Uniting people of all faiths and beliefs for a better future
At the start of this year’s Inter Faith Week, religious leaders outline how to build bonds and break down barriers through friendship and social interaction
–
A nationwide programme of events marking Inter Faith Week from 10 to 18 November will bring together people of all religions and beliefs to show how groups and individuals can work together towards a positive perspective for the future.
Here, seven leaders from a number of faiths outline how British religious groups can build bonds and break down barriers, enriching our lives and with new opportunities, including friendship, business or other forms of social interaction.
Navleen Kaur MBE — founder, Sahara Sisterhood
Inter Faith Week is an opportunity to exchange and integrate with different faiths and beliefs. This opens the doors for schools, politicians, policymakers, people at grassroots level to visit structured events that are welcoming. It gives people an opportunity to make new friendships as well.
There are so many young people who have certain ideas and perspectives shaped by the media’s representation. This year, we can break down some preconceived notions. Inter Faith Week allows for information to be disseminated through truth rather than somebody’s political view or agenda. These are people who are trying to be ambassadors and catalysts of change through their faith, belief and values.
Nitin Palan MBE — director, Palan Foundation and Action for Harmony
Inter faith is a way of life where each human being recognises the divinity in the other and thereby recognises every individual’s connection to the divine. Inter faith therefore is a celebration of our love for that divinity and the desire to understand our purpose on Earth to best serve the Divine.
There is only one Creator and all of us His children — equally loved by Him.
Inter Faith Week is a concentrated period bringing all communities together to celebrate each other’s religion. This week is also important in that we can understand the challenges that we face and why we have to face them together as one race — the human race.
Inter Faith Week is where we remember all the things that we have done during the year to come closer to each other, where we have learned from each other and where we have supported each other.
Esmond Rosen — president, Barnet Multi Faith Forum
Inter Faith Week is the supreme example of grassroots multi-faith organisations demonstrating the value of people working together for their communities, while extolling the contribution which their members make to their neighbourhoods and to wider society.
The week’s activities highlight the excellent work done by inter-faith and faith-based groups and organisations, to enhance community cohesion and learning from and about each other, increasing understanding between people of religious and non-religious beliefs. It celebrates diversity and communality between faith groups and opens up further opportunities for greater partnership work.
The building of these relationships and working partnerships between people of different faiths and beliefs is part of the year-round work, but having a special week provides a focal point, helping to open up inter-faith activity to a wider audience and awareness of the importance of this vital work.
Hassan Joudi — former deputy secretary general, Muslim Council of Britain
Social media consumption has tribalised and pushed us into our echo chambers, so understanding worldviews and beliefs other than our own has never been so important. Inter Faith Week in the UK since 2009 has facilitated countless conversations and dialogues in this vein.
The week was facilitated by the Inter Faith Network of the UK, which the outgoing Conservative government recklessly withdrew funding from and allowed to be shut down earlier this year. Despite the current Labour government showing few signs of reversing this decision, the many cross-faith and grassroots conversations and initiatives taking place in November is testament to a thirst for a more just, fairer and considerate Britain.
Martin Weightman — director, All Faiths Network
Inter Faith Week is of special importance because it is a focus for the numerous strands of inter-faith activity throughout the year. There is no real reason, other than intolerance and vested interest, why people of different faiths cannot live and work together, and this week underpins that.
Schools, inter-faith groups, different religions and many others all contribute and hold their own events that demonstrate that faiths are working together in one way or another. As such, it is a real-life demonstration of how we want to shape society positively and an unspoken statement against the violence and prejudice we have seen in some instances in the UK, not to mention the world around us.
Revd Canon Hilary Barber — former co-chair of the Inter Faith Network and Vicar of Halifax Minster
Inter Faith Week has always been one of the high points in the year for me. This year, given the geopolitics around the world, it feels more poignant than ever, as we celebrate across the UK the rich diversity of culture and faith communities that live side by side. It’s an opportunity to reach out to people of a different faith from that of my own and find out how much we share in common, whether that’s a love of football, food or singing.
Rabbi Elisheva Salamo — York Liberal Jewish Community
All inter-faith dialogue is really vital because it’s a great place for us to feel ownership of our own traditions and curiosity about other people. In a faith context, you are less likely to become defensive than if you talk about politics. Everybody has a connection to the spirit, everybody has a connection to the heart.
Topics
Get the Hyphen weekly
Subscribe to Hyphen’s weekly round-up for insightful reportage, commentary and the latest arts and lifestyle coverage, from across the UK and Europe
This form may not be visible due to adblockers, or JavaScript not being enabled.