Wednesday 31 August 2011

Event Announcement - 'Islam in a Secular Europe - Panel'

Event Announcement (please direct any questions to the organisers, not myself):

ISLAM IN A SECULAR EUROPE - PANEL

Date: 16 September 2011
Time: 6:30pm for 7:00pm start - 9:30pm
Venue: Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL
Tickets: £10 general (£5 concession for BHA and Central London Humanist members, students and members of Conway Hall) from http://www.humanism.org.uk/meet-up/events/view/152

Islam in a Secular Europe is the theme of the 2011 annual Secular Europe Campaign debate, hosted by the British Humanist Association (BHA) and the Central London Humanists, in association with Conway Hall. Using a ‘Question Time’ format, this timely debate comes one year on from the Pope’s state visit to the UK, which prompted the largest ever protests against the policies of the Holy See, and demonstrated the strength of secularist beliefs held in the UK. This year’s event will bring together some of the country’s leading thinkers and activists to debate and discuss topics including: whether religious freedom of Muslims in Europe depends on secularism; if veil and burkha bans are secularist or counter-secularist; what the relationship should be between sharia rules and secular law; and if secularism can admit any limitations on freedom of expression in religious matters.

Panellists include:
Yahya Birt, the Commissioning Editor at Kube Publishing and co-editor of British Secularism and Religion: Islam, Society and the State;
Sir David Blatherwick, diplomat, writer, distinguished supporter of Humanism, and current Trustee for the British University in Egypt;
Humeira Iqtida, lecturer at King's College London and author of Secularising Islamists? Jamaat-e-Islami and Jamaat-ud-Dawa in Pakistan;
Maleiha Malik, Professor in Law at King's College London teacher of courses in Jurisprudence and Legal Theory, Discrimination Law and European Law;
Maryam Namazie, well-known critic of political Islam and commentator on women's rights, violence against women, cultural relativism, secularism, Humanism, religion, and Islam.