Understanding Unbelief
A report from the Understanding Unbelief programme, led by the University of Kent, has found a wide variety of beliefs among atheists and agnostics. 15% [...]
Decline of Theology and Religious Studies
Theology and Religious Studies at British universities are at risk of disappearing due to a steep decline in student numbers. A report from the British [...]
Fact Sheets
FACT SHEETS
The Vatican and the transgender ‘crisis’
by Catherine Pepinster
- The Vatican’s decision to issue guidance on transgender issues has caused alarm and […]
Islamophobia defined
by Chris Allen
TOWARDS A WORKING DEFINITION
The term Islamophobia was first used by the Runnymede Trust […]
“The re-emergence of religion in the public square is one of the biggest and most significant paradigm shifts of recent times.”
GRAHAM WARD
Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford
There are 7.5 billion people in the world and an estimated 85% identify with a religious group. The biggest religion is Christianity, accounting for about one-third of the earth’s population. The next is Islam whose adherents make up about one-quarter of the world’s inhabitants. There are about one billion Hindus, 500 million Buddhists, 14 million Jews and many smaller faith groups http://www.pewforum.org/.
Understanding religion and belief is and will remain central to public life and debate, however significant the growth of secularism. Tens of millions of people in the UK continue to identify with a religious faith and we all have frequent encounters with people of all faiths and beliefs. Religious literacy is essential to understanding the world in which we live and our daily interactions across all levels of society, in the public, private and voluntary sectors.
The media plays a key role in developing and enhancing this understanding. The Religion Media Centre has no editorial line nor does it promote any one religion, or religious belief in general. Instead, it exists to provide accurate, timely and relevant information to the media, enabling the public to be better informed and promoting decision-making based on fact, not prejudice or stereotypes.
Religion and Media festival
Exploring Belief, the second Religion and Media festival, was held at the JW3 Centre in north London on 30 April 2019. The keynote speaker, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, said: “The media has not covered religion as well as it might; not given it space, time or quality of knowledge that it should have done. And yet religion is essential in understanding what is going on in the world.” An audience of media professionals, academics, faith representatives and others, listened as the theme was picked up with panel discussions on how religion is understood; the stories still waiting to be told; and the impact of social media on the transmission of religion. Punchy, provocative polemics included the story of a young Jamaican Muslim rapper, Tanya Muneera Williams, who was spat on and abused by a gang. How has the media, she asked, contributed to the normalisation of hate? Read a full report of the festival here
The Vatican's publication on trans issues says 'that gender theory – which they define as claiming gender is a social construct which human beings, whatever their biological sex, can deconstruct – is causing an “educational crisis”' - @CPsPepTalk for us
https://t.co/Ozqw4XlEzt
