Karen Armstrong: What is Religion?

Simon Fraser University's Centre for Dialogue is pleased to announce a public lecture with SFU Jack P. Blaney Award 2012 recipient and world-renowned author Karen Armstrong:

What is Religion?
Thursday, March 22, 2012, 7-9pm

Gladstone Secondary School Auditorium, 4105 Gladstone Street, Vancouver, BC (map)
(Entrance to auditorium is on Gladstone Street and 24th Avenue)

This lecture is free, however pre-registration is required. 
Click here to RSVP

A former Catholic nun who left the convent to study literature, Karen Armstrong has become one of the most provocative and original thinkers on the role of religion in the modern world. In 2008, she was awarded the TED Prize in recognition and support of her call for a council of religious and spiritual leaders to draw up a "Charter of Compassion" that applies shared moral priorities to foster greater global understanding based on the principles of justice and respect.

As a speaker and writer, Armstrong asserts that all major religions embrace the core principle of compassion and the Golden Rule, and also emphasizes that many of today's religions bear similar strains of fundamentalism borne of frustration with contemporary life and current events.

This event will mark the launch of the Greater Vancouver Compassion Network, part of an international movement to build compassionate communities, inspired in part by Armstrong's Charter for Compassion.

This free public lecture is part of "Twelve Days of Compassion with Karen Armstrong", taking place from March 19-30, 2012. For more information about this citywide conversation on compassion and its host, Simon Fraser University's Centre for Dialogue, please click here.