Tag Archives: liberal democrat christian forum

Gladstone Lecture and Dinner 2019

proxy.duckduckgo.com.jpg

The Liberal Democrat Christian Forum, one of the party’s Associated Organisations, is having its annual Gladstone Lecture on Wednesday, June 12th, in the Lloyd George Room of the National Liberal Club.

The guest speaker is Revd. Canon Mark Oakley, Dean of St John’s College, Cambridge and former residentiary Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral.

This year’s Gladstone Lecture is entitled “Poets, Prophets and Protestors: Liberty, Christianity and the Future.”  Mark is particularly interested in the interworking of politics, poetry and faith, and will explore these themes in his lecture.

The event begins with pre-lecture drinks at 6:30pm on June 12th, followed by the Gladstone Lecture at 7pm. Tickets for the lecture are £10 (with concessionary tickets available).

After the Gladstone Lecture, there will be a fund-raising dinner for the Liberal Democrat Christian Forum held in the Lady Violet Room at the National Liberal Club. Come meet Mark Oakley, the LDCF Executive and some of our Peers & MPs. Pre-drinks, Lecture and Dinner is priced at £100.

Posted in Events | Also tagged and | 3 Comments

The EU referendum is stuck on repeat, it’s time to change track

Julie Smith LDCFSo far in the main referendum campaigns we have heard the same arguments on repeat from the same people. Economics has dominated discussions, trade is becoming the nation’s most used word and pound signs are flying all over billboards, news sites and buses.

Out on the campaign trail, voters seem to be getting increasingly confused, tired and frustrated with the campaigns. They’re after something different.

A couple of weeks ago, David Cameron tried bringing morality into the debate by describing a vote for Brexit as ‘immoral’. He was quickly shot down by his Eurosceptic colleagues, Iain Duncan Smith describing it as “not an honest assessment but a deeply biased view of the future”.

Have morals really got anything to do with it?

Through my work with the Liberal Democrat Christian Forum (LDCF), I’ve been talking to hundreds of Christians up and down the country about the referendum. I’ve noticed a yearning amongst the Christian community for a bigger picture debate about what this referendum will mean for the kind of world we want to live in and what impact the vote will have on others; a moral case for Brexit and remain.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 5 Comments

Lib Dem Christian Forum membership doubles in 2015

It is not just the national party that has had a membership boost over the last year. Liberal Democrat Christian Forum has doubled its membership in 2015. We too (like the party) had the majority the of membership boost in the 3 months after May. However are membership has been growing steadily throughout 2015.

LDCF does many events throughout the year, both on this own (such as prayers in parliament and fringes at conference) and with other organisations, such as charities and Christians in Politics. It was great to see so many LDCF members at the Show Up Weekend (6th – 8th Nov), which were certainly representing, with over 100 Christians involved in politics (whether that be as a member, as an activist or working in politics) in Sunningdale, Surrey. We were hit with great talks, great company and a breaking down of political tribes.

Posted in Op-eds | 6 Comments

Book review: Liberal Democrats do God

liberaldemocratsdogodMainstream Christianity often does battle with mainstream liberal values, be that over women in the church, LGBT rights or contraception and abortion. So when I learned that there was a Liberal Democrat Christian Forum and they’d embarked on a new publication entitled “Liberal Democrats do God” my interest was piqued.

At £6.67 on Amazon, I was somewhat surprised when it arrived at its rather lightweight look and feel. At just 70-80 pages, this is no War and Peace.

My first impression of the book upon opening was the number of high profile writers from Tim Farron, Duncan Hames, to Baroness Brinton and Sir Alan Beith … an  undoubted breadth and range of Lib Dem opinion and experience.

The books is split into two sections, the first “Why should we do God?”  covers essays by John Pugh MP, Tm Farron MP, Greg Mulholland MP and Sir Andrew Stunnell MP. All seek to explain why they hold their respective faiths and how they interlink with liberalism.

Posted in Books | Also tagged and | 45 Comments

Opinion: A broad church of the religious and the secular

For the party to be strong, we need to be a broad church, and not just in our political views. This is why I think the most important fringe meeting at the coming Spring Conference is the first joint fringe meeting of the Liberal Democrat Christian Forum and the Humanist and Secularist Liberal Democrats. This is a chance for us to demonstrate that, even where we fundamentally disagree, Liberal Democrats can debate with mutual respect.

These last two weekends, I have seen concrete examples of the way Christians and atheists can work together: at the two most recent …

Posted in Conference and Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 11 Comments
Advert



Recent Comments

  • Joe Bourke
    Public spending will need to increase at least in line with inflation but this will not provide for improved services or benefits. To increase the level of pub...
  • Joe Bourke
    The above OBR forecasts expect a deficit of 5.1% of GDP. To increase public spending requires either idle resources that can be brought into use or competing wi...
  • Robin AG Bennett
    Will the City of Edinburgh Council be up to the task of enforcing the new law? Landlords who have responsibly sought planning permission for short term lets ha...
  • Peter Davies
    The last three major rail construction projects (HS1, Jubilee line extension and Crossrail) all brought the tunnelling in on time and on budget with everything ...
  • Joe Bourke
    The ...