Distinguished panellists take part in a 'Role of Religion in Public Life' Panel Discussion at Cheney
BackArticle / Posted on 23 Apr 2026
On Thursday 16th April, we were privileged to welcome five distinguished panellists to take part in a Role of Religion in Public Life Panel Discussion at Cheney School in east Oxford. The Panel forms part of a regular series of discussions and talks exploring literature, languages, science, politics, environment and democracy, called the 'Agora'. The series is organised by director of the Iris Project, Dr Lorna Robinson.
Our panellists were journalist and former Cheney pupil Shaista Aziz, Steven Croft, the Bishop of Oxford, author and broadcaster Maajid Nawaz, Youtuber and podcaster Alex O’Connor, and philosophy academic Dr Joshua Sijuwade. The panel was chaired by David Gimson.
Each member of the panel introduced themselves, giving details about their background and personal journeys around religion and faith, and outlining their position on the role of religion in public life. This was followed by open floor questions where an audience of 170 sixth formers were able to put questions to the panel.
Questions and discussion amongst the panellists explored the pressure of women to dress modestly and the extent of religion's involvement with this, women's roles in Christianity and Islam, what the scriptures said and how reliable they were as sources, whether science and scripture were compatible, and French, American and British models for engagement between religion and society.
There was broad consensus amongst the panel on the importance of a pluralistic society, and the problems which have arisen from both extreme religious and extreme secular approaches. There was respectful disagreement on the ordination of women and the interpretation of texts.
After the panel, students were able to ask questions informally of the speakers, and to explore in more detail some of the positions outlined in the discussion itself.
It was a fascinating discussion at a time when there are many questions being asked about religion and public life in the UK, and we were very grateful to each of our panellists for giving their time to explore these issues, and to model respectful discussion as a mode for reaching greater understanding.
Student feedback on the panel has been very positive. One student said:
'I really enjoyed the discussion style, having multiple people with different views and areas of expertise all able to share opinions and argue their side in a respectful way. This works really well and would be great to see how it would go with other subject matter'.
Another commented as follows:
'I really enjoyed this! I think the topic was brilliant as it is so applicable to everyone's lives. I know a lot of people found the discussion really interesting and it was so nice being able to talk to the speakers further afterwards. Thank you for getting such amazing speakers too!'
