Faith and society debated at Cheney School in Oxford

The panel discussion took place at Cheney School in east Oxford on April 16, and explored the topic The Role of Religion in Public Life.

It was part of the Agora series, which features regular talks on literature, science, politics, democracy, and more, and is organised by Dr Lorna Robinson, director of The Iris Project, a charity that brings ancient languages and cultures into UK state schools and communities.

Dr Robinson said: “It was a fascinating discussion at a time when many questions are being asked about religion and public life in the UK, and we were very grateful to each of our panellists for giving their time to explore these issues, and to model respectful discussion as a mode for reaching greater understanding.”

The panel featured journalist Shaista Aziz, Steven Croft, the Bishop of Oxford, author and broadcaster Maajid Nawaz, YouTuber Alex O’Connor, and philosophy academic Dr Joshua Sijuwade.

It was chaired by David Gimson, head of higher attainment at Cheney School.

Each panellist shared personal perspectives on faith and the public sphere before taking questions from an audience of 170 sixth-form students.

Topics covered included women’s dress and modesty, gender roles in Christianity and Islam, the reliability of scripture, science and religion, and comparisons between French, American, and British approaches to religion in society.

While the panel agreed on the value of pluralism, there was respectful disagreement over issues like the ordination of women and the interpretation of religious texts.

After the discussion, students continued conversations with the speakers in a more informal setting.

The event received very positive feedback from students.

One student said: “I really enjoyed the discussion style, having multiple people with different views and areas of expertise all able to share opinions and argue their side in a respectful way.

“This works really well and would be great to see how it would go with other subject matter.”

Another student said: “I really enjoyed this. I think the topic was brilliant as it is so applicable to everyone’s lives.

“I know a lot of people found the discussion really interesting and it was so nice being able to talk to the speakers further afterwards.

“Thank you for getting such amazing speakers too.”

Cheney School is a large comprehensive secondary school, in a very diverse area of east Oxford.

The Iris Project promotes learning about the ancient world through national schemes, projects and events.

It also operates the Rumble Museum at Cheney School, the first school museum to be awarded full Museum Accreditation by the Arts Council Museum Accreditation Scheme.