This used to be the Millennium Dome. Erica and I took part in the Dome’s grand opening in the presence of HM Queen after a reception in the House of Lords on the night of 31st December 1999 and into the early hours of 1st January 2000. What a night that was! Since then, the dome - after almost coming to the point of demolition - has transmogrified into an entertainment venue known as “O2″. I shall always think of it as “the Dome”.

I passed the Dome today on my way to a conference organized by the Greenwich Peninsula Chaplaincy. I also passed these spring flowers.

The Greenwich Peninsula is a major regeneration area, transforming itself from

to

The aim of the conference was to examine two questions:

1. What makes a good community?
2. What is the contribution which faith communities make to a good community?

I was one of four speakers in the morning session:

• Professor Hilary Russell, European Institute for Urban Affairs, Liverpool John Moores University.
• Seema Ahmad, National Executive member of the Islamic Society of Britain
• Barney Leith
• The Ven. Christine Hardman, Archdeacon of Lewisham

I quoted Universal House of Justice’s definition of community:

… it is a comprehensive unit of civilization composed of individuals, families and institutions that are originators and encouragers of systems, agencies and organizations working together with a common purpose for welfare of people both within and beyond its own borders; it is a composition of diverse interacting participants that are achieving unity in an unremitting quest for spiritual and social progress.

I have to say that this does seem to be a much more purpose-driven vision than most people would have of the nature of community. The UK government’s Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) defines sustainable communities like this:

… places where people want to live and work, now and in the future. They meet the diverse needs of existing and future residents, are sensitive to their environment, and contribute to a high quality of life. They are safe and inclusive, well planned, built and run, and offer equality of opportunity and good services for all.

This definition is more about meeting needs that the House of Justice’s definition, which focuses much more on what people do (or ought to do) in their “unremitting quest” for spiritual and social progress.

My focus was more on communities as networks of relationships: of people to each other, of people to their environment, of people to the place where they live. I also stressed the Baha’i understanding that we relate at different levels to our families, our neighbourhoods, our towns or cities, our countries, and the whole world. Our loyalty to one level cannot conflict with our loyalty to another level.

I concluded with the words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá from the first selection in Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, in which He recommends:

… harmony and fellowship, and love and solidarity; indeed it is compassion and unity, and the end of foreignness; it is the being at one, in complete dignity and freedom, with all on earth.

Surely this is the basis of true community.

Anyway, if you would like to read my paper you can download it here.

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