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Latest News
6th December 2007
Lapido Media launches at Frontline Club
Read about the launch in Dominic Lawson’s column »
Bishop Michael Nazir Ali
INDEPENDENT columnist and former Spectator Editor Dominic Lawson will interview Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester, at the official launch of Lapido Media on Thursday.
The Bishop’s focus will include shari’ah law and theocracy – a political arrangement that brought the might of Africa’s second biggest state down on the head of a British primary school teacher over the naming of a teddy bear.
The Bishop will also comment on the need of society at large to become more culturally and religiously aware to avoid pitfalls. The Bishop will also focus on freedom of belief and freedom to change one’s belief as undergirding principles for a free society.
Pakistan-born Nazir-Ali, who has a Christian and Muslim background, is Patron of Lapido Media, a registered charity set up to improve the national discourse about faith.
The conversation at the invitation-only event at the Frontline Club, Paddington has the title: ‘Neutrality or Truth? Reporting Islam post-7/7’. Guests include journalists, diplomats, church officials, lawyers and authors.
Dr Nazir-Ali, who has both a Christian and Muslim family background, has been critical of the way religion is treated in public life, and of the moral equivalence which he feels is mistaken for objectivity.
In an interview with Mr Lawson at the House of Lords for the Mail on Sunday in November last year, he was critical of multi-culturalism:
‘Yes I think it was a mistake. It was based on a confusion between civic morality and theological pluralism. Of course we have to recognise difference; of course people have the right to worship in the way they wish to in their own homes.
‘But you need much more than that if you are going to be a cohesive nation. You need some sort of subscription to a common vision, to shared values, and that has been neglected, not so much because of the presence of other faiths but because of the spiritual and moral vacuum that has come to be at the heart of British society.’
The Bishop will point to successful inner-city projects, often initiated by churches, but where Muslims and Christians serve the whole community together within a shared understanding of freedom, excellence and well-being.
Last week the Bishop said he was sorry Tony Blair had felt unable to talk about his faith during his time as PM.
‘It would have led to more constructive social policy at home and principled policies abroad’, the bishop said.
Lapido Media has been founded to resource and improve the national conversation about the religious content of society. Said founder Director Jenny Taylor: ‘Unless we can talk the talk, we cannot walk the walk. An impoverished discourse about religion – perhaps for the best motives – is nonetheless having tragic and profound consequences across the board, from social work to international relations.’
A registered charity, Lapido Media is funded by fees, donations and trusts including the Jerusalem Trust. The launch event has been sponsored by the Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life.
The word ‘lapido’ means ‘to speak up for’ in the Acholi language of Northern Uganda. The charity honours the courage of Acholi church leaders who campaigned for an end to a 20-year war there, involving the abduction of 25,000 children – a war the secular world largely ignored.
Read Dominic Lawson’s interview with Dr Nazir-Ali for the Mail on Sunday »
Read Michael Nazir-Ali’s new book, Conviction and Conflict
Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali was born to a Muslim mother and a Christian father. He studied theology at Cambridge, going on to become only the second non-white bishop in England and the first diocesan bishop. He is a consultant to the Prime Minister on Muslim affairs. Nazir-Ali sets out fundamental guidelines on the role of religion in society and its relationship to nationalism, ideology and political institutions, and examines Christian-Muslim dialogue with particular relationship to the rise of Arab, Indian and Turkish nationalism. Of particular concern is the relationship of religion to law and the justifiability of armed conflict.
Lapido Blog
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08 Apr 2008
08 Feb 2008
Downloadable Publications
Ethics in Brief
‘Women have borne the brunt of our failed multi-culturalism’, argues Jenny Taylor in Ethics in Brief Spring 2008 issue
Christianity or Occult?
As cases of kindoki or ‘child witch’ abuse re-surface in Britain, a new downloadable report brings together material by leading African and English scholars from a recent symposium that throws light on some of the allegations.
Featured Publications
Crimes of the Community
A devastating report on the rise of "honour-based" violence against women from immigrant communities in the UK. It is devastating not just because it reveals the complicity of some "community leaders" in killings, attempted murder and beatings, but also because its sources are so authoritative...
Young, British and Muslim
'A most important book on British Muslims. It explodes many contemporary stereotypes to reveal a picture which is far more complex than is often supposed. It shines a light onto both new areas of menace and new avenues of hope. Every politician and policy-maker should read it.'
Paul Vallely, The Independent
Conviction and Conflict
Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali sets out fundamental guidelines on the role of religion in society and its relationship to nationalism, ideology and political institutions, and examines Christian-Muslim dialogue with particular relationship to the rise of Arab, Indian and Turkish nationalism.
Not for Sale
This is a must read for all those seeking to understand the issues surrounding sexual exploitation and abuse in our society today - the human cost of UK prostitution today and the scourge of trafficking for sexual exploitation exposed to our senses as never before.
More information and Sample Chapters »