Jaseep Singh Degun and Ushna Moghal of the Yorkshire and Humber Youth Interfaith Council addressing the IFN National Meeting

More and more people are doing it! Inter-faith dialogue is on the up here in the UK.

And this is not just amongst religious leaders and followers. Inter-faith increasingly prominent in the public realm in the UK. Following public consultation on its Face-to-Face and Side-by-Side: A Framework for Inter Faith Dialogue and Social Action document, the government is soon to launch its own inter-faith strategy with a focus on shared social action (i.e. faith communities working together side-by-side) at local and regional levels.

Of course, “side-by-side” shared social action is very important, but some faith practitioners are beginning to fear that the more traditional forms of “face-to-face” and, more importantly, “heart-to-heart” inter-faith dialogue are in danger of being washed away by the streams of funding that support the “side-by-side” work.

Why is “face-to-face” dialogue important?

More and more of us live in towns and cities, and those cities - London, New York, Sydney, Buenos Aires, and many others - are drawing in followers of all the world’s faiths and cultures.

If these increasingly diverse societies are to hang together, we have to learn to understand each other’s beliefs (whether religious or non-religious) and practices. Dialogue is a crucial way of building that understanding and is a foundation for mutual respect (even where we disagree with each other).

Inter Faith Network conference

This is why yesterday’s national meeting of the Inter Faith Network for the UK addressed the theme “Face to Face and Heart to Heart”: People of Faith in Dialogue.

Representatives of national, regional and local inter-faith bodies joined Baha’is, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jains, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs and Zoroastrians in Glaziers’ Hall, across the Thames from the City, hard by London Bridge, to discuss the role of inter-faith dialogue in the 21st century.

IFN Director Harriet Crabtree opened the day by drawing a word-picture of what she called “the dialogical landscape”.

Five kinds of dialogue

Harriet listed five kinds of dialogue that are taking place in this country:

• Encounters and dialogue in everyday life: people from different faiths may, for example, find themselves working together and begin to talk to each other about their beliefs and their practices.
• Dialogue in local inter-faith bodies: this kind of dialogue may be more structured; people of different faiths may be invited to give short presentations about their religions.
• Dialogue in schools, colleges and universities.
• Formal dialogue between faith communities, supported by national faith leaders and often carried out at national level. Sometimes several faiths may be involved, sometimes three, sometimes two.
• Dialogue on social issues: this is happening increasingly between faith communities and central, regional and local government.

Dialogue - a pioneering business

“Dialogue is a risky, pioneering business,” said David Gifford, Chief Executive of the Council of Christians and Jews, an organization with more than 60 years of experience in inter-faith dialogue. “It is not easy.”

Dialogue, said Dr Gifford, is built on a foundation of relationships of trust and respect. We can achieve trusting and respectful relationships only if we meet reasonably often, if we start with the basics and break down misconceptions we may have about other faiths, and if we start from where we are, rather than trying to solve the big problems right at the outset.

And we need to learn some skills if we are to have a genuine dialogue, rather than a series of statements and counter-statements from people of different faiths. There has to be genuine engagement and a willingness to learn from each other. These skills are not always easy and one of the most essential and most challenging skills is listening.

“Dialogue is a journey, not a destination,” concluded Dr Gifford, “and we need to start with small steps.”

Experience from the faiths

Dr Nawal Prinja, Co-Chair of the Inter Faith Network, shared Hindu thoughts and experience of dialogue. “Sisters and Brothers of America,” the opening words of Swami Vivekananda’s speech to the World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893 (where, incidentally, the Bahá’í Faith was publicly mentioned for the first time in the West), sum up the Hindu approach, said Dr Prinja. Hindu belief is that the earth is one family, he said, and he argued that the spiritual must be balanced with the practical and political if dialogue is to be effective.

Sughra Ahmed, Adviser on Women and Faith and a Research Fellow at the Islamic Foundation, gave a fascinating and inspiring presentation about a course she had developed and coordinated to help Muslim women engage in inter-faith initiatives. The women on the course learned more about Islam and about other faiths and non-religious beliefs; they also learned about existing inter-faith structures and organizations; and they worked on their personal and social skills.

The women had to make a considerable commitment to take part. One woman who travelled regularly from Cardiff to Leicester for the course had never driven on the motorway before and overcame her fear of this to get to Markfield. Sughra said that when this woman arrived for the first residential of the course, she gave Sughra a big hug and thanked her for empowering her to travel on her own in this way. “I didn’t do anything,” said Sughra, “I just set the conditions for the course and this woman was motivated to do something she’d never done before.”

Sadly the government funding for the course is no longer available, but the course led to the launch of the Women in Faith Network, which supports Muslim women as they engage in inter-faith dialogue.

By building a culture of encouragement and accompanimet, Sughra helped build skills and confidence in a group of people who might not otherwise think of inter-faith dialogue as something they could do.

Youth and inter-faith dialogue

Jaseep Singh Degun, a Sikh, and Ushan Moghal, a Roman Catholic (see picture above) spoke with great enthusiasm and excitement about the Yorkshire and Humber Youth Interfaith Council, which was launched last year and is linked to the work of the Yorkshire and Humber Faiths Forum.

Jasdeep, who is 16, is the Chair of the Youth Interfaith Council.

So much of the inter-faith work that is going on in the UK is undertaken by “mature” people (like me). It’s wonderful when young people take the lead and it is essential that they do so if dialogue is to continue and expand.

The landscape is changing

The dialogical landscape has changed a great deal in the last five years or so, certainly in the UK. We’ve seen the arrival of lots of new inter-faith initiatives. New people are getting involved. Some of these new initiatives are criss-crossing and overlapping in ways that can be quite confusing for those who are not familiar with the whole field. The smaller faith communities are anxious inequality in dialogue - they’re afraid that they’re being left out of the new initiatives. Dialogue between people with religious and non-religious beliefs is getting going. And government is becoming ever more involved in the whole scene.

“Soundings” programme

The Inter Faith Network needs to find ways of navigating the new scenery. To this end, Harriet Crabtree announced the launch of the “Soundings” programme, the Network’s new venture of discussions amongst invited individuals from different faiths about a number of the features of the changing landscape. These discussions will start in the autumn and continue over the next two or three years.

Reflections

I found much to think about from yesterday’s presentations and discussions. There’s no doubt that inter-faith dialogue is alive and healthy in the UK, but it will have to be nimble to deal with the changes and challenges that will face those involved in dialogue over the coming years.

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