ATTORNEY General John Larkin will be one of the keynote speakers at a conference next month examining the role of the Church in the public square. The event, organised by Union Theological College and the Church and Society Committee of the Presbyterian Church, aims consider the role which Christians and the Church can play in wider community life. The organisers of the conference, called 'The Church in the Public Square?', note that "not only has the Christian voice become incomprehensible in many ears, but is often hated and opposed". "Those who have lived through the second half of the 20th century will be aware of the seismic shift that has taken place in terms of morality and ethical standards," Dr Stafford Carson, Principal of Union Theological College and one of the organisers, said. "Whereas it was once the case that a majority of people in our society accepted and ordered their lives according to foundational Christian standards of morality, that is no longer the case. "The changing scene has meant that those who hold to a traditional Christian position feel decidedly uncomfortable and marginalised as our society, and increasingly its major institutions, reflect a secular point of view which conflicts with their Christian principles."
Questions posed by the conference include: 'What should Christians do, and how should they respond to these changes?' and 'What role does the Christian Church have to play in the debates that are taking place on a whole range of issues from education to euthanasia?'
Mr Larkin has been asked to address the subject of rights - 'What about rights? Do Christians have rights? Can the competing and opposing rights of individuals and groups be reconciled?'
The other keynote speakers are Professor Donald McLeod and Dr Jonathan Chaplin. Prof McLeod, Professor of Systematic Theology at Free Church College in Edinburgh, will reflect on how and where the Church ought to position itself in current debates.
Dr Chaplin, director of the Kirby-Laing Centre for Christian Ethics in Cambridge, will deal with the challenge that arises when a diversity of religious communities "no longer accept the privatised role allotted to them by liberal secularism but demand public recognition and public influence".
* The Church in the Public Square? will be held in Assembly Buildings, Fisherwick Place, Belfast on Thursday January 30 2014 from 10.30am to 3.30pm. More information from Union Theological College, 108 Botanic Avenue, Belfast BT7 1JT, or www.union.ac.uk