The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, hosted an event at Lambeth Palace which brought together 50 imams and clergy from 25 local areas to encourage and strengthen local interfaith relationships.

 
The Revd Mark Fisher, Andrew Stunell MP, Bishop Richard Cheetham, The Archbishop of Canterbury and Maulana Shahid Raza

“Across the country, Christians and Muslims are making huge contributions to their communities in countless churches and mosques, charities and community groups. But, because they are often working towards similar goals, there is great potential for them to collaborate more.

“That is what this conference is about – challenging ignorance and building effective, friendly working relationships, not only between clergy and imams but also between their congregations. Inter faith activity is an important component of the Big Society we want to build, in which people work together for the common good and to tackle shared problems.”

The programme sought to celebrate and publicise the fruitful work done by these local dialogue groups, which are run by both mosques and churches in the local areas as well as in prison and hospital chaplaincies.

One example of the practical outworking of this is the Springfield Centre in Birmingham, a children’s centre that serves both mosque and parish church, as well as the rest of the community. The centre provides holistic support for children’s development and support to families with young children, as well as helping to foster local interfaith engagement.

The event, organised by the Christian Muslim Forum, provided an opportunity for many men and women from local churches and mosques to share their experiences of working with each other, and explore areas where they can work together locally on issues of shared concern.

The Christian Muslim Forum has brought together over 200 local leaders of both faiths since 2006 and will run the event in partnership with the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board (MINAB) and Churches Together in England (CTE). Participants have drafted a letter to go out to churches and mosques, encouraging leadership and congregations to meet and learn from each other.

The theme for this initiative is “Communities Together Preventing All Forms of Hate”.  This is to highlight civic responsibility and engagement which chimes with the aims of many national organizations, including inter-faith forums. The Mosque and Imams National Advisory Board (MINAB) have teamed up with the Christian-Muslim Forum, local schools and other places of worship in initiative open for all sections of the community to take part in this unique event.

We hope that this event will help raise further awareness of all manifestations of hate crime and the burdens placed on society by them. We also hope that this approach helps rekindle a new sense of collective community responsibility to curb the spread of hate crime, renewing our conviction that all people, faiths and cultures are able to live together in peace and harmony.

In preparation for the launch of the campaign, young people from 12 local schools have participated in an art competition themed on showing positive messages to challenge all manifestations of a hate crime. The winner of the competition will have his/her drawings printed on T-Shirts that will be worn by pupils. Sarah Teather MP, the minister of State at the Department of Education has kindly agreed to present the award during the morning session of this event. I would be grateful if you could deliver a short speech in this session.

There will be another session in the afternoon where community and religious representatives will gather to support this initiative and show their united stand against all forms of hate crime. You will also have an opportunity to view the art exhibition, displaying the drawings drawn by the pupils. The event will end with a symbolic reception function, which I hope your time will allow you to take part in.

This is the statement that was agreed and signed on the day:

‘We the undersigned pledge to support together the ‘Communities Preventing Hate Campaign’ by taking a stand against all promotion and encouragement of hatred between and within communities, whether religious or non-religious. We declare that there is no place in a harmonious society for groups or factions who aim to divide and undermine – our strength and future lie in our unity. We, therefore, oppose all forms of hate-crime and incitement to hatred, including:

• Vilification of religion, religious believers and non-religious value systems
• Gang-crime and mischievous fostering of inter-community tensions
• Abuse of the vulnerable
• Any offensive and aggressive extremism
• All words and actions which justify and glorify domestic and international terrorism

We are committed to working towards the goal of all faith, and non-faith, communities working together to promote a new sense of collective community responsibility. Our vision is that such community responsibility has the power to curb all manifestations and expressions of hate-crime. In signing this statement we renew our conviction and commitment that people of all faiths and no faith are able to live together in peace and harmony.’

This is the agreed statement

Religious Tensions in Pakistan

Reports from Pakistan claim that two centres of worship belonging to the Ahmadi/Qadiani sect in Lahore have been attacked. Even though this sect is not regarded as belonging to the fold of Islam by the majority of Muslims in the world, it is the belief of MINAB that all places of worship should be safe from any such attack, no matter to which faith or group they belong.

The Christian Muslim Forum echoes this message that Christians and Muslims, and their places of worship, should be safe from each other and that people of other religions and those of no faith should all be respected and valued as God’s creations.

The Launch

The highlight of the event was a series of brief speeches by young people of different faiths sharing their thoughts and experiences of inter faith which were truly inspirational and filled us with hope for what the next generation might achieve.

Faith Leaders Meeting

• We believe that good inter faith relations are a vital part of a harmonious, just and respectful society.
• We pledge, today, to deepen our work to increase understanding about and between our faiths and to strengthen our cooperation on social issues.
• We renew our commitment to developing effective and long term ways of dialogue and mutual learning.
• While our great religious traditions are distinct in belief and practice, there is much that unites us.
• We will work to tackle with renewed determination the challenges of poverty, ignorance, injustice, crime and violence, and social fragmentation and to help shape a society where all feel at home; all are valued and justly treated; and all have a chance to thrive.

Interfaith Day

• Maulana Mohammad Khan – ‘Islam lived in an inter faith community and started out by respecting other communities, our faith is not complete if we do not respect other beliefs, their scriptures and symbols.’
• Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin – ‘Inter faith is not a hollow and secular initiative, it cannot be faith-less, we should learn from what other faiths have to offer, we cannot be adversarial. All faiths bring an enormous value to our lives. Christianity is a defining force for this civilisation. Differences of religion are the plan of God and it will remain so forever.’
• Said Ferjani – ‘Dialogue is the engine of all the prophets – Jesus dialogued with everyone – it is the pillar of any genuine faith.’
• Sayyed Mohammed Mousawi – ‘Islam is based on the best inter faith foundation, the Prophet Muhammad, who said, “be good to every human being”. Inter faith is the way of true religion, we need a movement of inter faith and should invite people to our mosques. We need to make inter faith a lively truth in our lives.’
• Dr Ahmed Al Dubayan, newly appointed Chair of MINAB’s interfaith committee and Director General, London Central Mosque – ‘We need to build more bridges of understanding and dialogue. The alternative is misunderstanding, hate and ultimately terror.’
• Fuad Nahdi, Radical Middle Way – ‘Listening is OK but dialogue is more advanced, it is not just tea, cucumber sandwiches and samosas. It is time for convergence not conversion.’

We look forward to telling you about our own Peace Worker’s experiences during Inter Faith Week next week.

Another ongoing initiative

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Julian Bond