The Case for Christian Freedoms: 800 Years since Magna Carta

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Christian freedoms: 800 years since Magna Carta

Since Magna Carta was sealed under oath by King John on 15th June 1215, it has been foundational for the preservation of liberty and the rights of the individual against the tyrannical exercise of power by the State.

democracy
limitation of power
equality and freedom under law
freedom of speech
freedom of belief

Increasingly, in the 21st century, these freedoms seem under threat. Why and how? Are they genuine rights, or merely a social construct in process of change? Do they matter, and what can we do to defend our human rights – especially the rights to freedom of belief and speech?

To find out, come to our conference on Thursday, 12th March 2015.

Speakers, amongst others, include leading Public International lawyer and expert on human rights and torture, Professor Malcolm Evans OBE; leading Philosopher, Professor Roger Trigg; and Bishop Michael Nazir Ali, former Bishop of Rochester, and now President of the Oxford Centre for Training, Research, Advocacy and Dialogue (OXTRAD)

Where: The Emmanuel Centre, Marsham St, London SW1P 3DW

When: Thursday, 12th March, 2015

Time: 10.00 am to 5.00 pm

Cost: Early bird booking till January 25th £20
From January 26th £25

Eventbrite - The Case for Christian Freedoms: 800 Years Cince the Magna Carta

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Conference Chair

Baroness Caroline Cox
Baroness Caroline Cox was created a Life Peer in 1982 and was a deputy speaker of the House of Lords from 1985 to 2005. She was Founder Chancellor of Bournemouth University, 1991-2001; Founder Chancellor of Liverpool Hope University 2006-2013 and is an Honorary Vice President of the Royal College of Nursing. She is heavily involved with international humanitarian work. She is Chief Executive of HART [Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust]. She was also a founder Trustee of MERLIN [Medical Emergency Relief International].

Lady Cox has been honoured with the Commander Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland; the Wilberforce Award; the International Mother Teresa Award from the All India Christian Council; the Mkhitar Gosh Medal conferred by the President of the Republic of Armenia; and the anniversary medal presented by Lech Walesa, the former President of Poland. She has been awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and Honorary Doctorates by universities in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, the Russian Federation, and Armenia.

Author of numerous books, Baroness Cox’s humanitarian aid work takes her on many missions to conflict and post-conflict zones, including the Armenian enclave of Nagorno Karabakh; Sudan; South Sudan; Nigeria; Uganda; the Karen, Karenni, Shan, Chin and Kachin peoples in the jungles of Burma; and communities suffering from conflict in Indonesia where she helped to establish the International Islamic Christian Organisation for Reconciliation and Reconstruction (IICORR) with the late former President Abdurrhaman Wahid. She has visited North Korea helping to promote Parliamentary initiatives and medical programmes. She has also been instrumental in helping to change the former Soviet Union’s policies for orphaned and abandoned children from institutional to foster family care.

Speaker Bios

Paul Diamond
Paul Diamond combines his considerable strength in the area of Human Rights with his knowledge of Public and European law, specializing in European, EU and aspects of International Law. His analytical expertise of socio-legal developments in the United Kingdom and internationally, combined with his sense of humour and blunt eloquence, make him an exceptionally dynamic speaker. His counsel and strategic insight is sought out by policy makers and religious leaders.

Paul studied law at Magdalene College, Cambridge and won a scholarship to the Hague Academy of International Law, The Netherlands. He has specialized in the law of religious liberty and was barrister to the Keep Sunday Special Campaign. He was counsel in the British Airways Cross case, and took Chaplin, on the right to wear a Cross, to the European Court of Human Rights, Strasbourg. He was counsel in McFarlane v. United Kingdom on the right of conscience of a Christian not to participate in counselling of same sex couples. He has appeared at all levels of Court, including the Court of Appeal, the House of Lords, and the European Court. He has acted on behalf of a wide range of clients, from Lord Carey (former Archbishop of Canterbury), to Vladimir Bukovsky (the famous Soviet dissident). Lord Denning publicly supported Paul’s legal analysis.

malcolm-evans Professor Malcolm D Evans, OBE
Malcolm Evans is Professor of Public International Law at Bristol University.He is Chair of the UN Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture and Chair of the Meeting of Chairs of UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies. From 2002 – 2013 he was a member of the OSCE ODIHR Advisory Council on the Freedom of Religion or Belief. He is also a member of the Foreign Secretary’s Human Rights Advisory Group and of the FCO’s Advisory Group on Freedom of Religion or Belief. He is General Editor of the International and Comparative Law Quarterly and Co-Editor of the Oxford Journal of Law and Religion. Published works include: Religious Liberty and International Law in Europe (CUP, 1997), Preventing Torture (OUP, 1998), Combating Torture in Europe (Council of Europe, 2002), Manual on the Wearing of Religious Symbols in Public Areas (Council of Europe/Brill, 2009), The Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture (OUP, 2011). He is Editor of International Law (OUP, 4th ed, 2014) and Blackstone’s International Law Documents (OUP, 11th ed, 2013). Forthcoming works include an edited collection, The Changing Nature of Religious Rights under International Law (OUP, 2015).
Robert S. Harris
Robert S. Harris is a writer who serves as Joint Convenor of the Lords and Commons Family and Child Protection Group, and co-edited its report, Stolen Childhood: Contemporary Issues of Family Breakdown

He organised a Parliamentary Conference in 2012, addressing the sexualisation of children. In 2015, he organised a religious liberty Conference that led to the publication of Magna Carta Unravelled (2015). He holds a degree in Philosophy and a Graduate Diploma in Law. He has organised speaker events for public figures, has long experience of political and social campaigning with a variety of groups.

Professor Dale S. Kuehne
Dale S. Kuehne (PhD, Georgetown University) holds the Second Richard L. Bready Chair of Ethics, Economics and the Common Good at Saint Anselm College. He is also Professor of Politics and was the Founding Director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College. In addition, he serves as the Vice-chair of the State of New Hampshire Executive Branch Ethics Commission. Kuehne authored Sex and the iWorld: Rethinking Relationship Beyond an Age of Individualism, and has consulted with several NGO’s and governments on issues related to sexuality, marriage, and family. Prior to coming to Saint Anselm he taught from at William Jewell College in Liberty, MO and was the founding director of the Pryor Program for Leadership Studies at William Jewell College in 1993. He received a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Minnesota, a M.A.T.S. in Church History from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and a M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Theory from Georgetown University.
Bishop Michael Nazir Ali
Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali was the 106th Bishop of Rochester, for 15 years, until 1 September 2009. He is originally from Asia and was the first non-white Diocesan Bishop in the Church of England. He was appointed in 1994. Before that he was the General Secretary of CMS from 1989-1994 and before that Bishop of Raiwind in Pakistan. He holds both British and Pakistani citizenship and from 1999 was a member of the House of Lords where he was active in a number of areas of national and international concern. He has both a Christian and a Muslim family background. He is now President of the Oxford Centre for Training, Research, Advocacy and Dialogue (OXTRAD).Michael has been a visiting lecturer in a number of universities and colleges in the UK, Canada, the USA and Australia. He has travelled widely in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North and South America.

He is the author of eleven books and of numerous articles on Faith and Public Life, Freedom of Belief, Bioethics, Mission, Ecumenism, the Anglican Communion, and relations with people of other faiths (particularly Islam). In 2005, he was awarded the Paul Harris Fellowship by Rotary International.
Michael is married to VALERIE, and they have two sons, SHAMMY (Shamaoun), and ROSS.

Revd Lynda Rose
Called to the Bar in 1987, Lynda Rose subsequently became one of the first women to be both deaconed and then priested in the Anglican Church. She is now CEO of Voice for Justice UK, the campaigning group founded to defend the disadvantaged and marginalised, and to speak out for all who face exploitation and/or oppression from the imposition of an increasingly totalitarian and secular worldview. She also serves as Joint Convenor of the Lords and Commons Family and Child Protection Group, and has for years campaigned vigorously on pro-life issues, while also working tirelessly to defend the Family, victims of abuse, and victims of human trafficking.She has also written a number of books, both Christian, and fiction for the adult and children’s general markets. Her most recent is a children’s fantasy entitled, Assignment Earth (Lion).
Professor Roger Trigg
Professor Roger Trigg is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick, and Senior Research Fellow at the Ian Ramsey Centre, University of Oxford. He has been working in recent years on issues concerning religious freedom, lecturing widely in the United Kingdom and overseas, including Russia. He has been an Associate Scholar with the Religious Freedom Project at the Berkley Center, Georgetown University, Washington D.C.The author of many books on Philosophy, his most recent have been ‘Equality, Freedom and Religion’ (Oxford University Press, 2012, and ‘Religious Diversity: Philosophical and Political Dimensions (Cambridge University Press, 2014).

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Eventbrite - The Case for Christian Freedoms: 800 Years Cince the Magna Carta

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