London, United Kingdom, 4 October 2018 – Karen Armstrong, the British author, delivered the annual 2018 Global Centre for Pluralism Lecture today at the new Aga Khan Centre. The title of Ms. Armstrong’s lecture was “Compassion or Toleration? Two Approaches to Pluralism”.

Each person invited to give the Annual Pluralism Lecture is asked to reflect on how to build and strengthen pluralist societies. The Lecture is hosted by the Global Centre for Pluralism, an independent, charitable organisation founded by His Highness the Aga Khan in partnership with the Government of Canada. It is based in Ottawa, Canada.

In her lecture, Ms. Armstrong spoke about the value of religion during what could be the “last gasp” of nationalism: “What the religions all tell us… [is] that enlightenment insists on overcoming the ego, letting the ego go. Nationalism is about ego, it's about swelling the ego, and often that means excluding the other, as Lord Acton pointed out.”