The Forgiveness Project 5th Annual Lecture – Forgiveness and Compassion: Is there a difference?

The Forgiveness Project are delighted to announce our 5th Annual Lecture, taking place on 23 June 2015 at The Royal Geographical Society. This year we welcome as our main speaker Karen Armstrong, one of the world’s most thought-provoking and original public thinkers on the role of religion in historical and contemporary life. Her lecture, “Forgiveness and Compassion: Is there a difference?” will focus on why we must place compassion at the heart of public discourse on religion and morality. This will be followed by a panel discussion with Yasmin Yar Mulbocus and Bjørn Magnus Jacobsen Ihler, chaired by Sarfraz Manzoor.

Karen Armstrong is the author of numerous books, including The Case for God, Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life, and Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence. She was awarded the British Academy Award for Transcultural Understanding in 2013 and the TED Prize in 2008 for her vision of a Charter for Compassion.

Yasmin Yar Mulbocus was formerly a member of a radical Islamist organisation, and now works to ‘Educate, Empower and Engage’ women to become proactive citizens in their communities. Bjørn Magnus Jacobsen Ihler is a survivor of the July 2011 right-wing extremist attacks on Utøya island in Norway, and now works against extremism through writing, talks, and filmmaking. Sarfraz Manzoor is a journalist, broadcaster and author of the acclaimed childhood memoir Greetings from Bury Park.