SPIRITUAL CAPITAL - CARDIFF
Enhancing
diversity in culture and faith
Mission Statement - in brief
To contribute
to greater appreciation of the contribution all Cardiff's religious communities
make to the life and welfare of the city, through research, publication and
stimulating public debate.
Rationale
This
project was born from the desire of some religious communities and their
adherents
to
have their social contribution better valued and recognised.
Traditional organised religion may interest fewer people in secular
Western society nowadays,
yet
its very persistence and demands can seem problematic to those who do not
share
religious
values, assumptions and behaviour, and act as if religion was of no importance.
This research is not concerned with religious truth claims, but with the risk
that there is
a
'democratic deficit' arising from the estrangement which some communities
and their members
feel
in civil society. This experience is shared by people across the boundaries of
faith and culture.
It finds expression in different ways, and is worth recording as a sign of our
times.
By gathering data and stories that explore relations between communities of
faith and public institutions,
this
project seeks to inform public debate about the value of the contribution religious
believers make to social well being and commonwealth, with no
political objective or desire for power in mind, but rather out of concern for
justice, harmony, and social inclusion in a divided world.
Its unique objective is to promote and encourage citizens in all their
diversity to live and
work
together with all their differences for the common good.