Students attend GCSE Religious Studies Conference

News - Mar 27

Forty-five students from Year 10 and 11 attended a GCSE Religious Studies Conference at Sexey’s School in Bruton, Somerset. 

The speaker at the conference was Dr Peter Vardy who is an eminent British philosopher. Dr Vardy covered a number of different topics, raising philosophical issues as he went and giving time for the students to discuss in pairs. Dr Vardy passed the microphone around for contributions, later praising our students in particular for their thoughtful comments. He focussed on the importance of A Level in Religious Studies, commenting on how ethical issues surrounding artificial intelligence, medical ethics and war were becoming increasingly important. Amongst the topics covered and discussed were:  

If God is omnipotent, can God do the logically impossible e.g. create a stone which is too heavy to lift? (Philosopher Mackie) 

Can any of the solutions to the problem of evil and God’s existence give a suitable response for extreme suffering?  

Can life after death make up for suffering on Earth?  

Nia W, one of the students who attended the event, said:  

“On Thursday March 14th, my peers and I went to listen to Dr Peter Vardy speak in Sexey's School. We started the talk with establishing what we would define God as, as either an eternal being that is outside of time or one that is in time and how this would affect human free-will as well as how all our own independent definitions would tie into how the Trinity works. We also took a deep dive into the Book of Job and how it explains how God can be omnipotent (all powerful) and omni-benevolent (all loving) while evil still exists. Just before we left, as we had to leave early, we concluded with a debate, the question being 'This house agrees that life after death makes up for suffering during life' where excellent points were raised by everyone who contributed. Overall, about 70% of the crowd disagreed with the house, 25% agreed and 5% abstained from the vote. 

Thank you to Dr Vardy and everyone involved for putting on this amazing event!”