Press Releases02 Sep 10

The Inter Faith Conference - Bishop Michael Jackson's Address

Bishop Michael Jackson calls Christian Churches to engage more actively with social and political developments that shape modern society. Referring to the Church of Ireland's Hard Gospel Project, which focused on living with difference and emerged from the experience of Christian communities confronting the legacy of sectarianism in Northern Ireland he said that it offers a model for engaging in a range of issues including sectarianism, but also of use in developing positive inter-faith exchanges:

"One of the things I would rejoice to see is a renewed and refreshed confidence in the working out – that is the verbs more than the nouns – of the Hard Gospel principles in the specific arena of Inter Faith relations. Ireland offers us a particular cluster of opportunities and possibilities. Vast tracts of our country and people are constantly and continually in danger of being taken back into sectarianism, whether polite or less polite, from a vacuum to a vortex. The political and social theory has moved ahead of the church’s response in terms of words, ideas, activities but still the philosophy of A Shared Future remains unfinished and contested business in Northern Ireland."

For the full text of address, please click here