wfn.org | [ACNS] Archbishop Williams to address global issues at St

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ACNS 3852     |     ENGLAND	|     15 JULY 2004

Archbishop Rowan Williams to address global issues at St Paul's

[St Paul's Cathedral, London] The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most
Revd Rowan Williams, is to lead a series of dialogues on some of the
major ethical and moral issues facing the world today. The series is
entitled 'The Worlds We Live In' and will be held at St Paul's Cathedral
in London this September. He will be joined for the discussions by
leading international experts in politics, economics, the environment
and world health. This will be the second major series of talks
organised by the St Paul's Institute, which was founded in 2002.

The dialogues - 'The Worlds We Live In: Governance, Economy, Ecology and
Health in the Global Context' - will start on Wednesday 8 September 6.30
- 8pm with "How should the world be governed?" chaired by Sir Mark
Tully. Dr Rowan Williams will be in conversation with Lord Owen, former
UK Foreign Secretary and Co-chair of the International Conference on the
former Yugoslavia, and Professor Philip Bobbitt, Professor of
Constitutional Law, University of Texas.

On Wednesday 15 September: 'Is there an alternative to global
capitalism?' chaired by Baroness Williams. The Most Revd Rowan Williams
with Muhammad Yunus, the Founder and Director of the Grameen Bank, and
Professor John Kay, economist, author and Fellow of St John's College
Oxford.

On Tuesday 21 September: 'Environment and humanity - friends or foes?'
chaired by Baroness Williams. The Most Revd Rowan Williams in dialogue
with Dr Ricardo Navarro, former Chair of Friends of the Earth
International and Professor Mary Midgley, philosopher and author.

On Thursday 30 September: 'Is humanity killing itself?' chaired by Dame
Elizabeth Butler-Sloss. The Most Revd Rowan Williams in dialogue with Dr
Ian Smith, Advisor to the Director-General of the World Heath
Organisation and Dr Russell Greig, the President of Pharmaceuticals
International at GlaxoSmithKline.

The St Paul's Institute was founded in 2002 to create a forum for
reflection, open debate, education and action on the spiritual and
ethical challenges facing business, finance and global economics, and
for addressing related environmental, social and political issues. It
aims to foster an academically distinguished and respected Christian
response, and seeks to influence opinion, both in the Christian world
and beyond.

Philip Bobbitt is a historian of nuclear strategy, and has served in the
White House, the State Department, and on the National Security Council.
He is perhaps best known for his book 'The Shield of Achilles: War,
Peace and the Course of History' (2002) described as 'one of the key
texts at the birth of the new century'. He holds the chair in
constitutional law at the University of Texas.

David Owen was UK Foreign Secretary from 1977-79, EU negotiator during
the Balkans conflict, and Co-Chair of the International Conference for
the Former Yugoslavia, working towards the formation of a peaceful
solution for the area. One of the founders of the Social Democratic
Party (SDP) and its leader for four years, he now sits in the House of
Lords as a cross-bench life peer.

Mark Tully was for 22 years the BBC's India and South East Asia
correspondent covering and interpreting such events as the Russian
occupation of Afghanistan, the Bangladesh war and Mrs Ghandi's State of
Emergency. He is now a freelance broadcaster and writer based in New
Delhi, and the author of highly acclaimed books including 'The Heart of
India' (1996) and 'India in Slow Motion' (2003).

Muhammad Yunus is the only economist to have won the UNEP's World Food
Prize. He is the founder and chief executive of the revolutionary
Grameen Bank, which loans money on trust to the poorest people of his
native Bangladesh for self-help, and has enabled millions to become
self-sufficient. He is a former Professor of Economics at the University
of Chittagong and author of 'Banker to the Poor: the story of the
Grameen Bank' (2003).

John Kay held his first permanent teaching post at the University of
Oxford at the age of 21. He has been Director of the Institute for
Fiscal Studies, Chair of the London Business School, Professor of
Management at Oxford University, and his work has had a profound effect
on economic and governmental thinking. His latest book is 'The Truth
about Markets: their genius, their limits, their follies' (2003).

Shirley Williams was Secretary of State for Education from 1976 - 79 and
one of the founders of the SDP. She was Public Service Professor of
Elective Politics at Harvard University from 1988 - 2000, and is now the
Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords. Her publications
include 'God and Caesar: Personal Reflections on Politics and Religion'
(2003).

Ricardo Navarro founded CESTA (now his country's largest NGO) in the
middle of El Salvador's 13-year civil war, to promote grass roots
conservation strategies. His many achievements include preventing toxic
waste dumping in his country and working with young people to plant a
'forest of reconciliation' on war-damaged land. Formerly Professor of
Engineering at the State University in San Salvador, he was until this
year Chair of Friends of the Earth International and has received
numerous awards, and death-threats, for his work.

Mary Midgley is a moral philosopher who has been described as 'our
foremost scourge of scientific pretension'. Formerly Professor of
Philosophy at Newcastle University, she has written extensively on the
relationship between humanity and nature, and is a staunch defender of
religion although she does not believe in God. Her numerous books
include 'Wickedness' (1992) and 'The Myths We Live By' (2003).

Ian Smith spent ten years as a medical missionary in a remote rural
hospital in Nepal, and six in Kathmandu with the National Tuberculosis
Program. Now Advisor to the Director-General of the World Health
Organisation, in 2001 he established and then managed the Global TB Drug
Facility, a 'virtual' facility based at WHO which has made grants of
drugs to treat almost two million TB patients in 49 countries.

Russell Greig is President of Pharmaceuticals International for
GlaxoSmithKline. Formerly one of the company's Research Directors and UK
Vice President and Director of Advanced Technologies in Genetics, he had
responsibility for integrating new technologies, in particular genomics.
He has played a central role in the company's scientific and commercial
relationship with Human Genome Sciences.

Elizabeth Butler-Sloss is Head of the Family Division, Court of Appeal
at the Old Bailey and the UK's most senior woman judge. She has ruled on
many of the most morally complex and controversial cases of our times,
including the separation of conjoined twins, the patient's right to die
and the right to anonymity of released murderers.

All the dialogues are free, non-ticketed and open to the public. St
Paul's Cathedral, EC4. Nearest tube: St Paul's, Mansion House, Bank

www.stpauls.co.uk/institute

For press enquiries about the dialogues:

Anya Matthews
Press Officer
The Chapter House
St Paul's Churchyard
London EC4M 8AD
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7246 8321

For press enquiries about the Archbishop of Canterbury:

Revd Jonathan Jennings
Archbishop's Press Secretary
Lambeth Palace
London SE1 7JU
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7898 1280

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