Don't be a stranger

Temple Address

The Evangelical Alliance's Temple Address is an event which seeks to give a Christian perspective on a particular issue currently facing society.

Speakers in previous years have included Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks, Sir Trevor Phillips – current chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission – and the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams. The topics focused on were Tolerance (2007), Respect (2005 - 2006), Trust (2004), Faith (2003) and Forgiveness (2002).

This year, Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu spoke on The Road to Recovery: Neighbourliness and Mercy, Community and Service, to an audience of religious leaders, politicians, migration experts and media at London's Royal Society in November 2008. 

Dr Sentamu said Britain had been 'poisoned' by 'material excess' and 'through a lack of a shared big picture' – but that its people can climb out of recession by abandoning greed and instead investing in neighbourliness and a sense of community.

Greed had destroyed society, the Archbishop said.

"While we have all benefited from the economic progress of past decades, the consequences of rampant consumerism and individualism - both economic and social - have been to eradicate the glue that coheres community together.

"The woes of our current economic climate will bring many challenges over the coming years. Increasing redundancy, home repossessions and a recession will create an economic climate in which the economic givens of recent years can no longer be taken for granted," he said.

"However, alongside these challenges will be opportunities for re-considering the purposes of our economic wealth."

A post-credit crunch Britain would have to be rebuilt with the old-fashioned values of "neighbourliness, mercy, community and a sense of service," the Archbishop said.

"The opportunity which is before us as a nation is to use this time of crisis to create a renewed shared vision of community based on service rather than caring for number one, on duty rather than entitlement."

He said Britons had to put 'humankind, nation and our global village' before family, home and their careers.

Read the full text of the Archbishop's speech.

See some photographs from the evening.