Past Events
- Edinburgh International Book Festival debates
- The Rise of Religion
- Venue: Glenmorangie Spiegeltent, Charlotte Square Gardens, Edinburgh
- Date: August 21, 2007 to August 22, 2007
- Booking: For details and tickets, visit the Edinburgh International Book Festival website
The Rise of Religion: East & West
Highland Park Spiegeltent, 21 August, 19.30 – 20.45
Is the rise of religion a threat to liberal democracy? Are religious believers backward and deluded, or does religious faith reflect something missing from secular society? With religion playing a greater role in public life in the West, is the future religious whether we like it or not? Is radical Islam a religious threat to secular values or a political challenge to the West?
Speakers:
Dolan Cummings - editor, Debating Humanism; editor, www.culturewars.org.uk; research director, Institute of Ideas
Ed Husain - author, The Islamist; researcher on Arab experiences of secularism
Phillip Blond - theologian and philosopher; senior lecturer in christian theology, University of Cumbria; editor, Post-Secular Philosophy
Chair: Claire Fox - director, Institute of Ideas
The Rise of Religion: Moral Values in the Modern World
Highland Park Spiegeltent, 22 August, 19.30 – 20.45
Is atheism just another fundamentalism? It seems science is on the march against everything from creationism to Catholicism. But do we put too much faith in science? Or is there a need for a stronger defence of secular humanist values? Should there be a campaign against irrationality and superstition, or should humanists make common cause with religious moderates, against fundamentalists of all stripes?
Speakers:
John Gray - professor of European Thought, LSE; author, Black Mass: Apocalyptic Religion and the Death of Utopia
Stuart Blackman - freelance science writer; managing editor, Genomics, Society and Policy Journal, published by the ESRC Genomics Forum
Ron Ferguson - former leader, Iona Community; author of twelve books, including a best-selling biography of George MacLeod
Mark Vernon - writer, broadcaster and journalist; author, Science, Religion and the Meaning of Life and The Philosophy of Friendship
Chair: Tiffany Jenkins - arts & society director, Institute of Ideas