The Future of Religion
How can spirituality evolve to meet today’s challenges?
- 10 February - 15 December, 2026
- 19:00 - 21:30 CET
- 10 Sessions Online
- £150 for all sessions
- £20 for single session
Since human beginnings, religion and culture have been intertwined. At its best this means that the eternal can be felt in all the ordinary passages of human life. But too often religion has become over-absorbed in this-worldliness, in power-elites, resistance to change and even actively opposed to true human liberation. As we deal with the intense changes of the third millennium and struggle against our technological hubris even to remain human – what, if any, is the role of religion? Is it just the promotion of ‘self-development’ or merely a temporary escape from the stresses of a malfunctioning society?
Can the great religious families of humanity be true to their perennial wisdom and unite in their essence to realize human potential in transcendence. Are we in a new ‘axial age’ where religion itself is changing and expressing the next step in human evolution? Can the three elements of religion – intellectual, institutional and mystical – be rebalanced to birth a new world in which the best potential of humanity is celebrated and realized?
This year’s theme for the global family of WCCM offers opportunities for creative dialogue across faiths and cultures as well as for a deeper ecumenism. The online series of speakers on the theme throughout the year offers a unique fusion of original and deeply grounded thinkers concerning something on which humanity’s future depends.
Register for the Full Series
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Opportunity to meditate at the start of each session
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Time to interact with the speakers
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Unlimited access to recordings (single sessions registrations give 1 year access)
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Registration form at bottom of page
This online series is presented in partnership with
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Schedule of Dates & Speakers
10 February 2026
The Future of Religion- Laurence Freeman
What is the future role of religion? In his talk, Fr Laurence Freeman will explore whether the three elements of religion – intellectual, institutional and mystical – can be rebalanced to birth a new world in which the best potential of humanity is celebrated and realized.
Respondent: Sean Hagan
24 March 2026
Back to Basics: Exploring the Point of Nothingness
Tim will explore the relationship between meditation, the experience of Merton’s point of nothingness, and the emergence of a future grounded of religious experience.
Respondent: Laurence Freeman
28 April 2026
Without Religion, No Future.
Our civilisation cannot survive without a return to spiritual values, and those values will not flourish without embodiment in the form of a religion. Since the Enlightenment, we have comprehensively misunderstood the nature of religion, and neglected the vital importance of nurturing the spiritual life. This has to do with a shift in the history of ideas, ultimately reinforced by changes in brain function over this period.
Respondent: Laurence Freeman
19 May 2026
Encountering Nothing in Everything That Is
One of the striking features found in various mystical traditions of the East and the West is the confrontation with the absolute nothingness that yields the impulse to transgress the limit by means of which the self is concomitantly delimited and undermined.
Respondent: Brian Les Lancaster, PhD
16 June 2026
The Future of Religion- Kabir Helminski
What purpose could religion have greater than connecting the human being with the Source of Life, with a reality greater than the reality constructed by human ego?
Respondent: Murshida Amat-Un-Nur
21 July 2026
(CC BY-SA 4.0)
Emphasizing Compassion in Times of Uncertainty
The future of religion may well rest on the shared cultivation of wisdom and compassion. If religious traditions can sincerely reaffirm the call to love, to care for others, and to refrain from harm, they will remain deeply relevant.
Respondent: Laurence Freeman
1 September 2026
From Ideology to Practice: Religious Integrity as "Doing the Truth"
I want to think about the difference between religion as primarily theory and description of the world, and religious or spiritual practice as the finding of a place within the world by work on oneself and one’s relation with what lies beyond the ego, the liberation of awareness of self and environment.
Respondent: Laurence Freeman
6 October 2026
From Axial Religion to Second Axial Religion
My talk will focus on the shift from axial religion to second axial religion; that is, how human evolution is accompanied by a shift in religious consciousness.
Respondent: Gemma Simmonds, CJ
10 November 2026
Direct Experience and the Importance of Spiritual Practices
Religious experiences seem likely to play a key role in the future of religion, as indeed they have done in the past. People are persuaded and engaged much more deeply by what they experience themselves than they are by verbal teachings alone, which is why all religions have always included practices like meditation, gratitude, chanting, prayer, pilgrimage, fasting, rites of passage and festivals.
Respondent: Laurence Freeman
15 December 2026
Panel discussion
Laurence Freeman will invite friends to contribute to a unique panel discussion looking at the themes and ideas that have been considered throughout the series.
The discussion will draw together all that has been said as well as to offer some thoughts and insights for us to live into during the following year.
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What's Included
Q&A with the Speakers
In each talk, you will have the opportunity to ask questions to the speaker
Access to Recordings
By registering, you'll be given access to the talks' recordings
Meet Fellow Meditators
Whatever the stage of your journey meet fellow meditators with whom to reflect and share your thoughts about this series in a safe environment
Meditate Together
We offer the opportunity to meditate together at the start of each session
Full Series Registration
- Unlimited access to recordings
- Get 10 Talks for the price of 7
- Get access to the series private page with extra resources by the speakers
- Opportunity to share your reflections with other participants
Single Session Registration
- Unlimited access to recordings
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Concessions
The prices reflect the need to achieve self sufficiency. Therefore if you’re able to give a little more we would be very grateful. Please, click here to donate.
Image by Fr Laurence Freeman