Dinah Crystal
We all talk about the Holocaust still. There have been God knows how many horrors since, but that has been a constant reminder to the world, it always come back to that.
Professor Ronald Hutton
“One should not forget that democracies can be persecuting societies and within my lifetime, homosexuals and people of a different colour were submitted to quite serious persecution. I am glad that public opinion has changed. But since that public opinion governs a democracy, it is entirely dependent on how liberal that opinion may be.”
Ruth Jenkins
“When there is a threat to independence, you have to raise it as an issue because making an independent judgment is crucial. I don’t really know if our judiciary are independent to be honest. If they are appointed by their profession they are independent, but if they are appointed by the Government, there is really a breakdown of that expected independence. “
Professor Sheila McLean
“I feel I have to speak on behalf of the weak and the vulnerable. If you are lucky enough to have a public platform, as I did, you have an obligation to speak for people who cannot defend themselves.”
Dr Hema Radhakrishnan
“For me, human rights are about more than granting asylum. It is about treating people well, including people who are here. Making sure everyone has enough food is more important than the kind of prison this man would go to in Greece. “
The Reverend Professor Martin Henig
“I think that what is needed is a greater interfaith element, bringing together people of different faiths in connection with law and society. That would help us to become a more just society, one which is not necessarily more homogeneous in that everyone is doing the same thing, but one which is more inter-linked so that everyone feels that they have the same sort of stake in it.”
Professor John Healey
“Sometimes there is social nervousness about putting your own view in the public sphere because of the fear of repercussions from people who disagree with you. So, when you send letters to newspapers, for example, generally I wouldn’t want to include my email address if I can avoid it, because I don’t want to have it bombarded with email. Our society is becoming less and less polite and tolerant of the views of others. “
Dr Elizabeth Healey
“I know of no sensible alternative to democracy and it certainly generally enables me to live in accordance with my faith and belief. It also brings individual and collective responsibility which is often hard to accept and I don’t think people always feel represented by the system we have now.”
Eamonn O’Brien
“Public opinion is good check on a lot of power, it doesn’t always get it right, but I don’t think that any system would. You have to look at how often it gets it right compared to how often it gets it wrong, especially in relation to countries where there isn’t freedom of the press.”
David Harte
“The media is very powerful in our society generally. My main reservation about Christian religious voices in society is that they are not allowed sufficiently by the media. We talk about freedom of the press, but the press itself is very good at censoring views which it doesn’t want to promote.”
Dr Tobias Lock
“On the whole, the rule of law works reasonably well. Decisions are not made on the basis of personal preferences. However, there are situations in which certain minorities are in disadvantage because of the way the system works. Our system is very much based on Christian principles and works for the benefit of people with a Christian background.”
Professor Imre Leader
“There is a problem with the kind of people who go into politics that is different from 30 years ago, when there were a lot of people doing it for the good of the country. Now these people are few and far between, the general calibre of MPs has gone down a lot in the last 30 years.”
Professor Steven Jones
“The separation of the judiciary from the political system in important. The judiciary is drawn from a narrow part of British society and is more conservative than the population as a whole, but I think that that is true in most counties. It is better than it was. “
Dr David Perfect
“Generally speaking, I am happy with the legal framework. There are obviously laws with regard to equality issues, which I would like strengthened, but I think that’s probably more in terms of the way the law is interpreted or implemented… rather than the legislation itself. “
Aled Griffiths
“Leaders must be held accountable by human beings. I cannot really comment on accountability by God, but as a Christian, I have a moral responsibility to engage in politics. I think the disillusion about Politics in the UK is extremely worrying. I worry that people have lost interest in politics.”
Dr Hilary Firestone
“It is a very good way of life and it introduces principles of discipline. You can’t always have what you want when you want it. It is a good lifestyle to live by, it give you rules. It’s ethical, moral and it suits me.”
Professor David Feldman
“I’ve never felt in any way disadvantaged on religious grounds by any institution I have dealt with. I’ve found that in the very best of them, they haven’t even been concerned about it, they haven’t even asked.”
Professor Grace Davie
“Democracy is not perfect, but it is better than any other form of government. That said, there are different types of democracy. A majoritarian democracy is hard on minorities. That is the case in France. In this country we are relatively fortunate. British democracy is ‘messy’, but it functions pretty well.”
Frank Cranmer
“I don’t think the State intervenes too much in terms of religion and belief. As you know, you can believe in what you like, provided that it is not criminal. You can worship as you wish, provided that you don’t do things such as human sacrifice.”
Dr Martin Clarke
“I think fundamentally it is important to be a law abiding citizen. I think one’s personal opinion of the law shouldn’t come into that. Merely because one thinks a law isn’t just that isn’t a good enough reason to break it.”
The Reverend Professor Thomas Watkin
“There is a difficult balance between personal liberty and group liberty and the needs of national security. Wherever the two come into serious conflict there are difficult choices and they will never be easily made. “
The Most Reverend Professor Rowan Williams
“For any contemporary society, universal human rights are crucial. Every citizen needs to be assured that they have the same level of redress, the same level of justice, guaranteed.”
Professor Lord Robert Winston
“If you don’t act within the law even if you don’t agree with it, you run the risk of having anarchy. It’s as simple as that, and if you don’t agree with the law then you have every right to try and change it and in a free society you can demonstrate against it. “
Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell
“If you belong to a supranational body, such as the European Union, there must be a bit of give and take. You gain a lot of it, but it probably also means that there are times in which we don’t get our ways. We have to do what the rest of Europe has decided it is ok. “
Professor Linda Woodhead
“I absolutely love Parliamentary democracy. There is no better alternative. It is the best system we have devised, I am extremely privileged to live under one and I am committed to it.”
Baroness Haleh Afshar
“If you believe that God is beyond perception and we all have our own quest then that’s all right. So there isn’t a faith which I believe is the right or the correct faith, I think that people of faith are on the same quest.”
The Reverend Dr Will Adam
“There is much more tolerance of diversity in religious belief and practice. Whether that leads to equality depends on where you are and what you are doing.”
Professor Norman Doe
“Moral duty to vote? Absolutely yes. I think it is an estoppel thing. How can you go and complain if you have not contributed to the process? It is as simple as that… estoppel.”
Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell
“I don’t think religion has complete ownership of moral positions. I think most people, religious or not, have strong moral views.”
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