Report from the Inter Faith Network UK AGM

held on the 27th of June 2005 in Coventry

By Bonnie Evans-Hills

Imam Sajid and myself, accompanied by Mary-Jane Burkett who works with asylum-seekers and refugees in our city, attended this very engaging and effective conference. It centred around the engagement of children and young people in inter faith dialogue and was sponsored by the Cohesion & Faiths Unit of the Home Office.

Harriet Crabtree, the deputy director, outlined the various work being done in this area, including work in the universities of Warwick, London and Cambridge, the work and encouragement of the various SACRE's across the country, especially with regard to a new national framework for RE, the United Religions Initiative to get elders and youth of various faiths together, media and radio work, the Coventry-based Minorities of Europe and the Birmingham Council of Faiths Youth Council.

We heard from various young people involved in dialogue in universities and elsewhere. One particularly interesting project is taking place in Scotland , where a city development officer along with members of each faith community gathered young people from those communities for an 'interfaith planning retreat.' During these days together (on Holy Island ) the young people got to know one another, broke down barriers and suspicions, and brain-stormed ideas about how to best get young people to engage in dialogue. They organised talks in schools and universities as well as community events and exhibitions.

In the afternoon we broke into groups for smaller workshops. The one I attended discussed inter faith dialogue among university students. Students from various universities shared their experiences, what works, and what is cause for tension. It was particularly important that these articulate and intelligent young people could express hope while recognising tension and its accompanying pain does enter our work at times.

Graham Langtree, RE Adviser at the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, spoke to the proposed national curriculum for Religious Education, pointing out that it is not just facts about various practices and traditions of the various religions that students, and the larger society, need to learn, but also about how to cope with questions of ethical and moral import, and how these questions relate to the various religions.

There was much food for thought at the end of the day - and much to talk about when planning some of our upcoming events! I came away with quite a bit of material and would be glad to share details with anyone interested.