Are You Spiritual But Not Religious? 10 Reasons Why Buddhism Will Enrich Your Path

http://www.lionsroar.com/are-you-spiritual-but-not-religious-10-reasons-why-buddhism-will-enrich-your-path-november-2013/

Are You Spiritual But Not Religious? 10 Reasons Why Buddhism Will Enrich Your Path

by Melvin McLeod | October 30, 2014

INFORM: Minority Religions and Schooling

Inform Autumn Seminar
Minority Religions and Schooling

Date - Saturday, 6 December 2014; 9.30am - 4.45pm
Location – New Academic Building, London School of Economics

‘State multiculturalism has failed’, declared David Cameron in 2011.  Yet there is a continued expansion in state-funded religious schooling in Britain. This expansion has gone hand-in-hand with legal rulings that have placed minority religions on stronger footing next to the more established faiths. After exponential growth of Academies operating outside of local authority control since 2000, and three years after the first Free Schools opened their doors (a programme which has assisted the expansion of a diversity of faith-based schools), it is a good opportunity to take stock and reflect on the nature of minority faith schooling in Britain.

 

Registration is now open and can be done using a credit/debit card through PayPal or by posting a booking form and a cheque payable to 'Inform' to Inform, Houghton St., London WC2A 2AE. Tickets (including buffet lunch, coffee and tea) paid by 10 November 2014 are £38 each (£18 students/unwaged). Tickets booked after 10 November 2014 will cost £48 each (£28 students/unwaged). A limited number of seats will be made available to A-Level students at £10 before 10 November 2014 (£20 after 10 November). 

 

 

 

Provisional Programme
The presence of speakers on an Inform programme does not mean that Inform endorses their position.
The aim of Inform Seminars is to help participants to understand, or at least recognise, different perspectives.

 

9.30 - 10.00	REGISTRATION
10.00 - 10.10	Eileen Barker (Founder and Honorary Research Fellow, Inform) Welcome and Housekeeping
10.10 - 10.35	Amanda van Eck Duymaer van Twist (Deputy Director, Inform) and Suzanne Newcombe (Research Officer at Inform) Minority Religions and Schooling
10.35 - 11.00	Farid Panjwani (Director of the Centre for Research and Evaluation in Muslim Education at the Institute of Education, University of London) Muslims and Faith Schools: identity and social aspiration in a minority religion'
11.00 – 11.25	Damon Boxer (Assistant Director, Academies and Free Schools Policy, Department for Education) Government Policy on Minority Religions and Schools
11.25 – 11.50	TEA/COFFEE
11.50 – 12.15	Ozcan Keles (Executive Director of the Dialogue Society) Fethullah Gulen-inspired Hizmet schools from an alumnus: basics, characteristics and critique
12.15 – 12.40	Nitesh Gor (Chief Executive, Avanti Schools Trust) Inclusivity and Fidelity
12.40 - 13.05	Richy Thompson (Campaigns Officer (Faith Schools and Education), British Humanist Association) A Humanist Perspective on Minority Religions and Schooling
13.05 - 14.15	LUNCH/BOOK LAUNCH
14.15 - 14.40	Graham Kennish Vision as Mediator between Faith, Belief, Experience and Knowledge'
14.40 - 15.05	Jonny Scaramanga (Doctoral student at the Institute of Education) The History of Accelerated Christian Education in the United Kingdom
15.05 - 15.30	TEA/COFFEE
15.30 - 15.55	Jo Fageant (SIAMS inspector and Principal RE Adviser, Oxford Diocesan Board of Education) Faith and Inspection in Church of England schools
15.55 – 16.45	GENERAL PANEL DISCUSSION

 

Please access the attached hyperlink for an important electronic communications disclaimer: http://lse.ac.uk/emailDisclaimer

CHINA LAYS CLAIM TO LEADERSHIP OF THE BUDDHIST WORLD

http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2014/10/25/china-lays-claim-to-leadership-of-the-buddhist-world/comment-page-1/

CHINA LAYS CLAIM TO LEADERSHIP OF THE BUDDHIST WORLD

Posted on October 25th, 2014

Kalinga Seneviratne in Baoji, China

With an impressive display of Chinese Buddhist culture and hospitality, China laid claims to giving leadership to the Buddhist world, by hosting over 600 international delegates for the 27th General Conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists (WFB) at this historic city in north western China from 16th-18th October.

How Would the Buddha Handle North Korea? Mindfulness in diplomacy

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=8,12056,0,0,1,0

How Would the Buddha Handle North Korea? Mindfulness in diplomacy

 

by Seok-Hyun Hong, The Huffington Post, Oct 24, 2014

Seoul, South Korea -- Today's diplomacy is dysfunctional, and it seems as if the more we try to fix things without negotiations, the more serious the problems become. Recently the challenges in places like Iraq or Syria have grown so dire that we have to wonder whether we simply have the fundamentals wrong.

The Life of Anagarika Dharmapala

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI4tzuUhZ2w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyKqN5NkUag

The Life of Anagarika Dharmapala

 Published on Oct 24, 2014

Anagarika Dharmapala, A Hero of Our Time – by Dr Desmond Biddulph, President of The Buddhist Society, at UK’s 150th Birth Celebrations of Anagarika Dharmapala, the founder of London Buddhist Vihara, held in London on Sept 21, 2014. The Buddhist Society was founded in 1924, by a great personal friend of Anagarika Dharmapala, the late Christmas Humphreys, building on the pioneer work of the Buddhist Society of Great Britain and Ireland (1907 to 1926). A lay organisation it is one of the oldest Buddhist societies in Europe. From its inception it has not been attached to any one school of Buddhism, remaining non-sectarian in character and open in principle to the teachings of all schools and traditions. http://www.thebuddhistsociety.org/abo...

Exclusive video coverage of the event done by Waruna Lelwala.
https://www.facebook.com/WlUkVideoPro...

Telegraph: Mindfulness: does it really live up to the hype?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-health/11161367/Mindfulness-does-it-really-live-up-to-the-hype.html

Mindfulness: does it really live up to the hype?

Happier, healthier and better rested: that's what 20 minutes a day of meditation has done for one writer. And as a resolute sceptic, she couldn't be more surprised

William Blake, Buddhism and Human Rights – value of praxis over ideology

http://groundviews.org/2014/09/25/william-blake-buddhism-and-human-rights-value-of-praxis-over-ideology/

William Blake, Buddhism and Human Rights – value of praxis over ideology

bySajeeva Samaranayake on09/25/2014

 

[William Blake 1757-1827 demonstrated through his art and poetry how opposite views were actually relative and dependent on each other and that they were reconcilable once we overcame the mental trap of ‘abstraction’ and solidification, the act of removing something out of its context and turning it into an absolute]

..

[The Asokan pillar is a symbol of fearlessness that emerges through non-violence and the ability to work through and overcome negative emotions. Fear is the prime cause behind abstraction.]