Symon Hill is a left-wing

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

activist and writer. He has worked as campaigns manager at the

Peace Pledge Union The Peace Pledge Union (PPU) is a non-governmental organisation that promotes pacifism, based in the United Kingdom. Its members are signatories to the following pledge: "War is a crime against humanity. I renounce war, and am therefore determine ...

since 2016. He also teaches history for the

Workers' Educational Association Workers' Educational Associations (WEA) are not-for-profit bodies that deliver further education to adults in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. WEA UK WEA UK, founded in 1903, is the UK's largest voluntary sector provider of adult edu ...

. His most recent book is ''The Upside-down Bible: What Jesus really said about money, sex and violence'', published in 2015.

Biography

Symon Hill was one of a group of Christian pacifists, supported by the former Archbishop of Canterbury

Rowan Williams Rowan Douglas Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth (born 14 June 1950) is a Welsh Anglican bishop, theologian and poet, who served as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 to 2012. Previously the Bishop of Monmouth and Archbishop of W ...

, who were arrested at the DSEI arms fair in London in 2013. Hill was one of the organisers of the Christian "Ring of Prayer" at the eviction of Occupy London Stock Exchange in 2012. He was associate director of the

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

Christian think tank Ekklesia until 2013 and continues as an Ekklesia associate. , he is training to be a

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

minister. In the summer of 2011, Hill went on a pilgrimage of repentance for homophobia, walking from Birmingham to London, attracting widespread media attention. Hill read

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

Westminster College, Oxford Westminster College, originally the Westminster Training College, was a teacher training college and college of higher education in England. The college was founded in London in 1851 as a training institute for teachers for Wesleyan Methodist ...

. Hill was formerly media spokesperson for the

Campaign Against Arms Trade The Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) is a UK-based campaigning organisation working towards the abolition of the international arms trade. It was founded in 1974 by a coalition of peace groups. It has been involved in several high-profile ca ...

(CAAT). He represented CAAT in the media when they took the British Government to court in 2007–08 over the cancellation of a Serious Fraud Office investigation into

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Aerospace industry, aerospace, military technology, military and information security company, based in London. It is the largest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is ...

arms deals with Saudi Arabia. As a result, comedian Mark Thomas nominated him as a Hero of 2007 in ''

The Independent on Sunday ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

. Hill received media attention when, in the wake of the death of

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

, he was arrested in Oxford for making anti-monarchist remarks.

Writing

Hill writes mainly on the issues of

disarmament Disarmament is the act of reducing, limiting, or abolishing Weapon, weapons. Disarmament generally refers to a country's military or specific type of weaponry. Disarmament is often taken to mean total elimination of weapons of mass destruction, ...

, public activism, sexuality, and the role of religion in society. His comment pieces have appeared in newspapers including the ''

Sunday Herald The ''Sunday Herald'' was a Scottish Sunday newspaper, published between 7 February 1999 and 2 September 2018. Originally a broadsheet, it was published in compact format from 20 November 2005. The paper was known for having combined a centre- ...

'', the '' Morning Star'' and the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

''. He contributes to ''The Guardians Comment is Free and to '' The Friend''.

Books

In addition to ''The Upside-Down Bible'' (), he has written two other books: ''The No-Nonsense Guide to Religion'' () which was published by ''

New Internationalist ''New Internationalist'' (''NI'') is an international publisher and left-wing magazine based in Oxford, England, owned by a multi-stakeholder co-operative and run day to day as a worker-run co-operative with a non-hierarchical structure. Known ...

'' magazine in March 2010 as part of its No-Nonsense Guides series, and a book on on-line activism called ''Digital Revolutions: Activism in the age of the internet'' () which was published by

in April 2013.

References

External links

Symon Hill's blog
Living people English Christian pacifists English people of Welsh descent English Christian socialists Year of birth missing (living people) Bisexual Christians English bisexual men English bisexual writers 21st-century English LGBTQ people 21st-century English male writers Alumni of Westminster College, Oxford {{UK-activist-stub