Category — Religion and politics

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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Birth of the National Health Service

I can’t think why I’ve only just realized that I was born before the National Health Service came into being. Now, that may not strike non-UK readers as important, but those of us who’ve lived with and been treated by the NHS most or all of our lives are very happy that this extraordinary social institution is still with us after 60 years.

I was born in December 1947. My parents would have had to pay the hospital where I was born for its services. Now our medical treatment is free at the point of use.

The NHS was conceived in the middle of the Second World War, when Britain was almost on its economic knees. Before this visionary new service was born - on 5 July 1948, at a time of extraordinary privation for the British people - people who could afford it (including my parents) paid for medical treatment, and those who couldn’t afford it went without.

Women queuing for food in the severe winter of 1947

Despite all the NHS’s faults and weaknesses, I am grateful for the vision of William Beveridge and the determination Aneurin Bevan, health minister in the 1945 Labour government to ensure that…

…everybody, irrespective of means, age, sex or occupation shall have equal opportunity to benefit from the best and most up-to-date medical and allied services available.

Of course, the NHS has never fully lived up to this promise, but as a retired GP who qualified as a doctor on the day the NHS began has commented:

Nobody realised how much unknown sickness there was until the NHS began. So many people just could not afford to go to the doctor. The new service uncovered a huge cavern of unmet need. There was an unprecedented rush to the GPs with problems people had been putting off for years. Before the NHS, healthcare in this country was a disaster, particularly if you were poor.

If you want to read the history of this great social invention, you can download Sixty Years of the National Health Service from the Department of Health website.

Celebration in Westminster Abbey

So around 2,000 of us - doctors, nurses, chaplains, patients, administrators, and many more - came to Westminster Abbey yesterday afternoon - to celebrate the NHS’s 60th birthday.

Prince Charles was there. The Prime Minister was there. And I was there, oh yes, I was there representing the UK Bahá’í community (I am one of two Bahá’í members of the Multi Faith Group for Healthcare Chaplaincy), and sitting next to Sikh, Muslim and Jewish friends.

Westminster Abbey has a grand way with these ceremonial occasions - processions, robes, choir, music, solemn language - and yesterday’s service was no exception.

(I was part of the small “other faiths” procession. It’s an awe-inspiring experience to follow a verger at the stately processional pace favoured by the Church of England through the Nave and into the Quire of this place where God has been worshipped by Christians for over a thousand years - although this particular building was begun in 1245 - watched by the congregation, who surely must have wondered at this motley group of besuited and unrobed men, one in a turban and one with a Jewish kippah.)

Reasons to be thankful

In his address the Rt Revd Michael Perham, Bishop of Gloucester and Chairman of the Hospital Chaplaincies Council, highlighted four reasons to be thankful on this occasion:

The first is that the National Health Service happened at all. It was a brave and visionary social revolution emerging, surprisingly, out of a world of post-war austerity. It was opposed by most of the professionals who would have to work within it. Its background was economic hardship and entrenched opposition. Yet it came into being, promoted by courageous politicians, and it was not very long before it was the pride and joy of the nation and the envy of the world. Give thanks!

The second is that it has continued to evolve, responding to radical change - not so much radical change imposed by politicians and administrators (though, of course, there has been that), but radical change brought about by medical advance and by new insights within the medical profession…

The third reason to rejoice is the huge satisfaction and pride that the people of this country still have in the Health Service. Politicians, challenging one another, rightly always want to get it better. Newspapers sometimes run horror stories of things that go wrong. Some people have a raw deal. This week’s BBC poll on the NHS found that 82% of people were still proud of the NHS and half of those still saw it as the envy of the world. I’d give a lot for a vote of confidence like that. Give thanks!

The fourth reason to celebrate? Simply this - and it’s hugely important. The Health Service work-force deserves honour and praise. Health care “professional” - I use the word in its widest meaning, doctors of many kinds, nurses of many kinds, administrators of many kinds, support workers of many kinds, chaplains of many faiths - continue to be people of dedication, continue to exercise care and compassion towards their patients. “Honour physicians for their services . . the skill of physicians makes them distinguished,” says the writer of Ecclesiasticus, and we need to widen that honouring of those who care for the sick and work for health to include the entire profession. For the people of the NHS, give thanks!

However,

That profound sense of thankfulness needs to be set against the inevitable difficulties that have been encountered as the NHS has tried to respond to change over the years. Nor will the difficulties vanish away, however much we try to anticipate change.

What of the future?

Bishop Michael’s conclusion contains wise words:

There is much that a future NHS will need that is beyond the knowledge of a bishop! There is probably much that is beyond the imagination of most of us. Our forebears in 1948, for all their vision, cannot have pictured the advances and the changes that we have seen. But I think I do know that, if the National Health Service is to continue to serve, it will need to hold on to two timeless truths.

• The human person is a wonderful combination of the physical, the mental, the social and the spiritual, a divine design beyond compare.

• To heal the sick and to make people healthy is a vocation, a collaboration with the God from whom all health and wholeness comes.

Reception

So, the service finished and we all ceremoniously recessed to the Great West Door. Outside in the Sanctuary, the Abbey bells rang through the light, persistent, rain. The congregation hoisted their umbrellas and trooped across the road into the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre for sandwiches, scones, tea, a speech by Alan Johnson, the Secretary of State for Health.

And for a song by soprano Lesley Garrett, who is married to a GP.

When he launched the NHS, Nye Bevan said:

We shall never have all we need. Expectations will always exceed capacity… The NHS must always be changing, growing and improving. It must always appear inadequate.

No wonder Lesley Garrett sang “To Dream the Impossible Dream”!

Technorati Tags: NHS, National Health Service, Westminster Abbey, 60th anniversary, Christian, Baha’i, Sikh, Muslim, chaplaincy

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I had the interesting experience last week of being telephoned by a government minister to alert me to something that is to be included in forthcoming legislation.

Barbara Follett MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary in the Government Equalities Office, phoned ahead of the publication last Thursday of the statement by Harriet Harman MP, Framework for a Fairer Future - The Equality Bill, to let me know that the government intended to extend the public sector equality duty to cover religion and belief.

Equality Bill

The Equality Bill will contain a new streamlined Equality Duty to replace the race, disability and gender equality duties, which will also cover gender reassignment, age, sexual orientation and religion or belief.

What this means in practice is that the duty will require public bodies to consider how their policies, programmes and services affect different disadvantaged groups in the community. We will be discussing with relevant organisations how the new duty will work in practice, especially in relation to religion or belief.

Avoiding unforeseen consequences

So why did Barbara Follett phone me? I can think of two possible reasons. First, I represent the UK Bahá’í community on the governent’s Faith Communities Consultative Council. Secondly, I chair the Religion and Belief Consultative Group on Equality, Diversity and Human Rights. The RBCG includes representatives of the major faiths, of the British Humanist Association and the National Secular Society, and thus is a good point of contact with the relevant organizations in the religion and belief “strand”.

And why was she phoning anyone in the religion and belief field ahead of Harriet Harman’s announcement? The clue is in the last few words I’ve quoted above from the Framework for a Fairer Future document. The government is anxious, Barbara Follett said, to avoid unforeseen consequences and perverse outcomes from the extended public sector duty.

Religion in the public square

Not everyone likes the increasing prominence of religion in the public square in the UK and the proposed new measure will no doubt prompt heated debates in groups - such as the RBCG - which bring together people from both religious and non-religious belief organizations.

I can understand why the government is anxious about the impact of what their proposing on the religion and belief sector. They have previous when it comes to legislation that affects the place of religion in public life.

Legal exceptions

This certainly was the case when the 2006 Equality Act was being debated in and out of parliament before it reached the statute books.

One of the sticky areas at that time was the question of exceptions included in the draft legislation to allow religious groups to discriminate in favour of their own members in employment and the provision of goods and services when necessary to preserve the ethos of their faith.

Many of the religious bodies argued that the exceptions were necessary to allow them to continue to follow the tenets and practices of their faiths. The secularists argued that the exceptions privileged the religions - whom they see as minority interests in society - to act in unfair ways, both towards their own members and towards others.

Equality principles

From the Bahá’í perspective what Harriet Harman says in her ministerial foreword to Framework for a Fairer Future is pretty close to the mark:

Everyone has the right to be treated fairly and to have the opportunity to fulfil their potential, but equality is not just right in principle.

This Government is, and always has been, the champion of equality in public policy and in representation in our democratic institutions.

Our commitment to equality is based on the belief that equality is:

• necessary for the individual – it is a basic right to be free from prejudice and discrimination;
• necessary for society – an unequal society can’t be at ease with itself, an equal society gives greater social cohesion;…

This agenda is for everyone, because fairness is the foundation for individual rights, a society at ease with itself, and a prosperous economy.

It will be very interesting to see how the Equality Bill is shaped and re-shaped as the public and parliamentary debates continue. It’s certainly on the agenda for the next meeting of the RBCG.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Barbara Follett, Harriet Harman, Equality Bill, religion and belief, legislation, equality, Government Equalities Office

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Baha’i World News Service reported on the Baha’i reception to celebrate the Festival of Ridván in the House of Commons:

One of the messages presented by Ruth Banda, Jenna Nicholas and Collis Tahzib, all members of the Baha’i Faith, and their friend Lavina Hassasing, was that there is a difference between the principle of human rights and the reality of human rights.

“As the ideals of human rights become more mainstream, we hope that our generation can play its part to fulfil the promise of dignity and equality for all,” Miss Nicholas, 18, told the 100-strong audience, which included members of Parliament and the House of Lords, and representatives of the media, various faith communities, and nongovernmental organizations.

“As young citizens at the beginning of a new century, my friends and I have reflected on what the values enshrined in the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights mean to us today in a world much more connected than it was in 1948,” she said. “As a young Baha’i, I recognize in the two key concepts of equal rights and dignity, the secular expression of the ideas I acknowledge within my faith.”

“I was born in the country of Zambia,” Miss Hassasing, 20, told the guests, “and across my home country and indeed the African continent, social and economic rights are fundamental to the ability of people in exercising civil and political rights. Without an education, it is more difficult to participate meaningfully in political processes…. Many girls are denied the opportunity to an education. In many families, particularly in rural areas, parents opt to educate their male children while they prepare the female children for marriage.”

Miss Banda, also 20, who studied with Miss Hassasing in Zambia, added:
“Having had the opportunity to go to an international school that promotes education (for girls), we hope to help others realize what they as human beings are entitled to.”

“The record of some states in guaranteeing rights for their own citizens remains ultimately woefully inadequate and lamentably defective,” said Collis Tahzib, who is 15. “It falls to our generation to realize the promise of human rights.”

They delivered their speeches clearly, professionally, and from the heart.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Ridvan, House of Commons, human rights

Here are a couple of pictures from our recent Ridván reception on the terrace of the House of Commons. They both show Lembit Opik MP, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Friends of the Bahá’ís, with the four Bahá’í youth who spoke so eloquently about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Ridvan, House of Commons, parliament, Lembit Opik

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Lembit Opik MP, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Friends of the Bahá’ís read out the following messages of greeting to the UK Bahá’í community at our Ridván reception on the House of Commons Terrace last night.

Message from the Prime Minister

I would like to express my respect and admiration to those attending this reception, and the wider Baha’í community which makes an important contribution to British life. I very much recognise and welcome those of the Baha’í faith as a distinguished and valuable part of our rich and multi-cultural society.

The Baha’í community has a long, proud and respected tradition and contributes much to today’s Britain. Your faith includes a clear obligation to work towards religious tolerance and respect for other faiths, an aim shared by both myself and a wide range of different communities across Britain.

I commend you for promoting and understanding and explorations of your faith to wider British society. The Baha’í community can be proud of its success in working to foster cohesive and integrated communities.

[Signed] The Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP, the Prime Minister

Message from the Leader of the Opposition

I am delighted to send my best wishes to everyone attending the All Party Parliamentary Friends of the Bahá’ís Group reception to mark the festival of Ridván. I would like to take this opportunity to also send my best wishes to the wider Bahá’í community in the UK.

Not only is Ridván an important time for communal prayers and celebration, and for electing local governing councils, but it can also be a time for reflection on the principles which the Bahá’í community holds dear. These principles include unity, the promotion of social justice, a belief in the importance of family life, and a concern for the environment. I know that you will also be thinking of your co-religionists elsewhere who may be facing persecution because of their beliefs.

May I once again send my good wishes to you and your families at this time.

[Signed] The Rt Hon David Cameron MP, Leader of the Opposition

Message from the Leader of the Liberal Democrats

I would like to take this opportunity to wish the Baha’í community in the United Kingdom and your guests a very happy Ridvan. I am sure that this celebration will help raise awareness of the issues facing the Baha’í community and that you will have a wonderful evening.

[Signed] The Rt Hon Nick Clegg, Leader of the Liberal Democrats

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Ridvan, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Nick Clegg

Lembit Opik MP brought his charming Cheeky Girl, Gaby, to our Ridván reception on the House of Commons terrace last night. Lembit may be a “character”, but he is also a key member (and Chair) of the All Party Parliamentary Friends of the Bahá’ís and our host for the evening. Actually, Lembit was the first MP to take an active role in forming the group and supporting our parliamentary work in defence of the Bahá’ís in Iran.

If Lembit were to lose his parliamentary seat of Montgomeryshire he could take up a new career as a stand-up comedian. He’s a funny guy and tells a good gag, as he did last night. But he’s also very serious about his relationship with the Bahá’ís and about defending the human rights of the Bahá’ís in Iran and he paid considerable compliments to the community in the UK and around the world.

He also read out messages of greeting for Ridván from the Prime Minister, from David Cameron MP (Leader of the Opposition) and from Nick Clegg MP, Leader of the Liberal Democrats.

We had a good turnout of MPs last night, but sadly not so many of our other friends as in previous years. A pity; they missed a good jazz combo - all Bahá’ís from the north of England - as well as stunningly good speeches about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (it’s the 60th anniversary of the UDHR and we were launching our year’s programme to mark the anniversary) from four young Bahá’ís (the youngest was a 14-year-old Iranian boy whose own family have suffered persecution in Iran), including two who had been educated at a Bahá’í school in Tanzania.

It was all great fun and I was able to have some excellent conversations, including an enjoyable discussion with Simon Hughes MP, who asked some very good questions about the Bahá’í community and Bahá’í elections.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Ridvan, House of Commons, parliament, Lembit Opik, Cheeky Girls, Simon Hughes

The Seat of the Universal House of Justice, Haifa, Israel

Religion, politics and power

Welcome to a new series of occasional posts on the theme of religion, politics and power. Religion is becoming ever more prominent for good and ill in the public square. Questions about the relationship of religion, politics and power are increasingly important and demand answers. The Bahá’í sacred texts and commentaries have some interesting insights into these questions.

Ridván and Bahá’í elections

The Ridván season in the Bahá’í calendar prompts some thoughts about politics and religion.

Why? Well this is the time of year when Bahá’ís across the world elect their local and national governing councils. And this year is a special one. In less than a week’s time, members of the world’s National Spiritual Assemblies (the national governing councils) will converge on the Bahá’í World Centre in Haifa, Israel, to take part in electing the Universal House of Justice, the Bahá’í community’s international council.

Religion and identity politics

Religion is becoming ever more salient as a marker of identity. At the same time, we live in an era of identity politics, a time when people campaign and vote on the basis of presumed group identities and interests. Congruence of identity based on ethnicity, religion, sexual preference, gender and so on, is seen as more important than ideas or policies. And more important than personal qualities, such as integrity, honesty, trustworthiness, capacity to contribute effectively to parliament and government.

To put it crudely, people vote for a candidate because he or she is one of “us” and not one of “them”. At its worst, identity politics can descend into an exclusivist politics of the tribe. The needs of humankind as a whole are then ignored in favour of the sectional interests of groups. Universalism gives way to particularism.

This paper by Tufyal Choudhury of Durham University (published by the Department of Communities and Local Government in April 2007) has some interesting findings about the function of identity politics for Muslims.

Does religion have any place in a secular democracy?

This interview in New Statesman with Tom Wright, Bishop of Durham shows that evangelical Christians also have some strong things to say in the political realm:

[Read more →]

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It seems that one Iranian news site, Tabnak, is no longer accusing the Baha’is of carrying out the explosion in the Shiraz mosque.

Nope. It now says Bahais are so pleasure-seeking and chicken-hearted that they don’t even dare to identify themselves, let alone to plot a terrorist attack.

I’m confused now! Are we Baha’is the bombers or are we wimps?

Funny thing, when you come to think about it. Fifty-four chicken-hearted Baha’is in Shiraz, who, apparently, didn’t dare to identify themselves, were such pleasure seekers that they got themselves arrested for running an educational project for under-privileged Muslim children. The intelligence services in Shiraz must be clairvoyant.

You can find the story here, but only if you can read Farsi. Hat-tip to Erfan.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Iran, Shiraz, mosque, explosion

Could the Baha’is in Shiraz be scapegoated for Saturday night’s explosion in the Hosseynieh Seyed al-Shohada Mosque in Shiraz? It would be quite convenient for the authorities and the ill-wishers of the Baha’is.

This story on the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty website states that some observers are concerned that the Baha’is might be blamed for the explosion. Hojatoleslam Mohammad Enjavinejad, the mosque’s main cleric and leader of Friday prayers, regularly preaches against the Baha’i Faith and against Wahhabism.

Apparently Enjavinejad told Kayhan, a newspaper that is generally regarded as an Iranian government mouthpiece:

We believe that it’s possible that Baha’is had a hand in this.

Various listeners to Radio Farda have expressed concern about the possibility that attempts may be made to blame the Baha’is. One caller said:

For now the police forces are trying to portray this as an accident, on the other hand they’re pretending they’re the victims by showing the injured and dead. It seems that they want to use this in the right moment for their benefit; it means that because of what was being said against our dear Baha’is in the meetings [in the mosque] they want to put the blame on the Baha’is.

Fifty-four Baha’is, aged between 18 and 37 were arrested in Shiraz in May 2006. They had been involved in an educational programme for underprivileged children in the city for which they had official permits.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Islam, mosque, explosion, Shiraz, Iran