Faith in the public sphere – in search of a fair and compassionate society for the twenty-first century

Abstract

This article develops a keynote lecture delivered at the start of the Social Justice: Building a Fairer, More Equal Society conference, held to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Malvern Conference, convened by the Archbishop of York, William Temple, in 1941. In replication of that event’s methodology and structure, the article locates the presence of social justice within a social imaginary of a connected society that deploys foundational principles, worldviews and values from both religious and philosophical sources. These then form the basis of ‘middle axioms’ – i.e. broad areas of progressive social policy derived from these primary principles. The article addresses the post-‘Brexit’ context and the disconnected narratives that have contributed to it. It then assesses the public potential role of religion and belief to reconnect, as Temple did, social policy to foundational values and beliefs within an emerging post neo-liberal consensus. This is done with reference to social imaginary, spiritual capital and curating emerging spaces of ethical convergence and performative civil and political engagement.

Keywords:

• Brexit
• social imaginary
• spiritual capital
• belief
• religion
• politics

Notes

1. Faith in Action, p. 12.

2. For full version of Oasis’ Mission Statement, visit http://www.oasisuk.org/motivation-and-theology Retrieved August 19 2016.