Press
Release 25 June 2014
INTER
FAITH WEEK
At
their meeting on 25 June the Trustees of the Inter Faith Network for the UK
launched Inter Faith Week:
Celebrating 2013 and planning for 2014.
Inter
Faith Week takes place in the third week of November and has now become a
fixture in the local and national calendar with events
to:
· strengthen
good inter faith relations at all levels
· increase
awareness of the different and distinct faith communities in the UK,
celebrating and building on the contribution which their members make to their
neighbourhoods and to wider society
· increase
understanding between people of religious and non-religious
beliefs
The
Officers of the Inter Faith Network said: “This is a Week that is firing the
imagination of more and more people of all ages each year. In the UK we live
side by side as neighbours with people of many different backgrounds. This is
a Week for celebrating the positive aspects of how we coexist and for
strengthening our common bonds. It encourages new links and friendship. It
enables people to learn more about their neighbours’ faiths and beliefs. It
brings people together to volunteer in their local communities. It encourages
discussion – including about areas of commonalities and shared values, areas
of difference, and also about some of the more difficult questions that face
us today.”
Inter
Faith Week 2014
It
is expected that this year many different kinds of organisation will be
holding events to mark the Week: faith groups; inter faith organisations;
non-religious belief bodies; businesses; sports organisations; local
authorities; Police and Fire and Rescue Services; schools and Standing
Advisory Councils on Religious Education (SACREs); universities and colleges;
hospitals; businesses; voluntary organisations; chaplaincies; and
others.
Inter
Faith Week 2014 will have a special focus on events involving young people or
with an intergenerational dimension, and some ideas for events are included in
the short report.
Organisations
in many areas are already planning their Inter Faith Week events for 2014.
Just one local example is
Dacorum Interfaith Network in Hertfordshire whose Co-Chairman David
Lawson has said “The aim of ‘Interfaith 14’ in November is to bring all the
different faiths in Dacorum together on one day, in one place, to share with
others a little bit about their faith
to help understand and accept each other and to help build
friendships between communities.”
The
2013 Week saw thousands participate through over 400 events which took place
in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to mark the Week – nearly 30% more than
the previous year. The number of local faith communities involved with the
Week more than doubled – as did local authorities and civic bodies. The spread
of activities was wide: from faiths volunteering together on social action
projects and fundraising together for charity, to faith trails and open door
days at places of worship; from debates and dialogues to multi faith sports
matches; from exhibitions and festivals to hands-on workshops to learn more
about different faiths.
25
June 2014
Notes
to Editors
- Inter Faith Week: Celebrating 2013 and planning for 2014 accompanies this Release and can also be downloaded from www.interfaithweek.org
- The production and publication of the report was supported by a project grant from the Department for Communities and Local Government.
- For further information contact: Ashley Beck ashley.beck@interfaith.org.uk 020 7730 0410.
- Inter Faith Week was established in England and Wales in 2009. Scottish Inter Faith Week has taken place with great success since 2004 and is led by Interfaith Scotland (www.interfaithscotland.org). This year it begins on Sunday 23 November.
- The Inter Faith Network for the UK manages the Inter Faith Week website: www.interfaithweek.org and leads on the Week. Within Wales, the lead is taken by the Inter-faith Council for Wales (www.interfaithwales.org), and within Northern Ireland, the lead is taken by the Northern Ireland Inter-Faith Forum (http://niinterfaithforum.org).
- The Inter Faith Network for the UK (www.interfaith.org.uk), was founded in 1987.
- Sunday 16 November, the first day of Inter Faith Week, is also Mitzvah Day (www.mitzvahday.org.uk) - a Jewish-led day of social action involving people of all faiths and none working together in their local communities. Many events are being jointly held to mark both Inter Faith Week and Mitzvah Day, and will be branded ‘Inter Faith Mitzvah Day’ events.
The Inter Faith
Network for the UK
2 Grosvenor
Gardens
London
SW1W
0DH
Tel: 020 7730
0410
Fax: 020 7730
0414
Email: ifnet@interfaith.org.uk
Registered
charity no. 1068934. Company limited by guarantee no. 3443823 registered in
England.
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