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Written by Debbie Enever
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Tuesday, 26 February 2008 |
In 2005 the party held a very successful one-day conference on the “Meeting the challenge” policy process, and LDCF ran a joint workshop with the Muslim Forum looking at faith and politics. As the LDCF magazine goes to press, we are preparing to hold a joint workshop with Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats and the Humanist and Secular Liberal Democrats at the Party Manifesto conference on January 12th looking at how we can build cohesive communities in a multi-faith society.
In 21st century Britain, controversy reigns over whether faith schools
are still acceptable in today's climate of cultural tensions, and there
are calls for increasing restrictions on free speech. At what point
does our tolerance become intolerant and our token respect
disrespectful? The time is ripe for a debate on how we can build truly
cohesive communities in a liberal and democratic society, looking at
such issues as:
- disestabilshment
- faith schools
- religiuos dress and icons in public life
- free speech (and its limits?)
- the role of faith groups in the delivery of services
We will report back on the discussions there in the next newsletter and
will be looking at the issue again at our Liverpool Party conference in
March. In the meantime, why not come and discuss the issues on our
website www.ldcf.net or post a message on our facebook group page.
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