Faith, identity and loyalty: Must there be conflict?
Free Tickets, Register Now
In February last year we held a Faith evening under the title “Inter Religeous dialogue; Why bother?” We attracted at audience of 160. Our Patron and Founder Member, Dr. Ahmed El Mokadem, has agreed to sponsor the evening.
Our excellent panel comprises, in alphabetical order:
His Eminence Archbishop Angaelos
Archbishop Angaelos, who has served as General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom since 1999, was enthroned on 18 November 2017 to serve the new Coptic Orthodox Diocese of London. In his new capacity as the Bishop of London, His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of Saint Mark, has seen it fit for him to continue representing the Church at the ecumenical and official level as Papal Legate, and thus conferred him with the ecclesial title of Archbishop of London. He is widely recognised for his extensive advocacy work, and as a result he was conferred the honour of Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Her Majesty The Queen for ‘Services to International Religious Freedom.’ Archbishop Angaelos has also been conferred the Lambeth Cross for Ecumenism by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Coventry Cross of Nails for Reconciliation. With a pastoral ministry spanning more than two decades, Archbishop Angaelos specialises in youth ministry and travels around the world to speak at youth conferences and conventions.
The Baroness Cox,
Baroness Cox, FRCN is a cross-bench member of the British House of Lords. She has been CEO of an organisation called Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART). Lady Cox was created a Life Peer in 1982 and was a deputy speaker of the House of Lords from 1985 to 2005. She was Founder Chancellor of Bournemouth University; Chancellor of Liverpool Hope University from 2006-2013 and is an Hon. Vice President of the Royal College of Nursing. She was a founder Trustee of MERLIN Medical Emergency Relief International. Lady Cox has been honoured with the Commander Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland; the Wilberforce Award; the International Mother Teresa Award from the All India Christian Council; the Mkhitar Gosh Medal conferred by the President of the Republic of Armenia; and the anniversary medal presented by Lech Walesa. She has been awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and Honorary Doctorates by universities in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, the Russian Federation and Armenia.
She is a practising third-order Anglican Franciscan, Baroness Cox’s actions have been variously described as campaigns for humanitarian causes, particularly those relating to disability, or criticised.
Last October, Lady Cox hosted a Reception, on behalf of the Women’s Interfaith Network, on the Terrace Pavilion of the House of Commons, to celebrate the two-hundredth anniversary of the Birth of Baha’u’ullah, then Founder of the Baha’i Faith which I was privileged to attend.
Ms. Gillian Merron
Gillian Merron attended Lancaster University and received a BSc (Hons) in Management Sciences. She joined the Board of Deputies in July 2014 as Chief Executive. Gillian was the Member of Parliament for Lincoln from 1997 to 2010.
Experienced at the heart of Government, Gillian served as a Minister at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Department for International Development, Cabinet Office, Transport, as Minister of State for Public Health and as a senior Government whip. She also worked in support of the Holocaust Education Trust and Labour Friends of Israel. Before being elected to Parliament, Gillian had careers in local government and as a senior trade union official in the East Midlands.
Gillian has run her own business, advising and advocating on public health across the EU. She was also Chair of a national consumer body and a volunteer, helping disadvantaged women into work.
Mr. Tarek Osman
Tarek Osman is an author, essayist, and broadcaster focused on the Arab and Islamic worlds. He studied at the American University in Cairo, Egypt, and at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy. He is the author of “Islamism” and the international bestseller “Egypt on the Brink” (Yale, 2010 – the first edition was published weeks before Egypt’s 2011 uprising). Tarek wrote and presented several BBC documentary series: “The Making of the Modern Arab World”, “Islam Divided: Sunni-Shii”, “Sands of Time: A History of Saudi Arabia”, “Gertrude Bell” (in the Minds at War series), and “Stirring a Revolution: Coffee Culture in the Arab World”.
He is a regular contributor on the Arab and Islamic worlds for leading newspapers and magazines worldwide and is the senior political counsellor for the Arab world at the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD). He advises the Board of Directors (representing over 65-countries) and senior management on the region’s geo-politics and political-economy, and on the dynamics and challenges of political and economic reform.
Tarek has 18-years’ experience researching Arab history and societies. He has worked in political-economy advisory, strategy consulting, and private equity.
Andrew Whitley – Chairman
Andrew Whitley has devoted most of his long professional career to understanding the modern Middle East and Asia, explaining the region to others and trying to address the causes and consequences of conflict there. From 1970 to 2010, he worked as an academic, in Tehran and New York; as a journalist, with the BBC, Financial Times and The Economist, in the Middle East, South Asia and Latin America; then as founding director of Middle East Watch (now Human Rights Watch/Middle East and North Africa); and, finally, as a senior United Nations official, serving in the Middle East and elsewhere. From 2011 to 2016), Andrew was with The Elders: the London-based, non-governmental organisation founded by Nelson Mandela and currently chaired by Kofi Annan. He now heads his own conflict-reduction consultancy firm, GeoPolitical Advisory Services, working in the Middle East and Asia.
The debates will be followed by a Question and Answer session and then a Drinks and Snacks Reception. The British Egyptian Society is keen for this evening to attract a wide audience of British Egyptian Society members, friends of the Society and of the guests and, we hope, students. Do please spread the word but, most of all, do come yourselves.
PLEASE NOTE! THIS EVENT IS BEING HOSTED AT A NEW LOCATION. SORRY FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE.
