions, but is, in terms of its properties as a value system and moral vision, a motivating force for those outside formal religious affiliation.  In other

words there

is such a thing as secular spiritual

capital.

The emergence of the postsecular debate

highlights

the importance of leveraging the ethical and political power of everyone’s spiritual capital. In a postsecular public space we must create the freedom to experiment with multiple discourses, multiple visions of the truth and multiple expressions of identity.

Post 2008?Slide7

williamtemplefoundation.org.uk

Progressive Localism – new

microspaces

of postsecular politics and

citizenship?

P

rogressive

localism is an attitude of mind and political approach that

is:

‘

outward

looking

 and creates positive affinities between places and social groups negotiating global processes

.

These affinity groups and networks are expansive in their geographical reach and productive of new relations between places and social

groups. They can

reconfigure existing communities around emergent agendas for social justice, participation and

tolerance.

(Featherstone et al. “

Progressive localism and the construction of political alternatives”

Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers

37:

177-18Slide8

Three case studies of faith-based/faith-inspired progressive localism Hodge Hill - some politicising moments

From ‘centre of community’ to ‘treasure seeker’ (joining conversations and hearing into speech)

From service provider to threshold maker (creating alternative spaces – Open Door and the 5

PsEngaging wider conversations - Naming our ‘addiction’ to the ‘service industry

’What can we do with ‘neighbourhood power’?What do we need some external support with?

What

do we need external agencies to do?Slide9

Hodge Hill – Key Indicators of Impact (‘

postcapitalist

politics’ – JK Gibson-Graham – i.e. it’s already happening all over the place, if we look for it)

Localising food & energy (cf Transition Towns)Non-money economies & local ‘commons’ Radical hospitality (who do we welcome / value / listen to?)

Local ‘public squares’ (OUEs different to city centre! Places for digging into the issues, exploring, contesting, imagining)Sustainable ‘church’ (when the big building, the vicar, and the institution have disappeared) (e.g. Community Houses in HH)Slide10

Sufra Food Bank and Community KitchenMohamed

Mumdani

Sufra – a polyphonic word – tablecloth, dining room, space of hospitality

Food bank in Brent – 46 tons of food 3000 referrals – 90% non-MuslimFirst customer was Stephen – no idea what to do with the food he was givenCommunity Kitchen – 10 session course

Apprenticeship schemes (25 employed in catering trade)Vocational adviceElection hustings 2015Slide11

Sufra - Key Indicators of Impact Not the end of the road but the start of a new journey for those who access the

foodbank

.

Sufra aspires to be an organisation where people of different faiths and no-faith could ‘take part in social action together, fundraise together, and share resources together’ to create what he calls a ‘sustainable common purpose’. Slide12

Bristol Pound (Genesis of)Revd Chris Sunderland

Greatest challenges and opportunities revolve around our relationship with creation

Earth Abbey – former vicarage garden –

Growzone – community food growing projectChooseday – City wide campaign for leaving cars at homePeople ‘with a spiritual heart’ but ‘suspicious of formalised Christianity’

Idea for a Local currency emerged Slide13

Bristol Pound (impacts)A local

currency to give people a taste of a different form of money, that was embedded in the local economy and could produce a new values-led community of exchange.

‘We

need to do a currency that is city-wide and uses both electronic and printed media’. That was our root commitment that stayed with us through the next three years preparation for launch. Gradually a team grew around this core idea. Others had been thinking along similar lines. They were not necessarily people of faith

.In post-Christendom society, it is very hard for any project that is actively identified with a faith organisation to become more than a niche concern. Slide14

Bristol Pound – Impacts 700 businesses and 1300 individuals that are part of the

scheme

The

electronic system is the heart of our exchange. In the four weeks over Christmas our total exchange 30,000 BPs across the cityAn energy supplier, working to achieve major public procurement contracts in Bristol

PoundsDeveloping a new business to business credit facility A new Co-operative, called Real Economy: brings people in touch with local producers, encourage uptake of fresh food, with minimal waste, through using buying groups that order their food using a bespoke

webtool

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Summary of Faith-based contributions to a sustainable Politics of HopeH

earing

stories’ of ordinary (and often stigmatised) people into speech,

‘nurturing informal affinities’ of partnership by providing the necessary skilled and empathic leadership; ‘putting out ideas’ that represent new and alternative visions of community and relationships that everyone can gather

round.Faith communities as pivotal hubs and curators of new expressions of postsecular citizenship and a deeper form of politics based on a renewed sense of hope and resilience rather than the antipolitics of despair. Slide16

williamtemplefoundation.org.uk

What does progressive localism (i.e. outward-focussed praxis) look like on the ground?

New spaces, new affinities and new practices = new type of leadership?

Political credibility emerges from authenticity and direct engagement with issues. (Are we bold enough to own this credibility?)

Can spiritual revival lead to both religious and political revival?Slide17

williamtemplefoundation.org.uk

Group Discussions

At 10.50 please be in the following deanery groups for 20 minute discussion on the questions listed on the handout.

1.

Berkhamsted

–

Wheathampstead

Meeting Room

2. Hemel

– Watford

Foyer

3. Barnet

– Rickmansworth

Coffee Area

4. St

Albans – Welwyn Hatfield

Coffee Area

5. Hertford

Ware –

Cheshunt

Coffee Area

6. Bishops

Stortford –

Buntingford

Coffee Area

7. Stevenage

– Hitchin

Main Hall

8. Luton

– Dunstable

Main Hall

9.

Amptihill

/

Shefford

–

Biggleswade

Main Hall

10. Bedford

–

Sharnbrook

Main

Hall

For more information visit;

http

://www.stalbans

.

anglican.org/faith/involved-politics/