Doha: The Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue (DICID), Woolf Institute – Cambridge, and the Muhammad Bin Hamad Al Thani Center for Muslim Contribution to Civilisation at Hamad Bin Khalifa University’s Faculty of Islamic Studies are holding a public lecture on ‘Secularity: Good or bad; religious perspective’ to be delivered by Lord Rowan Williams on Wednesday from 6.30pm to 8pm at QFIS building auditorium.
The Right Reverend and Right Honorable Lord Williams of Oystermouth (pictured) was the archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 to 2012 and now serves as the Master of Magdalene College at Cambridge University. He is an established theologian, poet and a scholar who speaks on social and religious issues. He is known for treading a ‘middle path’ that encourages dialogue between competing religious viewpoints.
Lord Williams is known for warning against excluding religious voices from the public arena in debates on social and moral issues but cautions religious communities not to expect to have a casting vote on such issues in a liberal society and to accept that their role is to contribute to a wider debate rather than to determine its outcome.
He says a society committed to law and rights ought to be a society profoundly interested in the welfare of religious communities and one that realises that it needs religious insights. Simultaneous translation of the lecture from English to Arabic will be provided.The Peninsula
