MemberOrganisationsoftheInterFaithNetwork 2007 08 The ...Jain Samaj Europe Jamiat-e-Ulama Britain...

The Inter Faith Network for the UK2006-2007 AN N UAL RE VI EW

The Network is a registered charity No. 1068934 and a company

limited by guarantee No. 3443823 registered in England.

The Inter Faith Network for the UK8A Lower Grosvenor Place London SW1W 0ENTel: 020 7931 7766 Fax: 020 7931 7722Email: [email protected] Web: www.interfaith.org.uk

Faith Community Representative BodiesArya Pratinidhi Sabha (UK)Baha’i Community of the United KingdomBoard of Deputies of British JewsBritish Muslim ForumThe Buddhist SocietyChurches Agency for Inter Faith Relations

in ScotlandChurches Together in Britain and IrelandChurches Together in EnglandCommittee for Other Faiths, Catholic Bishops’

Conference of England and WalesCouncil of African and Afro-Caribbean

Churches (UK)Friends of the Western Buddhist OrderHindu Council (UK)Hindu Forum of BritainImams and Mosques Council (UK)Islamic Cultural Centre, Regents Park, LondonJain Samaj EuropeJamiat-e-Ulama Britain (Association of

Muslim Scholars)Muslim Council of BritainNational Council of Hindu TemplesNetwork of Buddhist Organisations (UK)Network of Sikh Organisations (UK)Quaker Committee for Christian and

Interfaith RelationsSri Lankan Sangha Sabha of GBSwaminarayan Hindu MissionUnitarian and Free Christian ChurchesInterfaith SubcommitteeVishwa Hindu Parishad (UK)World Ahlul-Bayt Islamic LeagueWorld Islamic Mission (UK)Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe

Inter Faith OrganisationsNorthern Ireland Inter Faith ForumScottish Inter Faith CouncilInter Faith Council for Wales/Cyngor

Cyd-Ffydd CymruEast of England Faiths CouncilFaiths Forum for the East MidlandsNorthwest Forum of FaithsSouth East of England Faiths ForumSouth West Council of FaithsWest Midlands Faiths ForumYorkshire and Humber Faiths ForumAlif Aleph UKChristian Muslim ForumChristians Aware Interfaith ProgrammeCouncil of Christians and JewsEast of England Faiths AgencyInterfaith FoundationInternational Association for Religious

Freedom (British Chapter)

International Interfaith CentreJoseph Interfaith FoundationLondon Society of Jews and ChristiansMinorities of Europe Inter Faith Action

ProgrammeReligions for Peace (UK Chapter)St Ethelburga’s Centre for Peace

and ReconciliationSt Philip’s Centre for Study and Engagement

in a Multi Faith SocietyThree Faiths ForumUnited Religions Initiative (Britain and Ireland)Westminster InterfaithWorld Congress of Faiths

Educational and Academic BodiesCambridge Inter-Faith ProgrammeCentre for Christianity and Interreligious

Dialogue, Heythrop College, University ofLondon

Centre for the Study of Islam andChristian-Muslim Relations

Community Religions Project, University of LeedsInstitute of JainologyIslamic FoundationMulti-Faith Centre at the University of DerbyNational Association of SACRE’sReligious Education Council for England and WalesShap Working Party on World Religions in

EducationSion Centre for Dialogue and EncounterWoolf Institute of Abrahamic Faiths

Local Inter Faith GroupsAltrincham Inter Faith GroupBarnet Multi Faith ForumBedford Council of FaithsBirmingham Council of FaithsBlackburn with Darwen Interfaith CouncilBlackpool Faith ForumBolton Interfaith CouncilBradford Concord Interfaith SocietyBradford District Faiths ForumBrent Inter FaithBrent Multifaith ForumBrighton and Hove Inter-Faith Contact GroupBristol Inter Faith GroupBurnley Building BridgesCalderdale Interfaith CouncilCambridge Inter-Faith GroupCanterbury and District Inter Faith ActionCardiff Interfaith AssociationCoventry Multi Faith ForumCrawley Interfaith NetworkDerby Open Centre Multi-Faith GroupForum of Faiths for DerbyDudley Borough Interfaith Network

Gateshead Inter Faith ForumGloucestershire Inter Faith ActionGreenwich Multi-Faith ForumHarrow Inter Faith CouncilHorsham Interfaith ForumHounslow Friends of FaithHuddersfield Interfaith CouncilIslington Faiths ForumKeighley Interfaith GroupLancashire Forum of FaithsLeeds Concord Interfaith FellowshipLeeds Faith Communities Liaison ForumLeicester Council of FaithsLoughborough Council of FaithsLuton Council of FaithsFaith Network for ManchesterMedway Inter Faith ActionMerseyside Council of FaithsMiddlesbrough Council of FaithsInterfaith MK (Milton Keynes)Moseley Inter Faith GroupNewham Association of FaithsNewcastle Council of FaithsNewham Faith Sector ForumNorth Kirklees Inter-Faith CouncilNorth Staffordshire Forum of FaithsNorthampton Faiths ForumNottingham Inter Faith CouncilOldham Inter Faith ForumOxford Round Table of ReligionsBuilding Bridges (Pendle)Peterborough Inter-Faith CouncilPortsmouth Interfaith ForumPreston Faith ForumReading Inter-Faith GroupRedbridge Council of FaithsRedbridge Faith ForumRochdale Multifaith PartnershipRugby Inter Faith ForumSheffield InterfaithSouth London Inter Faith GroupSouthampton Council of FaithsSouthwark Multi Faith ForumSuffolk Inter-Faith ResourceSwansea Faiths ForumTameside Interfaith NetworkTelford and Wrekin Interfaith GroupTower Hamlets Inter Faith ForumWaltham Forest Faith Communities ForumWandsworth Multi-Faith NetworkWarrington Council of FaithsWatford Inter Faith AssociationWellingborough Multi-Faith GroupWestminster Faith ExchangeWhalley Range (Manchester) Inter Faith GroupWolverhampton Inter-Faith GroupWycombe Sharing of Faith

Member Organisations of the Inter Faith Network 2007–08

The Inter Faith Network for the UK

ANNUAL REVIEW 2006-2007

INTERFAI_19706_text:INTERFAI_18398_text 11/12/07 18:05 Page 1

Contents

Co-Chairs’ message 3

Local inter faith support 5

English regional faith forums 9

UK and national inter faith working 10

Education and young people 12

Network National Meeting – The Inter Faith Network for the UK: 20 Years of working together for inter faith understanding and cooperation 16

Faith and citizenship 22

Faith expressed in dress and symbol 23

Cohesion and integration 24

Faith communities working together 26

Engaging with public policy issues 26

Global issues, local engagement 30

Inter Faith Network membership 31

Trustees 32

Staff 33

Statement of Financial Activities 34

Balance Sheet 35

Supporters in 2006 36

2 the inter faith network for the uk


annual review 3

Co-Chairs’ messageOur Review looks back across the year 2006-2007– a year which culminated with the special NationalMeeting in Coventry on the theme “The Inter FaithNetwork for the UK: 20 Years of Working Togetherfor Inter Faith Understanding and Cooperation”.

Anniversaries are, rightly, times to celebrate. Andwe recollected the many positive milestones on thejourney of the Inter Faith Network’s work in thelast two decades and honoured those who havecontributed to it. In particular we thanked BrianPearce who stood down as Director this summer, having served full time on a voluntary basis in this postsince the Network was founded and has made a most remarkable contribution to helping promote goodinter faith relations in the UK.

Anniversaries are also times to look forward and, as the report on the Coventry meeting shows, Inter FaithNetwork members as usual have their eyes firmly on the challenges of the future. The inter faith landscape is ever more varied and the challenges many and complex. But the opportunities too are growing –opportunities for more joint learning; more joint working; and new projects and structures which canincrease the chances people of all ages have to interact well and come to develop a greater understandingand ability to live harmoniously together as fellow citizens.

Young people are the future leaders of their communities and it is vital that they see good inter faithrelations as a key concern and develop the skills to help shape a positive future. A particularly importantpiece of work for the Network this year has been working with the national student bodies throughfacilitating a series of meetings on how they can work for better cross community involvement on campus.Linked to this was the important day conference the Network held last November with the EqualityChallenge Unit on ‘Building Good Relations on Campus’.

The faith communities and inter faith bodies have continued this year to engage, both through the InterFaith Network’s structures and independently, to deepen and develop inter faith work on a range offronts. A significant development this year has been the continued strengthening of regional faith forums insome of the English regions. These are member bodies of the Inter Faith Network. In addition to initiatingdiscussion with the Forums about complementary working in relation to assisting local inter faith groups,the Inter Faith Network has worked with the Faith Based Regeneration Network UK to help service a newlink to increase consultation between the regional forums and to raise the profile of their work.

Dr Nawal Prinja and Rt Revd Dr Tom Butler, Co-Chairs, Inter Faith Network


The year has seen another great leap in the number of local inter faith forums around the UK which canmake a vital contribution to their areas through creating opportunities for interaction and engagementacross communities. It has also seen a growth in other types of inter faith projects – in many cases with the help of funding from the second round of the Government’s Faith Community Capacity Fund,administered by the Community Development Foundation. The Network has been pleased this year tocontinue its engagement with CDF in this area of work.

Across the last year there has been much debate about ‘belonging’, ‘integration’ and ‘citizenship’. The Network’s discussion document, Faith, Citizenship and Shared Life in Britain Today, developed during the year, has made an important contribution to this. And we were pleased that Ruth Kelly, when she was Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, invited the Network’s then Deputy Director, HarrietCrabtree to be a member, on a personal basis, of the Commission on Integration and Cohesion. She was later asked by its Chair, Darra Singh, to lead on Commission engagement with the faith sector. We were delighted that she took on this role. It helped enable the Commission’s process to take intoaccount particularly effectively the importance of inter faith interaction; the role of national faithcommunity bodies in resourcing local members to engage in local inter faith work; and the importance on this front of increased engagement by local authorities, in partnership with faith communities. The Commission’s final report, published in June, recognised the important role faith plays more widelywithin society and the significance of inter faith and intercultural interaction and made a number ofrecommendations relating to this. It is an area of work which looks likely to become increasinglysignificant and is one in which Government is taking an increasing interest.

The role of Government in encouraging inter faith engagement is very important. But we must notforget the particularly important role of the faith communities in this work – nor that of the voluntarysector inter faith organisations which support, resource and encourage this at UK, national, regionaland local levels. And this is a moment when we would like to express our gratitude to all – whetherworking for public bodies or within faith communities, inter faith bodies or other sectors – who arecontributing to this vital work. Together, as the Inter Faith Network’s document Building Good Relations withPeople of Different Faiths and Beliefs concludes, “listening and responding with openness and respect, we can moveforward to work in ways that acknowledge genuine differences but build on shared hopes and values.”


Rt Revd Dr Tom ButlerCo-Chair, Inter Faith Network

Dr Nawal PrinjaCo-Chair, Inter Faith Network


annual review 5

Local inter faith support

Supporting the strong development of inter faith work at local level is an important part of the work of the Inter Faith Network.

In April the Network appointed two new projectofficers, Urmi Raval and Stella Opoku-Owusu, tohelp ensure that communication with local andregional inter faith bodies is strong (see page 9on regional forums).

In the course of the spring, the Network carriedout a survey of member local groups to find out which services they find most helpful. Advice and information, publications and regularcirculars were reported to be particularly helpfuland membership of the Inter Faith Network wasnoted by many as helping local bodies feel partof a strong national movement and interconnectedwith others carrying out this work.

During 2007, the Inter Faith Network researchedand published a fourth edition of Inter FaithOrganisations in the UK: A Directory. This contains apage about each UK wide, national, regional andlocal inter faith body describing its work andgiving its contact details.

The Directory, the Network’s publication The Local Inter Faith Guide and its associated website‘local inter faith zone’, and the Network’s adviceservice are used across the UK by those working

to develop andstrengthen local interfaith structures.

In a number of the English regionsregional faith forums are now also supporting and developing thedevelopment of localinter faith work and

the Inter Faith Network’s advice and support roleincludes signposting to these as key resources.

Around the UK, nearly 270 local inter faithorganisations are now working to encourage and develop respect and understanding betweenpeople of different faith traditions and to increaseawareness about these. Their work helps buildcommunity cohesion by promoting dialogue and social cooperation between communities.Some of these are bodies which operate on abilateral or trilateral basis, such as the nearly 50branches of the Council of Christians and Jewsand the groups of the Three Faiths Forum, orother particular dialogues, such as ones focusingon Buddhist-Christian, Sikh-Christian, Hindu-Christian or Jewish-Muslim dialogue.

210 of the local organisations are inter faithgroups, councils or forums operating on a multifaith basis and working with people from all ormost of the major faiths in their areas.


In the last 20 years the number of local inter faithorganisations operating on a multi faith basis hastripled and new groups are coming into existenceevery month. On a day to day basis many of thesebodies are interacting with organisations thathave an impact on our everyday lives includinglocal authorities, the police, health services,schools, colleges and businesses.

These local inter faith organisations are workingincreasingly with local authorities to help shapethe areas where they live. For example, accordingto research carried out during the year by theInter Faith Network, around half of the localinter faith bodies said they are now workingwith their local authority in a consultative role.

The vital contribution made by local bodies tobuilding strong and cohesive communities isincreasingly recognised. For example, theGovernment’s White Paper of October 2006 onlocal government, Strong and prosperous communities,mentions inter faith work as a way to ‘keepchannels of communication open’ and says that“relationships with established faith communitiescan also help newer faith groups develop thecommunal structures that they need to thrive”.Last year, as in the previous year, a number oflocal inter faith initiatives received fundingunder the Faith Communities Capacity BuildingFund (a fund administered by the CommunityDevelopment Foundation for the Department for Communities and Local Government).

The importance of the work of local inter faithorganisations was mentioned by Gordon Brownin his first Question Time as Prime Minister on 4 July when he expressed a desire to see “inter faithgroups in every community … [which] wouldmake a huge difference to community relations”.


Growth of local inter faith activity

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annual review 7

Images from recent activities of just a few local bodiesworking locally to promote good inter faith relations.

Merseyside Faith Forum young participants about to eatafter an inter faith meeting

Local inter faith projects

Bolton Interfaith Council’s Spirit of Bolton inter faith event held in thetown centre which attracted many people to participate in the activities

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Southampton Council of Faiths and Southampton InterFaith Link’s peace walk was joined by members of thepublic. Walkers visited places of worship around the city in an effort to promote a message of peace andunderstanding

Above left: Bristol Inter Faith Group supported the Lord Mayor’s CivicCelebration and the theme for this year was “Many Faiths – OneFreedom”. Above right: Redbridge Faith Forum’s inter faith barbequewhere members of the forum and members of the public wereencouraged to come together to eat and talk

Crawley Interfaith Network’s Global Peace, Faith Matters meeting heldat the Gurjar Hindu Union mandir



Some of this year’s local inter faithenquiries to the Network office:

● Next year we want to hold a youth inter faithevent. Are there guidelines and resourceswhich might be helpful?

● We are having difficulty getting one of themajor faith communities in our area involvedin our inter faith forum’s work. How areother forums working to get solid involvementfrom all their area’s faith groups?

● I work for a local authority and we want todevelop an inter faith forum for our area. Weare unsure how to encourage this in a waythat will ensure an independent, faiths-ledbody which is broadly representative of ourlocal communities. Are there are any usefulpointers as we take this work forward?

● Some of us want to remain as a ‘discussiongroup on spirituality’ but others of us wouldlike to see the group develop to become aconsultative forum. How are similar groupshandling such debates?

● We are thinking about holding an inter faithevent which includes prayers and readings.How can we do this is a way which does not compromise the beliefs of adherents of the different faiths?

● Do you have information about thebereavement practices and funeral rites of the different faiths?

● We are working on creating a shortconstitution for our local inter faithorganisation. Can you provide us withexamples of constitutions of other localgroups and are there any issues we should be thinking about?

The Network’s website, with its local inter faithzone, continues to be a resource widely used bylocal inter faith practitioners:

www.interfaith.org.uk


annual review 9

English regional faith forumsThe English Regions are increasingly importantadministrative units because it is at that level thatdecisions are taken about such matters astransport and planning. Every region has aRegional Economic Strategy which is drawn upby Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) inconsultation, to date, with unelected RegionalAssemblies (although the role of these is to end)and other partners and stakeholders.

To enable faith groups to contribute to theseconsultative processes, regional faith forums havecome into existence over the last ten years inYorkshire and Humber, in the North West, in theEast, the East Midlands, the South East, the SouthWest, and the West Midlands. A Forum is nowunder development in London and one is beingexplored in the North East. The existing regionalfaith forums in England are all members of theInter Faith Network for the UK.

Last autumn’s White Paper on Strong and ProsperousCommunities spells out the role of inter faith workin building strong cities and emphasises the roleof regions and regional governance. This hasclear implications for regional inter faith workand regional faith forums as they were set up to contribute to the process of regionaleconomic strategies.

Regional forums in the East of England, WestMidlands and Yorkshire and Humber are now developing work to support local inter faithstructures in their regions and others may do so.In April the Inter Faith Network held a meetingwith the forums to discuss ways to ensure thatthere are complementary patterns of working on local inter faith issues at the national andregional level and work is being taken forwardthis Autumn to build on this.

There is a recognition that, even though theyhave some general characteristics, the regionalfaith forums are all developing in their own

The Northwest Forum of Faith’s website



ways, rightly reflecting the distinctiveness ofeach region and different assessments of regionalneeds. They carry out some or all of a range ofactivities, which include gathering informationon particular issues such as patterns of faithbased social action and holding events andconferences. The Government’s planned ‘interfaith strategy’ (mentioned in its July 2007 reporton the future role of the third sector) will needto take into account their pattern of work andimportant potential as well as questions abouthow they can be resourced and sustained.

As part of enhancing the profile of regional faithforums, the Inter Faith Network for the UK andthe Faith Based Regeneration Network UK havebeen jointly servicing during 2006-07 a newlink, the English Regional Faith Forums Network.This is open to membership by regional faithforums which are recognised by regionalgovernance instruments as the primary forum in their region. As noted above, in the Londonand North East regions, planning initiatives are inprocess to establish forums in these two regions.Representatives of these regions are invited toattend meetings of the English Regional FaithForums Network as participant observers.

UK and national inter faith working

Work with the national inter faith linkingbodies of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales

The Northern Ireland Inter Faith Forum, theScottish Inter Faith Council and the Inter FaithCouncil for Wales are member bodies of the InterFaith Network for the UK. Each carries out itsown programme of work. In the case of theScottish Inter Faith Council, this includes directsupport, where requested, to local inter faithgroups and linking of these.

In addition to contact with these bodies over theyear, the Network office holds a meeting annuallyto meet with their representatives and to exchangenews and good practice. In 2006 this meetingtook place in Cardiff at the Welsh Assemblybuildings on 7 December. Participants werewelcomed by Lord Dafydd Ellis Thomas, then the Presiding Officer of the Assembly, who spoke about inter faith issues in Wales and, inparticular, about how the Welsh Assembly isdeveloping its own distinctive pattern ofengaging with faith communities.


annual review 11

The meeting went on to explore the differentpatterns of inter faith engagement emerging in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland andWales; some of the challenges in broadeninginvolvement, particularly from women andyoung people; and finding funding for nationallinking work.

Working with national inter faithorganisations

Among the member bodies of the Inter FaithNetwork are 28 inter faith organisations whosework is carried out at UK or national level.Some, such as the Council of Christians andJews, Three Faiths Forum and the JosephInterfaith Foundation, work primarily withparticular traditions (although in some casesusing their bilateral and trilateral expertise towork more broadly). Others, such as the United

Religions Initiative (UK), work with people of any religion or belief. A number, such asReligions for Peace (UK), have a particular areaof focus for their work. A few, such as the interfaith programme of Christians Aware, areinitiatives which are run by particular faithtraditions to develop good inter faith relationsbeyond their tradition. A full list of such bodiescan be found on the inside back cover of thisreport and links to their websites with furtherinformation about their work can be found onthe Inter Faith Network’s websitewww.interfaith.org.uk

Keeping such bodies and programmes in touchand raising awareness about their work is animportant part of the Network’s work. A meetingof representatives of these inter faith organisationswas held in London on 20 March.

Participants at Cardiff meeting



Education and young people

During the year the Network office continued to keep in touch with developments on theeducational and academic front throughrepresentation on the RE Council for EnglandWales and the Shap Working Party on WorldReligions in Education as well as advisoryinvolvement in the Runnymede Trust project onFaith Schools and Community Cohesion and themajor new Religion and Society Programme ofthe European Humanities Research Centre andArts and Humanities Research Council. It alsocontinued to engage with the work of theNational Association of Standing Advisory Councilson Religious Education (NASACRE) and with othermember educational and academic bodies (listed in full on the inside rear flap of this report).

The year saw an increase in the number ofenquiries to the Network office from schoolsand from those developing inter faith materialsfor use in RE contexts or with young peoplemore generally.

The Network’s publication Connect: Different Faiths,Shared Values, published with TimeBank and theNational Youth Agency, went into another printrun and was distributed to 5,000 more youngpeople through a range of routes from packs forJewish sixth formers, to local inter faith youthevents, to a youth conference in Scotland.

A number of Network member bodies such asthe Council of Christians and Jews, the ThreeFaiths Forum, Minorities of Europe and theWoolf Institute of Abrahamic Faiths have alsobeen developing important resources andprogrammes for young people and the Networkhas been making these more widely known. TheNetwork office continued this year, through anadvisory group, to play a role in taking forwardthe work of Diversity and Dialogue, a youth interfaith and intercultural initiative which is nowbased at the Citizenship Foundation.

A meeting for representatives of educational andacademic bodies in membership of the Network,was held on 24 April. This provided an opportunityto discuss, in the context of the Network’smembership review, the relationship between the Network and the educational and academicsector and to propose formal membershipcriteria for bodies in this sector which wereadopted at the Network’s 2007 AGM. Theseprovide that membership can be consideredwhere an educational or academic body is

● a UK or national educational organisation or adepartment of an academic institution which,as a significant part of its work, focuses on, orpromotes understanding of, relations betweentwo or more of the major religionsrepresented in the UK;

● a UK, national, regional or local study centreoffering inter faith resources and educational


annual review 13

programmes for use by the general public(and which is not already indirectly linked to the Network through the membership ofthe Network of an umbrella body to which it belongs);

● an educational or academic unit whichspecialises in inter faith issues, linked to a faith tradition of which one or morerepresentative bodies is in membership of the Network.

The AGM also agreed to a proposal from theApril meeting of educational and academicbodies that the Network should encourage theformation of a wider informal ‘network’ ofacademic institutions which are engaged in work on issues relevant to inter faith relationsbut from a more detached ‘academic’ standpointthan that of most of the higher education centrescurrently in Network membership which arethemselves promoting inter faith dialogue.

Building Good Relations on Campus

Across the year, the Network continued tofacilitate a series of conversations betweennational student religious bodies. Emerging from these, in May, the statement on the right on building good relations on campus wasagreed by these bodies.

On 30 November last year the Network, inassociation with the higher education Equality

Good Relations on Campus: A Joint Statement

“The primary purpose of national student faith-basedbodies is to resource, support and work for students of their own particular faith. At the same time, acommitment to dialogue and to working together to encourage good relations between our members on campus is of great importance.

Representatives from the national student faith-basedbodies and relevant faith community youth committeeslisted below have held a series of informal conversationsacross recent months, facilitated at our request by theInter Faith Network for the UK. These have focused on the desire of our bodies to strengthen their mutuallinks in order to discuss together issues of commonconcern and to work to promote good relations oncampus. Future work in pursuit of these aims is underdiscussion between our bodies, and also with the InterFaith Network and the National Union of Students.This includes a programme of activities and oftraining opportunities to help students of differentfaiths on the UK’s campuses to work with confidenceand commitment to promote understanding and respecton campus between those of different faiths and beliefs.”

Baha’i Youth Committee for England; CatholicStudent Forum (Catholic Youth Service); BritishOrganisation of Sikh Students; Federation of StudentIslamic Societies; National Hindu Students Forum;Student Christian Movement; Union of JewishStudents; Young Jains; and Young Zoroastrians.

May 2007



Challenge Unit (ECU) held a consultation meetingon ‘Building Good Relations on Campus’. Themeeting brought together a range of thoseinterested in this topic, including representativesof national student religious bodies and from Alif-Aleph, Council of Christians and Jews, Diversityand Dialogue and Three Faiths Forum. The day waschaired by Brian Pearce, the Network’s Director,and Nicola Dandridge, Chief Executive of the ECU. Harriet Crabtree, then the Network’sDeputy Director, gave a presentation looking at

inter faith activity in the UK and the significance of good inter faith relations on campus and offeredsome preliminary reflections on taking this agendaforward. This was followed by national perspectivesoffered from a range of student organisations onthe importance of working for good inter faithrelations on campus. Contributors included: JoMerrygold of the Student Christian Movement;Bijal Bhagwan of the National Hindu StudentsForum; David Myers of the Union of JewishStudents; Simrit Kaur Sandhu of the British

Daniella ShawPreet Majithia and Rev Jeremy Clines

Bijal Bhagwan and Parizad AvariRonnie Millar and Simrit Kaur Sandhu


annual review 15

Seminar participants Alyaa Ebbiary Tina Mistry

Organisation of Sikh Students; and Sabeen Akhundof the Federation of Student Islamic Societies(FOSIS). Additional input was offered by RichardCunningham of UCCF (the Christian Unions);Adam Berry of the Catholic Student Forum; ParizadAvari and Tina Mistry of Young Zoroastrians; AlyaaEbbiary of FOSIS; and Nava Hinrichs of the Baha’iYouth Committee for England.

Moussa Haddad of the Equality Challenge Unitthen spoke on the role of ECU and the work ithas undertaken recently on promoting goodrelations on campus, within the context of itswork on equality and diversity on campus.

After discussion, a presentation was given byRonnie Millar, Director, Corrymeela Centre,Ballycastle, of the Corrymeela Community inNorthern Ireland about the importance of creatingsafe spaces for encounter and dialogue.

Co-convenor of the University of Cambridge Faith Forum, Preet Majithia, then talked about thisrecently formed example of a student multi faithforum and Sarah Talcott, Inter-Faith EducationOfficer at the University of Surrey, gave anoverview of work to develop a multi faith studentcouncil there and of the wide ranging programmeof inter faith activities which she and colleagueswere taking forward with support from a grantfrom the Faith Communities Capacity BuildingFund. This was followed by a presentation fromRev Hugh Shilson-Thomas, National Adviser forHigher Education and Chaplaincy, Church ofEngland, on chaplaincies and their role in helpingbuild good inter faith relations on campus.

The report of the conference was widelycirculated and can be downloaded fromwww.interfaith.org.uk/publications/campus.pdf.



The Network’s National Meeting 2007

This year’s annual National Meeting of the InterFaith Network took place on 16 July at theTechnoCentre in Coventry. Chaired by NetworkCo-Chairs Bishop Tom Butler and Dr NawalPrinja, it marked 20 years of the work of theInter Faith Network with its member bodies to promote good inter faith relations. It was achance to celebrate achievements and alsoconsider opportunities and challenges ahead.

A 20th anniversary cake was officially cut byoutgoing and newly elected Officers and by the retiring Director and representatives of thefour categories of Network membership. At thisceremony Venerable Tawalama Bandula of the SriLankan Sangha Sabha and a Network Vice-Chairduring 2006-07 offered some words on theachievements of the Network and the importanceof the harmonious spirit of friendshipcharacterising the relationships it has helpedbuild. He spoke of the endeavours of memberbodies, trustees and staff who, across the years,have helped the work come this far.

“Today we are going tolook back at 20 years ofwork of the Inter FaithNetwork for the UK. It’san amazing journey -from the germ of an ideaback in the mid 1980sto a nationally andinternationallyrecognised body …

The Network began in 1987, as it is today, as a network of organisations – although only 60 then, compared to over 150 member bodiestoday. As today, they were drawn from fourcategories: national faith communityrepresentative bodies; local inter faith groups;national inter faith bodies; and educational and academic bodies with a focus on inter faithissues. They were united in a commitment topromote good inter faith relations at every levelin Britain and to increase awareness about, and between, faiths – both their distinctivedimensions and those aspects that they have in common. This same commitment is shared by today’s member bodies.” Dr Indarjit Singh

Dr Indarjit Singh

The Inter Faith Network for the UK: 20 years of workingtogether for inter faith understanding and cooperation

“This is a time to give thanks, each in our ownway, for the mutual hospitality, friendship andrespect that have characterised the first 20 yearsof the Network’s work … I pray that our workcontinues in the same peaceable, cooperative andeffective way that it has done since 1987.”Venerable Tawalama Bandula


annual review 17

Looking back across 20 years

Dr Indarjit Singh, Director of the Network ofSikh Organisations and a Network Vice-Chair,reflected on some of the most significantdevelopments of the Network’s first 20 years.Chas Raws, Secretary, Merseyside Council ofFaiths and member of the Society of Friends, and Urmi Raval, one of the Inter Faith Network’s Project Officers, gave an illustratedjoint presentation on 20 years of local inter faithwork, looking at how this vital area of work hasdeveloped and the Network’s role in this. Theirpresentations, and those of other speakers, can be found in the full report on the day which isavailable from the Network office or can bedownloaded from www.interfaith.org.uk.

It is hard to gauge withexactness the tremendousimpact of the Inter FaithNetwork on inter faithrelations in the UK. Butthe contributions at themeeting pointed to itsevidence in almost everyarea of inter faithendeavour: The Network’s

resource publications (such as The Local Inter FaithGuide and Inter Faith Organisations in the UK: A Directory)and its advice and information service andregional link meetings have helped support thedevelopment of an extensive number of localinter faith groups. Its 1988 seminars with the

CRE in the wake of theRushdie Affair and itsFaith and Public Lifeprogramme (started in1991) has raisedawareness withinGovernment and otherpublic agencies about the importance ofreligious identity. It

worked with the Millennium Unit of theDepartment for Culture, Media and Sport and the faith communities to create the Shared Act of Reflection and Commitment which took place at the House of Lords as part of the Official Millennium celebrations and this was awatershed in involvement of faith communitiesin UK public life. Subsequent work assisting theGovernment in work on the Golden Jubilee and,in particular, to arrange the Golden Jubilee YoungPeople’s Faith Forum, has borne rich fruit in themany youth forums which have been inspired by that. Participants at the National Meeting alsoreflected on the extensive engagement of theInter Faith Network with the development oflearning about inter faith issues in ReligiousEducation and its role in relation to theinvolvement of women in inter faith activity –from its conferences with the Women’s NationalCommission in the early 90s through to thespecial report last year on women’s inter faithactivity in the UK.

Chas Raws

Urmi Raval


One of the characteristics of the Inter FaithNetwork, on which participants commented, isthat it has always been a place where there hasbeen a willingness to grapple with the tougheraspects of inter religious interaction and ofengagement between faith communities andwider society. It has also been a place wherethere is a strong commitment to proceeding,wherever possible, by consensus.

And looking forward to new challengesand opportunities

Afternoon discussion groups were facilitated byProfessor Brian Gates, Chair, RE Council forEngland and Wales; Rev Dr John Hall, Chair, WestMidlands Faiths Forum; Pramila Kaur, ChiefExecutive of the Scottish Inter Faith Council;Dorab Mistry, Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe;Deepak Naik, Minorities of Europe; and AnnNoonan, Roman Catholic Conference of Bishopsfor England and Wales. Participants discussed theparticular strengths of past work of the InterFaith Network on which they thought it shouldbuild for the future; how its role might developmost fruitfully across the coming years; whetherthere were any particular needs or tasks theywanted to identify; and how the framework ofthe Network, and the links which it provides canbest be used to work together to deepen interfaith understanding and cooperation in Britain.Stella Opoku-Owusu, Network Project Officer,gave a short feedback of key points to the plenary.

In the final plenary session panelists ShaykhIbrahim Mogra, Chair of the Inter Faith RelationsCommittee of Muslim Council of Britain, RabbiJacqueline Tabick, Chair of the World Congress of Faiths, and Dr Harriet Crabtree, then theNetwork’s Deputy Director, reflected on some of the key themes that emerged during the day.

Thank you to Brian Pearce

The day ended with thanks and a presentation to Brian Pearce, to mark his twenty years asDirector of the Inter Faith Network for the UK. Dr Manazir Ahsan, Director General of theIslamic Foundation and Network Vice-Chair,spoke on behalf of the Trustees and members ofthe Inter Faith Network. He noted the remarkablegift of time and skill which Brian had made, fulltime on a voluntary basis, since the Network wasfounded. Bishop Tom Butler added his personalappreciation and read out a range of tributes thathad been received which reflected the enormousaffection for, and appreciation of, Brian Pearce of


Rabbi Jacqueline TabickShaykh Ibrahim Mogra


annual review 19

member bodies and those who have workedwith him over the years. His admirable spirit ofselfless service, knowledgeableness, constancy,kindness and commitment were remarked uponby the many who had submitted the tributes. His contribution to the religious life of the UKwas epitomised in the words of Dorab Mistry,who said “Brian, you have made an enormouscontribution to the social and religious life of the UK. When the history of race relations andfaith community interaction of the UK is written,your name shall be written in letters of gold.”

Following a presentation of a bouquet to BrianPearce’s wife Michelle, whose support of theNetwork has also been of enormous importance,Dr Crabtree joined Dr Ahsan to present to Brian aseries of gifts to mark his retirement as Director.In his response Brian Pearce thanked his wife,Michelle, who had helped him to organise thefirst planning meetings in the mid 1980s whichled to the formation of the Network, for all hersupport and encouragement; his colleagues inthe Network office and most particularly DrCrabtree, who had been with the Network since1990 and would be taking over as the Network’sDirector in September; and all the Network’smember bodies and Trustees, past and present.He said that he had been enriched personally bythe time he had spent as the Network’s Directorand thanked everyone for “twenty endlesslyfascinating and rewarding years”. Those presentat the meeting responded with a standing ovation.

Brian Pearce, Dr Harriet Crabtree and Dr Manazir Ahsan

“The Network has a particular role to play in the inter faith field but so do all its member bodies, whether they are inter faithorganisations working at UK, national, regionalor local level or our national representativebodies of our different faith communities or areat work in the educational and academic field.We have, I believe, been stronger, throughworking together towards shared goals. ….There is always more to do. But collectively wehave made great strides in the last twenty yearsand there is now a much greater understandingin our society of the importance of good interfaith relations.” From Brian Pearce’s closing reflections



Michelle Pearce, Venerable Bandula and VenerableSeewali listening to a presentation

Responding to Brian Pearce’s closing reflections

Dr Elizabeth Harris, Dr Nawal Prinja and

Canon Andrew Wingate


annual review 21

Professor Brian Gates, Barbara Butler, Manjula Sood, Barney Leith, Brian Pearce, Dr Nawal Prinja, Venerable Bandula, Neville Nagler, Dr Manazir Ahsan and Jagjiwan Singh

Listening to the closing reflections Moulana M. Shahid Raza and Professor Brian Gates Resham Singh Sandhu and Pramila Kaur



Faith and citizenshipAcross recent years, there has been an increasingfocus on what it means to be a citizen – forexample about the nature of citizens’ rights andresponsibilities and how the different aspects ofour identity contribute to, and shape, our senseof belonging and citizenship.

As part of its ongoing Faith and Citizenshipproject the Network office worked this year withthe Executive Committee and member bodies ona reflection document Faith, Citizenship and Shared Lifein Britain Today (to be found at www.interfaith.org.uk/faithcitizenship2.pdf).

In early July this year, the Government published adocument, The Governance of Britain, setting out a wide

“…It is arguably the ‘procedural values’, or the ethics of how we relate to one another andwhich underpin the essential process of mutualengagement, which are of particular importancein making a reality of shared citizenship in anincreasingly plural society: acceptance of therule of law, support for the democratic processand a willingness of all people of goodwill towork together for the common good. We alsoneed to value the virtues of courtesy and goodneighbourliness and the shared norms of publicbehaviour which are crucial for promoting apositive encounter between people on a day today basis. But the tradition of tolerance as afundamental value of our society is alsoimportant – a tolerance which sets some limitson what constitutes acceptable behaviour, but isalso ready to accept differences in practice andbehaviour which are clearly not harmful ordeeply offensive to others.

Tolerance by itself is, of course, not enough. We need to go beyond it to constructiveengagement with one another on the basis ofmutual understanding and respect. It is in thisengagement that the boundaries of mutualtolerance are themselves renegotiated in acontinuing process.

Engagement requires the opportunity for positiveencounter between individuals and communities.While recognising and appreciating thelegitimate desire of people to live and socialiseprincipally with others of similar background, it is important to encourage much greaterinteraction between different groups withinBritish society as part of the vital process ofpromoting greater mutual understanding andcooperation between them.” Excerpt from ‘Faith, Citizenship and Shared Life

in Britain Today’


annual review 23

range of proposals relating to constitutionalarrangements in Britain. The document announcedthat the Government intends “through an inclusiveprocess of national debate to develop a Britishstatement of values that will set out the ideals andprinciples that bind us together as a nation”. It says that the Government wishes to build on thecurrent and ongoing work of various “expert andrepresentative groups” and that the debate willprovide valuable insights into national views oncitizenship and Britishness. The Network will becontributing to this process, building on the workwhich it has done on these topics in recent years.It will also be contributing to discussion on theindependent review of citizenship which LordGoldsmith is carrying out on a personal basis at the request of the Prime Minister.

Faith expressed in dress and symbol During the summer and autumn of 2006 therewas considerable public debate about thewearing in public of items of religious dress andof religious symbols in a religiously diversesociety like Britain. The hijab, niqab and cross werea focus of particular attention but dress andsymbols of other faiths also drew attention. Attimes the views and concerns expressed showeda lack of appreciation of the reasons whyreligious dress and symbols are significant to thewearers or made the inappropriate assumptionthat a person is somehow less ‘British’ or less of

a full member of this society because of thepractices they follow.

The Network’s Executive Committee worked this year to produce a short guidance document,Wearing of Religious Dress and Symbols. This sets out the wider context for discussion about religiousdress and symbols: the deeply held beliefs whichunderlie choices about the wearing of these; theneed for courteous and sensitive handling of theissues involved; and some of the factors to betaken into account in considering limits on the wearing of particular items for reasons of security, organisational corporate identity or health and safety.

The reflections close with a statement of threebasic principles:

● The wearing in public of religious dress andsymbols can be an important aspect of anindividual’s religious identity and discussionabout the wearing of these should at all timesbe conducted in a courteous and sensitive way.

● A choice to wear religious dress and symbolsshould be respected wherever otheroverriding factors such as security or healthand safety do not come into play. There aresituations in which some compromise isneeded. However, any restrictions – whetherbecause of the need to establish personalidentity or because of the requirements of a particular job or the wearing of a uniform



in accordance with the policy of a school or other corporate body – should only beimposed where these requirements are clearlynecessary and after appropriate consultation.

● Careful and sensitive handling of issues linkedto the wearing of religious dress and symbolsis part of the wider commitment of oursociety to religious freedom and to valuingdiversity alongside the shared pursuit of thecommon good.

The full document can be found atwww.interfaith.org.uk/religiousdress.pdf

Cohesion and integration As mentioned in the last Annual Review, Dr Harriet Crabtree, then the Network’s DeputyDirector, was among the members of theCommission on Integration and Cohesion,appointed in September 2006 by Ruth Kelly, then Secretary of State for Communities andLocal Government. The Commission was chairedby Darra Singh, Chief Executive of the LondonBorough of Ealing. The Commissioners wereappointed on a personal basis for their practicalexperience of community cohesion issues andnot as direct representatives of their organisationor community, but Dr Crabtree was able to drawon her experience of the work of the Networkoffice in the contribution she made to theCommission’s work and she was asked by its

Chair to lead on its engagement with the faithsector. Its final report, Our Shared Future, waspublished in June and contained a wide rangingset of recommendations for practical action toaddress cohesion and integration issues at locallevel, along with suggestions for a nationalframework to support these.

The Commission’s report reflected a programme ofcommissioned research; visits by Commissionersto a number of communities in England to hearabout the barriers to integration and cohesion indifferent local situations; and conversations withresearchers and practitioners working onintegration and cohesion related projects. It also reflected the 600+ responses to its earlierconsultation paper and these included a veryhigh level of return from the faith and inter faithsectors. Although the focus of the Commissionwas on England, Commissioners also visitedNorthern Ireland and Scotland to explore howissues of integration and cohesion are beinghandled there and to hear about particularexamples of good practice.

Overall, the Commission’s report has a strongemphasis on interaction and shared citizenshipand faith and inter faith issues are seen throughthis lens. The report notes the fact that “Religiousfaith is profoundly important to those whoselives it shapes” and that it “is potentially a unifyingforce within society”. At the same time, it notesthat “At times religious identity can be advancedin divisive ways or can become a factor which


annual review 25

separates people from the wider community –for example in many of the areas where ‘parallellives’ are most in evidence.” It underlines theimportance of inter faith engagement:

The Network office has been in discussion,following the publication of the report, with the Department for Communities and LocalGovernment about the development by CLG of an inter faith strategy. Work on this iscurrently under way with likely publication of a consultation document in December.

As well as stressing the importance of inter faithengagement, the report also highlights the needfor broader intercultural dialogue and for a moreconstructive conversation between those who arereligious and those who are not. The Network’spast Director, Brian Pearce, has been invited bythe Network, in his new role of part timeAdviser, Faith and Public Life, to look particularlyat this issue during the coming year.

The report notes the important contribution thatfaith groups make to the life of local communities.However, in its recommendations it picks up thefact that this contribution could be strengthened

if there was a higher level of ‘religious literacy’on the part of public agencies and recommendsthat “faith communities should be encouraged towork with Government, the Local GovernmentAssociation for England and Wales and otherrelevant agencies to develop a programme toincrease ‘religious literacy’”. The report notesalso a possible under use of faith-based bodiesby some local authorities “due we think in partto the lack of understanding about faith groups,but also to a squeamishness about the possibilityof their proselytising…[and] some evidence of aconcern that engaging with faith groups mightundermine the inclusiveness of the localauthority’s wider strategies.” It recommends that“A set of clear guidelines should be developed toenable local authorities and others to be able toaward public service contracts to faith basedbodies without fear that there will be issues overwhether this will lead to proselytising or pressureon users of services to accept the religious beliefsof the providers.” The Network has already beeninvolved in discussions on how these two piecesof work might best be taken forward.

The Commission also recommended that “localauthorities and Local Strategic Partnerships conducta brief ‘audit’ of opportunities for cross-culturaland inter faith engagement in their areas.

During the summer, the Network office begandiscussion with the Local Government Associationabout work which might look at how localauthorities are working on inter faith issues

“We believe that the way relations betweenpeople of different faiths and beliefs develop in the coming years in England’s diverse localareas will be very important to integration and cohesion.” Commission on Integration and Cohesion



and whether there might be a case for somepartnership work on this area, building on pastpartnership work on the Network’s 2003 surveyof the pattern of local inter faith activity in the UK.

A letter from Hazel Blears, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, to theChair of the Commission, Darra Singh, publishedthis October, has outlined priorities in respondingto the report. A further Government response isanticipated early next year.

Faith communities working together The Inter Faith Network links in membershipnational representative bodies of the Baha’i,Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jain, Jewish, Muslim,Sikh and Zoroastrian faith communities.

The UK’s faith communities are developing anddeepening their inter faith working and anincreasing number of their representative bodieshave appointed people specifically to takeforward their inter faith work. This is a veryhelpful development not only in facilitatingengagement with other faith communities butalso in promoting greater understanding withinfaith communities of the importance of goodinter faith relations. Participation in the Networkis a key context for faith communities’ work ‘sideby side’ on issues relating to public life andsocial action and for their work ‘face to face’,

talking with each other and encouraging localmembers to do so about a range of issues fromreligious beliefs, to past history, to present shared commitment to building a societyrespecting distinctive beliefs but rooted firmly in shared values.

The Network’s Faith Communities Forum,established in 2003, has continued during thepast year to be an important instrument infacilitating discussion at national level betweenfaith community representatives on issues ofcommon concern, particularly those relating topublic policy issues. At its meeting in Februarymembers reaffirmed the importance ofmaintaining its role as an independent meetingplace for faith community representative bodies.

Engaging with public policy issuesGood inter faith relations can only flourish wherepeople of different faiths feel valued and activemembers of society. The Network office hasworked through the year to brief its memberbodies on relevant issues to support the faithcommunities’ work together in the sphere ofshared engagement with public life issues. It hascontinued to encourage Government and otheragencies, at UK, regional and local level, to involvethe faith communities in discussion about policyand service delivery. In Northern Ireland, Scotlandand Wales, the member national linking inter faith


annual review 27

bodies have also carried forward this work.

The Network’s relationships with Governmentdepartments and other public bodies are veryimportant in its work of building good interfaith relations. Its main link with the Governmentis through the Cohesion and Faiths Unit in theDepartment for Communities and LocalGovernment (CLG). But it is also in touch withother Government Departments including theOffice of the Third Sector in the Cabinet Office.

A Faith Communities Consultative Council(FCCC) meets within the Department ofCommunities and Local Government and theNetwork office is directly represented on this.The FCCC has met three times in the course ofthe year. At its meeting on 28 February BrianPearce, the then Director of the Network, gave apresentation on the role of local inter faithforums. At the FCCC meeting on 6 June therewas discussion on the CLG’s document on“Preventing Violent Extremism – winning heartsand minds”, which had been published in April.In the light of concern which had beenexpressed at an earlier meeting of the Network’sExecutive Committee at the lack of engagementwith faith communities generally on these issues,prior to the publication of this document, theNetwork office suggested a separate event bearranged for faith communities to have moreextended discussion on the issues raised by that document. This meeting was held at the end of August and presentations were made

to it by the Head of CLG’s Preventing ViolentExtremism Unit; from the Charity Commissionon plans for its new Faith and Social CohesionUnit; and from the Director of the NationalInstitute of Adult Continuing Education on plans for a continuing professional developmentprogramme for faith leaders.

The new Equality and Human Rights Commission

As the last Annual Review reported, the EqualityAct 2006 made provision for the setting up of a new Commission for Equality and HumanRights. The strands of discrimination workbrought together in the Commission relate to race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, age and religion and belief. It began itsoperations this autumn under its adjusted nameof the Equality and Human Rights Commission.While the new Commission was ‘open forbusiness’ from 1 October, it will not beoperational in all respects for a little while.

The three key ‘pillars’ of its work are to be‘equality/discrimination’, ‘human rights’ and ‘good relations’ (including good ‘inter faith’relations). The Equality Act requires the newbody to give particular attention in its work on‘good relations’ to issues relating to race andreligion/belief. It is not yet clear how the newCommission will carry out its functions inrelation to ‘good relations’ but it has affirmedthat it intends to proceed in full consultation



with interested parties as it develops its work.

At the time of last year’s Annual Review, TrevorPhillips, then Chair of the Commission for RacialEquality, had been appointed to chair the newbody. At that stage it had not been decidedwhether the CRE would be joining this in theautumn of 2007 alongside the Disability RightsCommission and the Equality OpportunitiesCommission, but it was subsequently agreed that it should do so. Staff from those threeCommissions who have chosen to join the new Commission became members of its staffon 1 October when it became operational(having come into being as a legal entity at the end of 2006 following the appointment of a number of Commissioners in addition toTrevor Phillips as Chair).

During the transition to the new body there havebeen meetings with a wide range of the newCommission’s key stakeholder organisations,including the Inter Faith Network and theReligion and Belief Consultative Group. TheNetwork’s then Director, Brian Pearce, attendedmeetings between Commissioners andrepresentatives of a range of organisations inApril and in September.

The Religion and Belief Consultative Group,which the Network helped to facilitate, asmentioned in earlier Annual Reviews, bringstogether faith community representative bodiesand representatives of the British Humanist

Association and the National Secular Society. It has met regularly over the last year to reviewdevelopments in the equality field. The Networkoffice is represented at its meetings and also atmeetings of the Equality and Diversity Forumwhich brings together representatives fromorganisations linked to all the six ‘strands’ with which the EHRC is statutorily engaged.

Equalities Review and Discrimination Law Review

The Equalities Review, chaired by Trevor Phillips,was established by the Government to carry outan investigation into the causes of persistentdiscrimination and inequality in British society.Its final report, published at the end of February,recommended a ten step programme for makingBritain a fairer and more equal society. Thesesteps include supporting employers to takepositive action, an enforcement regime overseenby the Equality and Human Rights Commissionand targeted action on the most persistentinequalities. The report will be an importantstarting point for the work of the new Commission.

In June the Government published a lengthyconsultation document setting out proposals fora Single Equality Bill covering Great Britain (ieEngland, Scotland and Wales). These proposalswere developed through the Discrimination LawReview which was launched in February 2005.The Government subsequently announced that


annual review 29

it is considering publishing such a bill, in draft,in the next Parliamentary session.

This document and consultation on it willcontribute to the shaping of equalities legislationfor Great Britain, including provisions relating todiscrimination on the grounds of religion or belief.Among the many issues it addressed, the Reviewproposed the retention in a new Single Equality Billof the present exemptions for religion or belieforganisations from existing requirements dealingwith discrimination in the fields of employmentand vocational training; and in the supply of goods,facilities, services and premises under legislation ondiscrimination on the grounds of religion or beliefand on the grounds of sexual orientation. It alsoopened up discussion on whether the duty onpublic authorities to promote equality should beextended to cover religion and belief.

The Network office has ensured that both theseconsultations and their outcomes were drawn to the attention of all its member bodies and hastaken part in discussion on them in the Religionand Belief Consultative Group and the Equalityand Diversity Forum.

Incitement to religious hatred

Last year’s Review reported on the enactment of the Racial and Religious Hatred Act inFebruary 2006. The legislation, which appliesonly to England and Wales, came into force on 1 October.

Faith Communities Capacity Building Fund

Last year’s Review reported on the handling ofthe first round of grants from the Government’snew Faith Communities Capacity Building Fundand reported that a second round of the fundhad opened for grants for 2007-08. The fund has been administered by the CommunityDevelopment Foundation and its establishmentwas first announced in the Government’sImproving Opportunity, Strengthening Society strategy in2005. A further round has been overseen by CDFin the current year. In March, the Network waspleased to co-badge a conference organised byCDF on “Integration: If not now, when?” and the then Deputy Director, Dr Harriet Crabtree,spoke at this.

Third Sector developments

As noted elsewhere, the final report of theGovernment’s review The Future Role of the Third Sectorin Social and Economic Regeneration was published inlate July by the Office of the Third Sector (OTS)in the Cabinet Office. It sets out a strategy topromote the partnership between theGovernment and the third sector over the nextten years. The main aims outlined in the reportare to help give third sector organisations agreater voice and to work with the sector tostrengthen communities, transform publicservices, encourage social enterprise and support the conditions for the sector to thrive.



The Government intends to give third sectororganisations more of a voice and to ensure thatthey are able to speak out and represent theircommunities. The OTS is planning to create asingle advisory body drawing in expertise from across the third sector.

The report says that the OTS will champion andprovide support to Government departmentswishing to provide strategic and long termfunding to third sector organisations to provide a consistent voice in public policy making,alongside the development or updating ofdepartmental third sector strategies. In thiscontext the Department for Communities andLocal Government is planning to develop astrategic partnership programme for engagingthird sector organisations to provide a strategicvoice and to support local action in theDepartment’s policy areas and it plans to developa new strategic partners grant programmeproviding core funding over a three year periodfor strategic partners.

A ‘Third Sector Network’ has been underdevelopment across the last year and the InterFaith Network office has been part of discussionson this and about possible ways to engage faithcommunities more widely.

Global issues, local engagementThe Inter Faith Network’s focus is on the UK but in the course of the year it has made twoparticular contributions to work at European and at Commonwealth level.

A discussion on “Respect and Understanding”was a notable feature of the discussion among the53 Commonwealth Heads of Government at theirmeeting in Malta in November 2005. As part ofthe follow up to this by the CommonwealthSecretariat in the course of the past year theNetwork has contributed to work on ways topromote understanding and respect betweendifferent faith communities. The Network officehas also met with the Commonwealth Foundationto discuss the possibility of increased engagementbetween the work of the Foundation and localinter faith structures in the UK.

The European Congress of Local and RegionalAuthorities of the Council of Europe held ameeting in Montchanin in Burgundy from 22 to 24 November, as part of a broader programmeof work by the Council of Europe on thepreparation of a White Paper on inter culturaldialogue. The meeting was attended by theNetwork’s Director at the time, Brian Pearce, atthe request of the International Bureau of theLocal Government Association. Rabbi JacquelineTabick, of the World Congress of Faiths, and Mrs


annual review 31

Anjum Anwar and Canon Chris Chivers fromBlackburn also attended the meeting, whichexamined good practice at local level acrossEurope in inter cultural and inter faith dialogue.Brian Pearce was invited to give a presentationon the engagement of local authorities in the UKwith inter faith activity and the context for this.

During the year, the Inter Faith Network hashelped a number of initiatives, such as OneWorld Week, to work with local inter faithgroups to look at global issues.

Inter Faith NetworkmembershipAt the Network’s Annual General Meeting, heldin Coventry on 16 July twenty one organisationswere accepted into membership:

● Blackpool Faith Forum● Bradford District Faiths Forum● Cambridge Inter-Faith Programme● Centre for Christianity and Interreligious

Dialogue at Heythrop College in theUniversity of London

● Churches Together in Britain and Ireland [in place of its Commission on Inter FaithRelations]

● Churches Together in England● Crawley Interfaith Network● Faiths Forum for the East Midlands

● Horsham Interfaith Forum● Joseph Interfaith Foundation● Keighley Interfaith Group● Faith Network for Manchester● Middlesbrough Council of Faiths● Portsmouth Interfaith Forum● Redbridge Faith Forum● Rugby Inter Faith Forum● St Ethelburga’s Centre for Peace and

Reconciliation● St Philip’s Centre for Study and Engagement

in a Multi Faith Society● Swansea Faiths Forum● Tameside Interfaith Network● Westminster Faith Exchange

This brings the total number of Networkmember bodies at the present time to 150.

The AGM also noted that the Centre for the Studyof Jewish-Christian Relations, in the Universityof Cambridge, (which had been in Networkmembership since 2004) now forms part of theWoolf Institute of Abrahamic Faiths, which alsoincorporates the new Centre for the Study ofJewish-Muslim Relations which was set up in2006 and that the membership details have been adjusted accordingly.

As part of the ongoing review of the structures andpatterns of Network membership the AGM agreed:

● that the present four categories ofmembership should be retained;



● to amend the membership criteria for localinter faith organisations to open membershipto bilateral/trilateral groups and groups inless diverse areas;

● to introduce criteria for membership byeducational and academic bodies;

● that the range of religious traditions fromwhich faith community representative bodiesin membership of the Network are drawnshould remain unchanged at present;

● that a ‘college’ system of voting should not bepursued but rather that “A resolution shouldbe brought forward for adoption at the 2008AGM to amend the Network’s constitution byproviding that 75% or more of votes castwould be needed to carry a resolution dealingwith membership issues if a minimum of tenmember organisations request this”; and that“ahead of the 2008 AGM legal advice shouldbe taken by the Executive Committee on thedrafting of the resolution.”.

TrusteesAt the AGM, Rt Rev Dr Tom Butler was re-electedas a Co-Chair and Dr Nawal Prinja was elected as a Co-Chair in succession to Jagjiwan Singh. Dr Manazir Ahsan was re-elected as a Vice-Chairfor the coming year. Dr Natubhai Shah, DrIndarjit Singh and Vivian Wineman were electedVice-Chairs. Venerable Tawalama Bandula andNeville Nagler, who had served on the

Committee since 1991 stood down as Vice-Chairs. The retiring Co-Chair and Vice-Chairswere warmly thanked for their contribution.

Others who stood down from the ExecutiveCommittee included Dr Fatma Amer, who had served on the Committee since 1999, Dr Elizabeth Harris, who had served on theCommittee since 2002, and Dina Gold, who had served on the Committee since 1995. Harsha Trivedi did not stand for re-election. Allwho stood down were thanked for the importantcontribution which they had made.

Sughra Ahmed, Rev Peter Colwell and AvivaDautch (all of whom are new to the Committee)and Nitin Palan (who was a Committee memberfrom 1999 to 2006) were elected to serve on theCommittee for the coming year.

Jagjiwan Singh receiving a thank you bouquet from NetworkProject Officer, Stella Opoko-Owusu


Staff Brian Pearce continued to serve as the Network’sDirector until the beginning of September. Hehas now taken on a part time role at the Networkas Adviser on Faith and Public Life. Dr HarrietCrabtree worked as the Network’s DeputyDirector until September 2007 when she tookover from Brian Pearce as Director. GaylinaNguyen has continued to serve as its Finance and Administration Assistant and Hannah Mercer,from the ProspectUs employment agency, as its PA/Administrator. Urmi Raval and StellaOpoku-Owusu began working as Project Officers(Regional and Local Inter Faith Support) for the Network in April. Bhupinder Singh continuesto design and maintain the Network’s website.

Executive CommitteeMembers 2007-08

Co-ChairsRt Revd Dr Tom ButlerDr Nawal Prinja

Vice-ChairsDr Manazir Ahsan MBEDr Natubhai K Shah Dr Indarjit Singh OBEMr Vivian Wineman

TreasurerMr Ramesh Shah

Other Executive Committee membersMs Sughra AhmedVen Tawalama BandulaMr Sudarshan BhatiaRev Peter ColwellMs Aviva DautchProfessor Brian GatesMr David GiffordMs Pramila KaurMr Ayub LaherMr Shabbir LakhaHon Barnabas LeithMr Yann LovelockMr Dorab Mistry

Mrs Ravinder Kaur NijjarMrs Ann NoonanMrs Regina O’CallaghanRev Daniel Otieno-NdaleMr Nitin PalanRabbi Alan PlanceyDr Narayan RaoMoulana M. Shahid RazaImam Dr Abduljalil SajidMr Resham Singh Sandhu MBEMr Alan Schwartz MBEMs Priti ShahMr Jagjiwan SinghRabbi Jacqueline TabickRev Guy Wilkinson

annual review 33

Urmi Raval, Gaylina Nguyen, Hannah Mercer and Stella Opoku-Owusu at the Network’s National Meeting



Statement of Financial Activities(Incorporating an Income and Expenditure Account)

For the year ended 31 December 2006

Total TotalRestricted Unrestricted 2006 2005

£ £ £ £Incoming ResourcesIncoming Resources from generated fundsVoluntary Income 8,215 268,937 277,152 292,216

Investment Income – 3,950 3,950 4,256

Incoming resources from charitable activities – 10,867 10,867 9,815

Total incoming resources 8,215 283,754 291,969 306,287

Resources expendedCost of Generating Voluntary Income 677 12,329 13,006 17,411

Charitable ActivitiesConsultation, Information and Advice 6,093 99,720 105,813 102,502

Meetings and Conferences 4,232 70,997 75,229 52,461

Publications – 6,145 62,924 69,069

Governance Costs 1,862 31,971 33,833 32,627

Total resources expended 19,009 277,941 296,950 267,489

Net incoming/(outgoing) resources for the year (10,794) 5,813 (4,981) 38,798

Funds brought forward 10,794 108,667 119,461 80,663

Total funds carried forward – 114,480 114,480 119,461

All the charitable company’s operations are classed as continuing. All the charitable company’srecognised gains and losses are shown above. The movement on reserves is shown above.


annual review 35

2006 2005

£ £ £ £

Tangible Fixed Assets 9,794 17,440

Current AssetsDebtors and prepayments 57,641 54,585

Cash at bank 56,430 82,467

114,071 137,052

Creditors: amounts due within one year 9,385 35,031

Net Current Assets 104,686 102,021

Net Assets 114,480 119,461

Funds

Restricted Funds – 10,794

Unrestricted Funds 114,480 108,667

Total Funds 114,480 119,461

These Financial Statements were approved by the Executive Committee on 4 July 2007 and signed ontheir behalf by Jagjiwan Singh, Co-Chair.

Balance Sheet

As at 31 December 2006



Supporters in 2006

The Inter Faith Network’s programme ofbuilding good relations between the differentfaith communities in the UK is funded throughsupport from faith communities, Government,trusts and individuals supportive of its work, aswell as through the subscription fees of itsmember bodies.

The Trustees of the Network thank most warmly allthose who have given financial support to its workduring the calendar year 2006 and also those whohave given the gift of time to help it work forgood relations between the faiths in the UK.

Trusts, Foundations and Companies

Ardwick TrustJoy Cohen Charitable TrustP H Holt Charitable TrustRest Harrow TrustRoger Vere FoundationTolkien Trust Triodos FoundationVan Neste FoundationWestminster FoundationMichael and Anna Wix Charitable Trust

Government Funding

During 2006 the Network received a strategy grantfrom the Department for Communities and LocalGovernment (previously from the Home Office).

Faith Community Organisations

The Network’s member faith communitiesprovide funding towards the Network’s budgeton a structured basis, with contributions varyingin amount with some reference to the relativesizes of the different communities. The sourcesof contributions received in 2006 have variedfrom community to community. In some casesthese have included donations from individuals,who are included in the lists of that category of donor.*

Board of Deputies of British JewsCatholic Bishops’ Conference of England

and Wales, Committee for Other FaithsChurches Together in Britain and IrelandCommunity Security TrustHindu Council (UK)Institute of JainologyLiberal JudaismMethodist Racial Justice Projects FundNetwork of Sikh Organisations (UK)National Spiritual Assembly of Baha’is

* A number of faith community contributions for 2006 came in at the end of 2005 and were noted in last year’s Review and some came inafter the close of the accounting year and so will be mentioned in next year’s Review.


The Inter Faith Network for the UKThe Inter Faith Network for the UK was founded in 1987 to promote good relations between peopleof different faiths and to ‘advance public knowledge and mutual understanding of the teachings,traditions and practices of the different faith communities in Britain, including an awareness both oftheir distinctive features and of their common ground’. Its member organisations include nationalrepresentative bodies of the Baha’i; Buddhist; Christian; Hindu; Jain; Jewish; Muslim; Sikh; andZoroastrian communities; national, regional and local inter faith organisations; and academicinstitutions and educational bodies concerned with inter faith issues.

The Inter Faith Network works with its member bodies to help make the UK a place marked by mutualunderstanding and respect between religions where all can practise their faith with integrity. It:� links, shares good practice between, and supports with advice and information the growing pattern

of inter faith initiatives in the UK at national, regional and local levels� provides a trusted neutral, non-denominational framework for people of different faiths to discuss

issues of shared concern, reflecting on both the distinctive aspects and the common ground of theirindividual traditions

� in cooperation with the Scottish and Welsh national inter faith linking bodies and the Englishregional faith forums, fosters local inter faith co-operation and offers advice on patterns of localinter faith initiatives suitable to a particular local area as well as helpful contacts

� assists member organisations and other agencies, such as local authorities and other public bodies,to help strengthen their inter faith programmes and good practice

� runs a helpline and publishes resources to help people working to promote good inter faithrelations

� helps make the inter faith work of its member organisations better known and raises publicawareness about inter faith issues to encourage more people to get involved

� works with member organisations and other agencies to increase the opportunities for people ofall ages to learn more about the importance of good inter faith relations – in schools, within faithcommunities and in society more widely

� fosters joint working by the faith communities on social issues� arranges seminars and conferences and carries out research to pursue particular issues in greater

depth, such as building good relations on campus, educating for shared citizenship, and women’sinter faith initiatives

The Network’s way of working is firmly based on the principle that dialogue and cooperation on socialaction can only prosper if they are rooted in respectful relationships which do not blur or underminethe distinctiveness of different religious traditions.

Movement for Reform JudaismSri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara HounslowUnited Reformed ChurchVishwa Hindu Parishad (UK)Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe

Other Donors *

Focolare MovementDevizes Religious Society of FriendsMid Essex Inter Faith ForumSheffield Inter FaithVen Tawalama BandulaMr Anil BhanotMrs Lorna BarbourRev David ClarkMrs Elizabeth CrabtreeMr Nihal Indrajith De SilvaRev Freda EvansMr J A EwanMs Dina Gold

Mr Vernon and Mrs Margaret GriffithsMr Tom GulliverRt Revd Graham JamesMr Andy LieRev W Roy PapeMrs Ravinder Kaur NijjarKay RamseyMs Clare SaltersMr Rashid SiddiquiMr Harbans Singh SethiMrs Patricia SmithDavid StevensRev Richard TetlowThe late Most Ven Dr Medagama VajiragnanaMr Julian WallMrs Joan WattamRt Rev Roy Williamson

And others who kindly gave donations but prefernot to be listed…

Further information about the Inter Faith Network can be found on its website: www.interfaith.org.ukor by writing to the Network office.

Published 2007, Inter Faith Network for the UK. ISBN: 1902906357. © Inter Faith Network for the UK

The Inter Faith Network for the UK8A Lower Grosvenor Place, London SW1W 0EN.Tel: 020 7931 7766. Fax: 020 7931 7722Email: [email protected] Web: www.interfaith.org.uk

The Network is a registered charity No. 1068934 and a company limited by guarantee No. 3443823 registeredin England. Photographs in this review may not be reproduced without prior written permission. Unlessotherwise stated all photographs taken by Network staff.

* These include donations from a number of individuals as part of the structured funding from faith communities.

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