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UK IS MULICULURAL Our organisation recently invited several members from different faith traditions to join us at Our Edges Personality of the Year Awards. We intend to explore areas of work with them in our new project for India. |
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 INTER FAITH IS SO CRUCIALFawad Bhatti is the Interfaith Development officer for Blackburn with Darwen Assalaam alaikum, (Peace be upon you). I’m Interfaith Development Officer for Blackburn with Darwen Interfaith Council. I work from the Borough Council’s Regeneration Offices and have been in my post since August 2000. Prior to joining the Interfaith Council I was a volunteer for the Racial Equality Council. There has been communication between Christian and Muslim organisations in Blackburn for a few years now but since our launch last November we now have 20 representative members from Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Sikh, Hindu and Zoroastrian faiths. Essentially my role is to support the development of the Interfaith Council to act as a catalyst to: >> build closer links between different faith groups through dialogue, to overcome ignorance, fear and misunderstanding. >> improve the quality of life for local people by getting different faiths to work together on community projects. >> raise the profile and understanding of the positive role of faith in society. I believe interfaith activity is necessary especially in a town like Blackburn where we have polarised communities but there is without doubt a strong faith presence. Blackburn as with East Lancashire as a whole is mainly bi-racial (white and south-Asian heritage) and bi-faith (Christian and Muslim). The Interfaith Council aims to give minority faiths a voice also and hopes to play its part in eradicating the misconceptions and apprehensiveness that prevents people from living and working together. There are also a growing number of people who don’t want to be given a religious label but would rather call themselves ‘spiritual’. Interfaith as opposed to multi-faith implies positive interaction between the faith groups - this is a very slow process but every step towards a better understanding and a greater sense of cohesion is a result. There is a need to recognise the common issues facing communities across faith and racial boundaries e.g. drug abuse, unemployment, prejudice and also a need to identify the problems of marginalised and socially excluded groups. The community work in tackling these issues has in recent times been secular-based but faith-based community work is now recognised as complementary or as a valid alternative. I must laud the work of organisations similar to T.H.O.M.A.S. that transform peoples lives, without them our communities would falter and people would suffer for longer. I think T.H.O.M.A.S. can serve as an example to the whole of the borough and having recently attended the Edges Personality Awards, it was clear to see the zest for life in the faces of the youths who have passed through St Anne’s House. Of course we must also think of those who don’t make it. Britain is often called ‘multi-cultural’, ‘multi-ethnic’ and ‘multi-faith’, we cannot simply rely upon racial / religious stereotypes of each other with which to base our interaction. It needs a major change in our individual mindset in order to achieve greater integration and inclusion needed in this borough. For more information about the Interfaith Council, please contact me on 01254 585624 or fawad.bhatti@blackburn.gov.uk |
