Debate – The Papal Visit should not be a State Visit

The motion for the debate will be:

“The Papal Visit should not be a State Visit“.

Speakers for the motion are:

• Professor A. C. Grayling
• Human Rights Campaigner Peter Tatchell

Speakers against the motion are:

• Catholic Journalist Austen Ivereigh
• Fr Christopher Jamison

Chaired by Polly Toynbee, British Journalist and Writer, columnist for the Guardian since 1998.

The debate will take place at Conway Hall on Wednesday 1st September at 6.30pm.

Free entrance. Seats are limited so early arrival is advised.

Austen Ivereigh is a Catholic journalist and commentator who writes regularly for the Guardian CiF section and Our Sunday Visitor, and is European correspondent for America magazine in New York. His latest book is Faithful Citizens: a practical guide to Catholic Social Teaching and community organising (2010).

Christopher Jamison OSB is a Benedictine monk and former Abbot of Worth Abbey in West Sussex, England. He became well-known through the BBC TV series The Monastery.

Anthony Clifford Grayling, FRSA, FRSL, is a British philosopher and author. He is Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London and a supernumerary fellow of St Anne’s College, Oxford. He has an MA and a DPhil from Oxford, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Society of Arts.

Peter Tatchell has been campaigning for human rights for over 40 years. He attracted international coverage for his attempted citizen’s arrest of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in 1999 and again in 2001.  A critic of all religious fundamentalism, he is currently making a documentary on Pope Benedict for Channel 4 TV, which will be broadcast in early September.

Polly Toynbee is a British journalist and writer, and has been a columnist for The Guardian newspaper since 1998. She is a social democrat and broadly supports the Labour Party, while urging it in many areas to be more left-wing, though during the 2010 general election  she urged a tactical vote in support of the Liberal Democrats where this can help ensure a Lab-Lib coalition in support of proportional representation. She was appointed President of the British Humanist Association in July 2007. In 2007 she was named ‘Columnist of the Year’ at the British Press Awards.