God v. The State Conference
Wednesday 6 April 2016
Whose Laws Decide Future Peace or War? – the case of Iran
RESULT
In the end two theology students attended this event so, with their willing agreement, the Conference was turned into a tutorial.
* The presentation used by (Dr) Peter Southwood is here
* The Foundation Briefing for this event is here
The lack of any response from the political science community is being followed up as it is regarded by the Conference organiser as an informal boycott of the event and his work, whatever excuses individual academics may have for non-attendance and non-involvement.
The legal basis on which he is pursuing his case against the political science community, as a corporate body of scholars, is defined by the case he brought against the Attorney General for England and Wales:
* High Court judgment of 9 October 1998 is here
* Court of Appeal judgment of 28 June 2000 is here
* A full analysis of both judgments, in the context of the advancement of international peace, will be found in Chapter 2 of the Foundation Briefing above.
RATIONALE
The Foundation Briefing on this website starts from a different assumption to that of political science. The direction of a conflict towards peace or war, especially over the long term, is decided by the material facts of that conflict and a just application of the Golden Rule, known in all three Abrahamic religions as a summary of the laws of God. Public or expert opinion cannot alter this – or so the theology proposes. The rightness or wrongness of that view is to be judged against the Court of history, i.e. whether a prediction is then fulfilled. Only here does the scientific method of peer review have its place. Emphatically not in juxtaposing one theological or political opinion against another in an untested way.
This Conference is intended to consider three main alternatives arising from the conference organiser’s prediction of war out of the agreement of 14 July 2015 concerning the nuclear crisis over Iran:
1. If the prediction of war is fulfilled within 5 to 8 years of the base year, 2016, and there has been no conversion (of the kind explained in the Briefing), then the political science methods of analysis will have been refuted in this case in a very public way. As the Briefing makes clear there is no suggestion that Israel has already decided to launch a military strike on Iran, rather it is that the force of circumstances when combined with that State's overall perspective which can be expected to lead to that result.
2. If the prediction of war is unfulfilled and there has been no conversion then this author’s theological method will stand refuted in this instance in a similarly public way.
3. If the prediction of war is fulfilled despite there being conversion then both political science methods and this author’s theological method will have been rejected in this instance in an equally public way.
So far as the conference organiser is aware no substantive justification by political science methods of 14 July 2015 agreement has been offered for the prediction of its contributing to a state of peace in the region. This Conference provides an opportunity to fill the gap.
CURRENT POSITION [as at 6 April 2016]
Details of this planned event were posted on or around 10 March [2016] to University Departments in England and Wales in the disciplines of war studies, peace studies, international politics, theology and related subjects as well as to relevant UK government departments.
* The poster advertising the Conference can be downloaded here
* The opportunity for A.N. Other scientist to refute the findings in the Foundation Briefing is explained in the ‘Invitation to Join a Scientific Competition’ . Deadline: Tuesday 29 March ’16 at 5.00pm GMT. The result will be announced here on the following day by the conference organiser. (This choice cannot yet be made by peer review because of academic inertia or reluctance to engage but it is being made transparently in accordance with published criteria in the Invitation document.)
Pre-registration for this half day event on 6 April at 1.45pm for 2.00pm start is necessary and costs £10.00 per ticket (40 places max). Apply to: p.southwood@btinternet.com
The Conference takes place in:
The Council RoomChurch House Conference CentreDean’s YardWestminsterLondon SW1P 3NZRefreshments to follow at 4.00pm.
As at 6 April 2016
Tickets remaining for this conference: 37 (no registrations in progress)
Competing bids received: 0
BIDS RECEIVED [by deadline of 29 March 2016]
Bids received will be published here, subject to authors’ permissions:
—-
RESULT OF COMPETITION
No competing bids received so A.N. Other scientist has not sought to refute Peter Southwood’s findings in his Foundation Briefing.