Evangelicals from different denominations based in the north east of England were joined by Church of England evangelicals from the rest of the country for the 24hour Jesmond Conference in Newcastle in late February.
David Holloway, vicar of Jesmond for more than four decades, has given considerable thought to the decline of Christian influence in Western culture and his reflections provided the basis for the discussions and the final conference statement.
Holloway gave four lectures on: democracy and the family; the rule of law and spiritual and moral order; individual liberty and its limitations; and tolerance and respect. Each talk was packed full of summaries of key social and political thinkers, from Aristotle to Augustine, from Locke to Mill, showing that the idea of a common religion undergirding worldview has been axiomatic in all societies.
