Reconsidering religious radicalism - an interdisciplinary conference

Sat 21 May 2016

Memorial Court, Clare College

Join us at Clare College, Cambridge for what promises to be a groundbreaking conversation about the way we talk about religious radicalism.

As public awareness has grown concerning religion’s persistent influence in shaping world affairs, an implicit consensus appears to have been reached in how to distinguish between those religious adherents whose faith is expressed constructively – ‘moderates’ – and those whose faith is expressed destructively – ‘radicals’ or ‘extremists’.

But is this a sufficiently discriminating distinction? Does it construe the relationship between religion and violence to be one of degree – the more religious a person is, the more likely they are to support or engage in violent acts in the name of their faith? Moreover, does the terminology reflect particular biases towards specific religions, such that use or application of the term ‘radical’ (or perhaps event more likely, ‘moderate’) is more likely to be applied to some religions (e.g. Islam) than others (e.g. Christianity).

This interdisciplinary conference is focused on exploring the development of this terminology, the assumptions upon which it rests regarding religion’s relationships with other ideologies or commitments.

The conference will feature renowned keynote speakers from policy and academia including:

Lord Maurice Glasman - Founder of Blue Labour, Director of Faith and Citizenship Programme, London Metropolitan University.

Professor Peter Mandaville - Senior Adviser to Office of Religion & Global Affairs (US Dept of State), Professor of Government and Politics, George Mason University.

Professor Nicholas Adams - Professor of Philosophical Theology, University of Birmingham.

Professor Mona Siddiqui - Professor of Islamic & Interreligious Studies, University of Edinburgh.

The conference is being hosted by the Cambridge Institute on Religion & International Studies. It is being supported by the Cambridge Inter-faith Programme, the Woolf Institute, and the Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics, with initial funding from the School of Arts and Humanities and the University of Cambridge.

Registration is essential via the conference page (deadline 12 May).

Cost: £25 (standard) £15 (students).