Church in the Public Square

Living and Dying Well – three reflections on assisted dying

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on January 24, 2015, 8:58 pm

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There is increasing debate in legislatures and civil society around end-of-life issues, terminal illness and euthanasia. While Northern Ireland is behind the curve in discussing the issues, moves in Edinburgh and Westminster are likely to eventually stimulate local debate. Union Theological College, in co-operation with The Church and Society Committee of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland along with Union Theological College hosted the third of their series of Church in the Public Square conferences. On Thursday 22 January the topic …

Human Rights, Equality, and a call for a generous grace …

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on October 9, 2014, 9:33 pm

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Does Northern Ireland need a Bill of Rights? Is Equality a Biblical value? Are human rights all about me? These were some of the questions addressed at today’s The Church in the Public Square conference organised by the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. Focussing on the topics of Equality, Freedom and Religion it it was perhaps appropriate that as delegates arrived the music wafting up from the Spires shopping arcade underneath the conference venue was “I can’t get no satisfaction”! …

PCI conference – Church in the Public Square – Roger Trigg, Colin Harvey, Michael Wardlow (Thu 9 Oct)

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on October 4, 2014, 12:05 pm

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I’m firmly of the belief that churches deserve to be in the public square, but they need to take the initiative to elbow their way into the crowded agora and have something worthwhile to say. While peace and reconciliation efforts were made both at grassroots and denominational levels, over the last 40 years some inconvenient issues were ignored. There is much that the church could challenge, holding up Gospel values against Executive policies nevermind Executive politics. It’s good to see …

Churches bringing warmth to the public square & Attorney General John Larkin taking exception to Supreme Court judgement against Christian B&B owners

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on January 31, 2014, 5:03 pm

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The Presbyterian Church in Ireland organised a conference yesterday looking at the Church in the Public Square. [Ed – not a new idea.] Two to three hundred people attended: ministers (both clerical and political), laity, as well as representatives from many organisations and faiths. Audio of the three keynote speakers is now available on the PCI website, and I’ll follow-up with a post over on Alan in Belfast in a day or two. In the meantime some snippets that might …