The Evangelical Alliance has held its fifth annual Temple Address at Church House, Westminster on Nov. 10, with the Archbishop of Canterbury delivering the keynote speech on the issue of respect.

|PIC1|The Champions of Respect Awards were presented to three young people that have made significant positive contributions to their communities, with the top award of the night, the Anthony Walker Award, dedicated to the murdered Liverpool teenager, presented to a young female DJ.

Explaining the motive behind the new campaign the General Director of the Evangelical Alliance, Rev Joel Edwards told Christian Today, “We are launching our campaign on Respect. There is a tremendous amount of disrespect and a spiralling amount of anti-social behaviour disorders among other things, and we want to give something that is slightly different and say here are a number of young people in society doing positive things in that mark them out as respecting young people. We want to say this is a great showcase of respectful behaviour.”

The guest of honour at the high-profile event was the Church of England head, Dr Rowan Williams whose speech was entitled, ‘Becoming Trustworthy: Respect and Self-Respect’.

Dr Williams used the opportunity to point out the way in which today’s society so often neglects to offer respect to the youth generation, in turn leading to them seeking respect in more demanding and often aggressive ways.

|PIC2|He said, “If we want to claim that we are a society in which real respect matters, we have a long way to go. It doesn’t look that way to a large part of especially the younger population in our cities; and this certainly helps to explain why what emerges is so often a culture that aggressively and even violently demands respect on its own terms.”

Pointing to God as the perfect role-model of humility, the archbishop revealed how God has lowered himself down to human level to reveal himself to us: “Christians say that we are made in God’s image. More than that, they say that God so values what he has made that he comes down to our level and speaks our language. St Augustine even said that we shall always miss the vision of God if we keep our eyes on high, looking for his beauty and splendour afar off, because all the time he is in front of us: he has bowed down to the ground before us. He has literally come down to earth for our sake, and that is where we must expect to meet him.”

In a call for all people to humble themselves to one another and take the time to respect and listen to one another, the spiritual head of the worldwide Anglican Communion said, “I think that real respect begins when I recognise that everyone – and for that matter every bit of our universe – has a relationship with God that’s quite independent of their relationship with me, or with any system of earthly dignity or power. And if God speaks and listens to each one, each person has the right to claim a listening ear from the rest of us.”

|TOP|In a touching speech the mother of Anthony Walker, Mrs Gee Walker spoke of her son that so tragically died in a racist attack in July.

“I am not ashamed to be his mother...Anthony loved God and respected himself and others...it is a very fitting award.”

She also revealed how she had gained amazing strength even in the hardest of times, “I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me. It is not just words on a page but you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. God bless you.”

Three categories of awards were given out. Lauren Taylor, 10, from South Wales won the under 11’s, Abbi Morrall, 13 from Leicestershire won the 12 to 16 category, and Gemma Gibson, 22, who runs an all-girl radio station which promotes positive lyrics, was the overall winner of the Anthony Walker award.

The annual Temple Address has been used as an event to give a Christian perspective on a particular issue facing society. The General Director of the Evangelical Alliance, Rev Joel Edwards told, “We are in danger of the word respect becoming the new catchphrase of this Government. We challenge the Prime Minister to ensure legislation aids greater respect and that ministers work on the causes and not just the effects of anti-social behaviour

In addition, Rev Edwards concluded, “Anthony Walker was a remarkable young man who epitomised what it means to be a champion of respect. Gemma Gibson truly deserves this award for her radio work and the general way she inspires and treats other people. But all these young people have demonstrated a willingness to go the extra mile and show real respect in a society that often claims young people are becoming increasingly yobbish and feral”