In introducing Face to Face and Side by Side: A Framework for Partnership in Our Multi Faith Society, Communities Secretary, Hazel Blears MP, spoke of the practical contribution made by faith communities to life in the UK and said she was proud to live in a country where faith groups were free to do this.
The new policy is not prescriptive, but is intended to facilitate and support the work of regional and local inter-faith bodies.
Three core principles
The document makes it clear that there are three core principles that underpin this new framework.
- Partnership: valuing the contributions made by partners
- Empowerment: people and government working together to make life better
- Choice: local communities deciding what’s best for them
Four building blocks of the Framework
- Developing the confidence and skills to “bridge” and “link”
- Share space for interaction
- Structures and processes which support dialogue and social action
- Opportunities for learning which build understanding
Faiths in Action fund
A new three-year fund of £7.5m has been launched to support local initiatives linked to one of the four building blocks. National, regional or local organizations in England will be able to apply.
Exciting new development
There’s no doubt that this is an exciting and valuable development in the relationship between our government and the faith communities in England. (I should explain that relationships between government and faith communities in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are handled by their respective devolved governments.)
Risks
There are risks. The smell of money and the imbalance of power between government and religious organizations – particularly the smallish organizations at local and regional level – may distort the work of the faith organizations. these bodies may allow themselves to be driven entirely by the government’s agenda and run the risk of losing their critical independence.
One person with long and widely respected inter-faith experience has referred to this as the “governmentalization” of religion. Of course, one of the government’s major concerns is community cohesion, and faiths can either make a huge contribution to cohesion or they can seriously damage it. So it is understandable that the government would wish to encourage faith communities to work together. And so much the better if government and faith communities can understand and respect each other’s priorities. Neither should become assimilated in the other.
Having said that, I really must complement the team of officials in Communities and Local Government who handle faith issues on having produced a policy document that will open up all sorts of possibilities for faith communities and inter-faith bodies to contribute to the good of society. This is something of which the Bahá’í community can wholeheartedly approve.
Unity in diversity
One of the great thrills of being part of the audience of over 300 at the launch was the sense of being part of a diverse body of people who were united in welcoming the Government’s determination to build a good working relationship with the faith communities.
When I arrived at the launch I immediately found myself amongst many of my friends in the inter-faith world. One of the great bounties of being engaged in inter-faith work is the genuine fellowship that grows through working and dialoguing together. I always look forward to seeing my Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jain, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh and Zoroastrian friends.
Download it here
You can download Face to Face and Side by Side here.
Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, inter-faith, dialogue, Face to Face, government, Blears, Communities and Local Government
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This is a really good initiative. To some extent I share the concerns, but the more that can be done to bring the work of different faiths closer, the better. I guess there’s always a sense of Government ‘interference’ but on the other hand, I for one tend to complain when nothing is done, so I guess they can’t win.
I’ll be interested to download and read the strategy document. It will probably help with the diversity programme I’m helping to run at work, as well.
Hi, Tess, thanks for your comment. I think the government has taken a good step here and the good outweighs the risks.
Ciara Wells, Anna Cummins and the faiths team at CLG deserve praise for their work.
I shall be interested to know what you think once you’ve read the document, Tess.
Barney, your sharing of this document as well as your comments are extremely helpful and useful. It will be interesting to see what the Northern Ireland Assembly will come up with WHEN they finally come out with their new ‘Cohesion, Sharing and Integration’ strategy. Will it contain anything regarding interfaith work? A separate interfaith strategy will no doubt have to be something for the further future in this land. We shall see – this is a particular challenge here.
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