Comment by Harborough churches: Inter Faith Week offers us a chance to explore the richness and diversity of lived our faiths

Viewpoint by Janet Smith, chair of Churches Together in Harborough

This week is Inter Faith Week. It has its roots in a 2008 government document, ‘Face to Face and Side by Side,’ which set out the strategy for encouraging the development of inter faith activity. Working alongside the Inter Faith Network for the UK and its member bodies, the first week took place in 2009.

The success of that, which saw faith communities, schools, universities, local authorities, and other organisations participating in a range of inter faith activities, from sports, discussions and walks to concerts, pilgrimages, and exhibitions, has enabled it to go from strength to strength.

The aims of the week are threefold. First, to strengthen good inter faith relations at all levels, secondly to increase awareness of the different and distinctive faith communities in the UK, in particular celebrating and building on the contribution which their members make to their neighbourhoods and to wider society, and thirdly to increase understanding between people of religious and non-religious beliefs (www.interfaithweek.org).

Personally, I have always enjoyed participating in inter faith activity and over many years teaching RE have experienced rich and varied opportunities to do so. These include visits to diverse places of worship, listening to people describe how faith impacts their life, being part of INFORM, a charity providing accurate and up to date information about minority religions, as well as engaging in discussion across common topics like the environment or prayer.

Such opportunities have taught me to cherish the things that as a Christian I hold dear. But also to acknowledge the things I hold in common with my brothers and sisters across different faiths and always to ask questions about the things I do not understand, in an attempt to explore the richness and diversity of lived faith experience.

As part of that inaugural Inter Faith Week in 2009, the UK’s Faith Community Leaders signed a statement, which in part said, ‘while our great religious traditions are distinct in belief and practice, there is much that unites us. We will draw on fundamental values held in common and on the wisdom of our respective faith traditions to continue to work – as individual communities together – for the wellbeing of our society, our wider global community and the planet that is our home.’

Last year saw most of the activities move online because of the pandemic, but this year there are many activities happening across the country. I hope to participate in a ‘Faith to Faith’ walk in Leicester organised by the excellent St. Philip’s Centre, which has long been involved in building inter faith relationships. Why not take time out this week to learn more about a faith of which you know nothing, or begin a journey to discover that diversity and difference can offer a richness of experience that is second to none?

Janet Smith is Chair of Churches Together in Harborough