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Getting Involved

There are many different ways to get involved in helping build good inter faith relations. You could:

	join or start a local inter faith initiative
	join a national inter faith organisation which promotes inter faith understanding. The Inter Faith Network itself does not have individual membership because it is a body linking organisations. However, among its members a number are inter faith organisations who very much welcome new members
	find out more from your own faith community’s UK or national body
	discover whether your local university or college runs courses or programmes about different faiths and about inter faith issues
	get involved in, or start, inter faith initiatives in your school, university, youth organisation or youth group

Why inter faith work is a priority in Britain today

People of most of the world’s great faith traditions live in the UK. According to the 2001 census, 76.8% of people identified themselves as having a religious faith: Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Jewish as well as Baha’i, Buddhist, Jain, Zoroastrian and other traditions. find out more>

Followers of different faiths are able to coexist with mutual respect and understanding. They have much to offer, drawing on their own particular spiritual heritages, to help create a society rooted in values which are held in common between the distinct historic faiths. The Act of Commitment by the Faith Communities of the UK is an important statement of this.

Yet at some times and in some places around the world inter religious misunderstanding and bigotry have brought discord and even conflict. Also, there has been prejudice on the part of those, religious or not, who have little understanding of the actual beliefs and practices of their neighbours of different faiths.

Understanding about and between people and communities of different faiths in the UK is in many ways already good. This is in part thanks to teaching in Religious Education and information which positive media stories and programmes provide, as well, of course, as the work of the faith communities themselves. But there is still much to be done and inter religious understanding should never be taken for granted. It has to be worked for in each place and each generation.

Some people have a special commitment to making inter faith understanding and friendship happen in their own faith community or in their city, town, neighbourhood, university, school, or workplace.  

Although some core values and principles are common to many faiths, inter faith understanding and cooperation is not about mixing up the faiths or assuming that they are all the same. It is about building good relations between the different faiths in a way which respects the integrity and the distinct historical tradition of each one.

See also

Local Inter Faith Zone
Inter Faith Update