Network for Religion in Public Life

Founded in 2007, The Network for Religion in Public Life (NRPL) is an interdisciplinary research partnership. It links students and staff at the University of Exeter and partner institutions with shared interests in how religion interacts with public life.

Civil Liberties, National Security and Prospects for Consensus

The NRPL is pleased to announce the publication of this edited collection of essays.

The idea of security has recently seen a surge of interest from political philosophers. After the attrocities of 11 September 2001 and 7 July 2005, many leading politicians justified encroachments on international standards and civil liberties in the name of security and with a view to protecting the rights of the people. Suggestions were made on both sides of the Atlantic to the effect that the extremism of terrorism required the security of the many to be weighted against the liberties of other citizens. In this collection of essays, Jeremy Waldron, Conor Gearty, Tariq Modood, David Novak, Abdelwahab El-Affendi, Robin Lovin and others debate how to move beyond the false dichotomy whereby fundamental human rights and international standards are conceived as something to be balanced against security. They also examine the claim that this aim might better be advanced by the inclusion in public debate of explicitly religious voices.

Cambridge University Press, 2012

Security and Human Rights: Conflict or Complementarity?

The term 'security', along with 'terrorism' and 'globalization' has become one of the key terms of our times but its meaning is ambiguous and beset with tensions. This series of lectures throughout the academic years 2008-10 will explore the meaning of security from a variety of perspectives - with particular attention to theoretical and pragmatic links between national security, international security, and global security and human rights. A feature of the series will be the inclusion of diverse religious voices in the debate.

More information...

Democracy, the Rule of Law, and Access to Justice

This series of four lectures was aimed at staff and students from Law, Arab and Islamic Studies, Theology, Sociology and Politics. Legal practitioners, politicians, members of various faith communities, and general members of the public with interest in the area, also particiapted. The series took place in the Spring of 2008 and explored some of the tensions and problems that beset fundamental legal values in democratic societies concerning access to justice. The main theme of the series was the human rights of minorities and others who struggle to protect their rights adequately through the democratic process.

More information...

Latest

Post-Secularism and Role of Religion: Prospects for Christian and Islamic Dialogue

May 2012. Specialist Three-Day Conference, Mardin Artuklu University, Turkey. By invitation. Sponsored by the British Academy and Mardin Artuklu University.

The Use of Force, Drones, and Jus Cogens Norms in International Law

February 2012. Specialist Two-Day Conference, Westminster Abbey, London. Led by Professor Mary Ellen O'Connell on 'The Use of Force, Drones, and Jus Cogens Norms in International Law'. By invitation.

Islam and Human Rights

Thursday 23 June 2011, IAIS, LT1, 1030-1530, Day Conference. Professor Sayed Fatemi of the Faculty of Law, Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran will lecture and respond to papers by graduate students. All welcome.

Roger Trigg to speak on Religion in Public Life

Tuesday 1 February 2011, Amory 417, 1600hrs. Roger Trigg is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Warwick and Academic Director of the new Centre for Religion in Public Life in the University of Oxford (based in Kellogg College). All welcome.

Robin Lovin to speak in Cambridge

An NRPL event on 'Security and Human Rights' in Cambridge, Sept 5 2010, will welcome Robin Lovin, a noted scholar and advocate of Christian realism from the Southern Methodist University Perkin's School of Theology.

David Novak to speak in Cambridge

An NRPL event on 'Security and Human Rights' in Cambridge, Sept 6 2009, will welcome David Novkak, a leading scholar of Jewish law, Torono University.

Funding Success

M.B. Reckitt Trust to fund Scriptural Reasoning as a Civic Practice in Exeter (2008-09). NRPL is most grateful for this support.

Third Student Intern Appointed

New approaches to teaching religion in a UK context today.

Second Student Intern Appointed

Our second intern will work during the summer of 2009 on a 'spin off' project from the Security and Human Rights: Conflict or Complementarity? Lecture Series.

Human Rights in Interfaith Perspective

NRPL with the Devon Racial Equality Council hosts two events - in Exeter and Plymouth - to mark the 60th Anniversary of the UNDHR.

Scriptural Reasoning as a Civic Practice in Exeter

Leading members of Exeter Synagogue, the Cathedral and churches in the area, and the Exeter Mosque and Islamic Cultural Centre, have begun a series of Scriptural Reasoning sessions.

Funding Success

British Academy to support the 2009-10 'Security and Human Rights: Complementarity or Conflict?' Series

Honorary Fellow Appointed

Dr Benjamin Carter appointed as an honorary fellow of the University of Exeter attached to NRPL.

First Student Intern Appointed

Our first intern will work during the summer of 2008 on 'Scriptural Reasoning as a Civic Practice in Exeter'