The Inter Faith Network for the UK office has now closed
The Inter Faith Network for the UK office has now closed, and its outward-facing operations have ceased. IFN’s Trustees are working toward strike-off. A Press Release issued on 22 February about IFN's closure can be found here. Further background can be found here.
The content of this website is being retained as it stood in May 2024, except in instances where minor amendment has been required for purposes such as compliance with changing regulations. Features that process user-submitted data have been removed, as have all systems that placed non-essential cookies.
IFN's Board thanks all who have contributed to the work of IFN across the years of its work for inter faith understanding and cooperation in the UK.
IFN's Closing Review for the period from January 2021 to May 2024 can be found here.
About the Inter Faith Network
The Inter Faith Network for the UK works to promote understanding, cooperation and good relations between organisations and persons of different faiths in the UK.
It does this through providing opportunities for linking and sharing of good practice, providing advice and information to help the development of new inter faith initiatives and the strengthening of existing ones. It raises awareness within wider society of the importance of inter faith issues and develops programmes to increase understanding about faith communities, including both their distinctive features and areas of common ground.
The Inter Faith Network's member bodies include national faith community representative bodies; national, regional and local inter faith organisations; and academic institutions and bodies concerned with multi faith education.
Find out more about IFN and our members.
Assistance following the closure of the IFN office
Contacting IFN member bodies
Faith community, inter faith and educational and academic bodies in membership of IFN as at May 2024 are still listed at https://www.interfaith.org.uk/members/list. However, contact forms for these have been removed for GDPR reasons and other details are not being updated. Most of those which are UK or national bodies have websites through which contact information can be obtained, as do many local inter faith bodies.
General enquiries
There is no one organisation which offers advice and information covering the same areas as did the Inter Faith Network for the UK. However, a number of IFN member national and regional inter faith organisations may be able to assist on particular areas of work, as may bodies such as FaithAction and Near Neighbours.
In Scotland, those enquiring about inter faith matters may find it helpful to be in touch with Interfaith Scotland, in Wales with the Inter Faith Council for Wales/Cyngor Rhyngffydd Cymru and, in Northern Ireland, with the Northern Ireland Inter Faith Forum.
Local inter faith support
IFN’s final publication was Local inter faith organisations: A guide (2024). This is a practical guide for those developing the work of existing local inter faith organisations and also for people setting up new ones and contains many useful examples and resources.
During IFN’s period of preparation for closure, it worked with member local inter faith bodies to explore ways that IFN’s strand of work supporting local inter faith organisations might be taken forward in different ways. One of their main suggestions was the creation of a Facebook Group for local inter faith bodies. This was set up by IFN and transferred to local groups who are running it independently. It can be found at www.facebook.com/groups/localinterfaithlinkuk.
Inter Faith Week
Inter Faith Week was led by IFN since 2009, in consultation with the national inter faith linking bodies of England, Northern Ireland and Wales. The Week is now being taken forward by an ad hoc group of a number of IFN member bodies. The 2024 Week will take place in England, Northern Ireland and Wales from 10-17 November. Further information is at www.interfaithweek.org. Scottish Inter Faith Week continues to be led by Interfaith Scotland www.scottishinterfaithweek.org.
Publications and resources
All IFN’s publications are available on the IFN website and it is planned that they – and the website itself – will be there in archive form for the next three years. Copyright has been switched across to Creative Commons to enable publications easily to be used and cited by people, with a few restrictions. They are also welcome to host these on their own websites if they wish.
