Interfaith Week 2009

What’s happening?

Interfaith Week is a government backed project which is being administered by the Inter Faith Network for the UK. It was first discussed in the government paper Face to Face and Side by Side: A Framework for Partnership in our Multi Faith Society. It took place from 15 to 21 November 2009 across England, with a national launch event on 12 November. It was a week of activity designed to:

• “strengthen good inter faith relations at all levels in our increasingly diverse society;

• encourage local faith groups and communities to reach out to each other and build stronger bonds of understanding and cooperation;

• increase awareness of the different and distinct faith communities in the UK, with a particular focus on the contribution which their members make to their neighbourhoods and to wider society;

• to gain positive profile for inter faith initiatives, locally, regionally and nationally, as well as for the overall work of building good inter faith relations

• increase understanding between people of religious and non-religious beliefs

• encourage the development of new partnerships within local communities and by faith communities with statutory and third sector partners.” www.interfaithweek.org

What is the BHA view?

We believe it is legitimate for a government concerned with community cohesion to reach out to all manner of groups, including faith groups, when appropriate. The bias towards religion in the present agenda of dialogue is, however, unacceptable to us.

If community cohesion work in context of ‘religion or belief’ is confined to interfaith work (which by its very nature almost always excludes non-religious organisations and individuals) there is a danger of the following outcomes:

• Distortion of the ‘religion or belief’ field of equality work.

• Disproportionate funding and support for religious organisations.

• Growth of myths, stereotypes and divisions in civil society leading to mistrust between religious and non-religious people.

• Problems of representation: many, even the majority, of those who identify as being of a particular ‘religion or belief’ may not be practising and thus may not have any contact with their faith ‘representative’.

This may lead to:

• Lack of community cohesion at a local level.

• Difficulties for Local Authorities when trying to coordinate interfaith work with ‘religion or belief’ work as defined by law and the Equality Framework for Local Government.

• Over-representation of religious influence in local government policy consultations.

For these reasons, the BHA regrets that the Department for Communities and Local Government (which is supporting the week) is taking such an exclusive approach. The BHA would rather see a week that is aimed at celebrating or supporting the voluntary sector as a whole or a week which encourages local communities to come together around shared local issues rather than one aspect of identity.

But...

The BHA notes that one of the aims of the week is to increase understanding between religious and non-religious individuals and believes that it would be counter-productive for the BHA to refuse to engage with the week entirely.

In addition, the BHA supports groups and individuals who take part in ‘religion or belief’ equality work and dialogue work at a local level as humanists, particularly through our Local Development Project.

The BHA supports the idea of open debate and interactive discussion regarding many of the issues which Interfaith Week will be exploring. We therefore feel that it is important that the non-religious voice is heard in these discussions.

What are we doing?

Centrally, the BHA took part in a number of events during the week. We organised an event ourselves and we also co-hosted a closed event with the Inter Faith Network for the UK. We suggested speakers for other events and encouraged all our affiliated groups and local volunteers to get involved in inclusive activities.

The BHA is particularly concerned that the week does not celebrate the contribution to the voluntary and community sector that is made by non-religious individuals and organisations. Over the course of the week, the BHA therefore released 5 case studies detailing projects or events which have involved people from all different religion or belief backgrounds in an open and neutral way.