A Jew (man), a Christian (woman), a Muslim (woman), a Hindu (man) and a Baha’i (man) were interviewing candidates for the post of Assistant Director of the Inter Faith Network for the UK. Sounds like the opening line of one of those jokes, but it isn’t. This is exactly what happened today - and I was the Baha’i on the interviewing panel.

The candidates were from four different faiths.

Of course, knowing the religious affiliations of the candidates told us very little about them as people. Religious affiliation says nothing about their wide range of skills, nothing about their personalities, nothing about their moral and spiritual lives, nothing about their vulnerability as they grappled with the questions put to them by us the interviewers, nothing about the impact they had on us. Words descriptive of their religions might conjure up some stereotypical pictures in your mind, but I can guarantee that none of the individuals we interviewed today would come anywhere near any of your stereotypes.

Despite the fact that we were interviewing people for an inter-faith post, the panel’s focus was very little on their formal religious identity and much more on their human qualities.

And I could say the same about the interviewers.

It was a fascinating day and, despite the interviewers’ cultural and religious diversity, our perceptions of the four candidates were very similar. And we all agreed that we had learned a great deal in the process.

Oh, and the fact that I was in the middle of the Baha’i fast provoked a great deal of discussion about fasting, about the different practices of the different faiths represented there.

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