Religion in Britain

A cracking new online resource for research into religion in Britain has just been launched by the British Religion in Numbers project.  All kinds of quality data, maps and charts to be had.  Here's how they introduce themselves:

Numbers aren't just for statisticians. People want to visualise and understand data for work, for study, for general interest, or to settle a debate. Many debates over religion rest on questions of how large? how many? how typical?

Religious data sources tend to be difficult to find, or need a good deal of interpretation. For example, is Britain 72% Christian, as the 2001 Census reported, or 50% Christian, as found by the 2008 British Social Attitudes survey?

We want to draw religious data sources together, explain how data can be used, and present some examples intuitively to a wide audience.

BRIN is based at the University of Manchester and supported by the Religion and Societyhttp://www.manchester.ac.uk/ research programme.

HT Ruth Gledhill.

The Book of Eli

Films make me blog. I’ve just been to see The Book of Eli. Here’s some meaning that me and the Hughes brothers came up with.

The words of The Bible are beautiful, potent and good for humanity. So are the words of The Koran, all other sacred texts and the works of Beethoven. Even cheap music has the power to sustain and enrich. You can’t be a hero without being violent. A surfeit of stuff blinds you to what’s important. Salvation normally comes from a lone individual. When making a “post-apocalyptic” film you have to include a shot of a ruined, iconic, American building. Politicians use religion to control the populous – don’t trust ‘em. It is really important to follow where your convictions lead and to do so with determination and discipline. Women are normally peripheral, feeble and insignificant.  Treasuring The Bible is one thing but what really matters is living out its message.  Ultimately the message of The Bible can be reduced to the Golden Rule.  Old people know some important stuff. Go West. If you are going to have a twist in the tail it will only work if doesn’t make a nonsense of all that went before.

Summer School On Religious Diversity

Each year the Partnership For Theological Education here in Manchester runs a summer school. Its a great way to explore important theological issues and to get up to date on current thinking. Here's the details of this year's offering.