What do religions say about the value of the planet and how we should treat it? How might religions provide a motivation for climate action, and what might faith-informed climate action look like? Can faiths work together to protect the environment?
These are just some of the pressing questions that will be debated by a panel of regional faith leaders, practitioners, University of Chester staff and students at University Centre Warrington, Time Square, on Tuesday November 15.
Organised by the University’s Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, and supported by Warrington Council of Faiths and the environmental charity Faiths4Change, the debate is a free public event, commemorating Inter Faith Week.
Those attending will also be given the chance to find out more about the Warrington Climate Emergency Commission and the new Warrington Climate Emergency Strategy which provides a foundation to help encourage and co-ordinate action across the borough.
Refreshments will be available from 5pm, with the event beginning at 5.30pm.
Professor Hannah Bacon, from the University of Chester said: “This event will draw on the faith lives of individuals and communities and so will give attendees a first-hand appreciation of how religions and faith inform, and can help shape, attitudes towards the environment.
“We hope those attending will also be inspired to reflect further on what sorts of climate action might be appropriate for each of them and their communities.”
For further information on the Big Debate: Faith and the Climate Crisis, and to register for a free place, please visit: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/interfaith-week-interfaith-debate-on-the-climate-crisis-tickets-411850795817.
Each year, Inter Faith Week in England, Northern Ireland and Wales begins on Remembrance Sunday, and runs until the following Sunday. The Week:
- Highlights the good work done by local faith, inter faith and faith-based groups and organisations;
- Draws new people into inter faith learning and co-operation;
- Enables greater interaction between people of different backgrounds;
- Helps develop integrated and neighbourly communities;
- Celebrates diversity and commonality;
- Opens new possibilities for partnership.