The Sea of Faith Network was inspired by the television series “The Sea of Faith – Christianity in Change” written and presented by Don Cupitt, Fellow of Emmanuel College Cambridge in 1984. The title “the Sea of Faith” is taken from the poem “Dover Beach” by Matthew Arnold. Don Cupitt is still the President of the Sea of Faith Network. The Network held its first Conference in 1988. It is now a charity whose objective is to advance the education of the public in religious studies with particular reference to religious faith as a human creation.
Contributions to RE
The Sea of Faith Network works to meet this objective by:
- An annual residential conference
- A biennial London day conference organised by London local groups
- A biennial day conference organised by Sea of Faith in the Churches (SOFIC) usually in London
- Other local conferences and events; some organised in conjunction with other organisations such as the progressive Christian Network (PCN)
- A network of local groups
- A quarterly magazine, “Sofia”
- Publications such as “This Life on Earth” edited by Dinah Livingstone
- Maintenance of a website www.sofn.org.uk
- Provision online, free of charge, of material to support secondary school religious and philosophical education (Work in progress)
- Organising conferences for sixth form students. The first of these will be held in Bath in July 2014