You are warmly invited to LBFN’s Winter Meeting on Wednesday, 9 December from 3:15pm to 5:15pm, at Collaboration House, 77 Charlotte Street, London W1T 4PW, followed by seasonal refreshments and lights to mark Advent, Chanukah, Bodhi Day & Human Rights Day until 6.30pm.
For some, August is a chance to get a bit of work done without a cascade of emails and phone calls, for others it’s a well-earned rest and an opportunity to spend time with family and friends.
Either way, London springs back to life soon! Check your online calendar or paper diary now and don’t miss out . . .
Friday 21 August (deadline) Senior Policy Advisor – leading on Muslim community engagement at Department for Communities and Local Government. The Faith Engagement team is seeking an individual to fulfil the role of Senior Policy Adviser, leading on Muslim community engagement, helping to lead the faith team and, in particular, to help diversify and strengthen Government engagement with Muslim communities across a range of issues. More information here.
Until Sunday 23 August Utopia at the Roundhouse, Camden Lock. Life stories from ordinary and extraordinary Londoners from many backgrounds brought together in an installation by film maker Penny Woolcock and Block9 (Glastonbury), with video & evening performances.
Wednesday 26 August 6.30pm – 9pm at London Central Mosque and Islamic Cultural Centre. Eastern Faiths Scriptural Reasoning “seeking to engage the Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Assyrian and Buddhist communities so that we may know one another without ignorance.” Scriptural Reasoning is where people from different faiths gather to read and reflect on short passages from their scriptures. Scriptural reasoning is not about seeking agreement, proselytising or ‘being right’ but rather increasing understanding about one another’s traditions and exploring the texts and their possible interpretations across faith boundaries. The result of this is often a much deeper understanding of ones’ own and others’ scriptures. Booking essential, contact Jayde at London Central Mosque.
Thursday 3 September to Saturday 3 October Our friends at International Alert are holding their annual Talking Peace Festival. This year’s line up includes ‘Peace in our cities’, looking at how urban conflicts erupt and what can be done to reduce potential flashpoints, ‘Peace from the street up!’ art show, Conflict Cafés (Middle East, Nepal), Peace Tracks, ‘Can an app stop a bullet?’ and much more, marking the UN International Day of Peace on 21 September. Details at talkingpeacefestival.org.
Mondays in September (dates tbc) Christian response to religious plurality past and present, and how other faiths deal with the issues of religious plurality.A new module starts at the London Interfaith Centre, part of their programme on “Living Together in a Multi Faith World”. More information here. Contact Laurence Hillel for details.
Saturday 5 September Tour de Salah 2015 sponsored cycle ride, stopping off at London’s iconic Islamic centres for prayer, across London in support of humanitarian charities Human Appeal, Islamic Relief and Penny Appeal. Register here.
Saturday 5 September 10.30am – 4pm Lambeth Inter Faith Walk 2015 A two mile walk through Streatham, visiting 6 places of worship starting at the Shree Swaminarayan Hindu Temple. Download the map and directions here. Some walkers will be sponsored, raising funds for Faiths Together in Lambeth.
Wednesday 9 September 5pm – 7pm at the University of Chester: the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s Work on Religion or Belief, organised by the Forum for Research into Equality and Diversity, the seminar will be led by Dr David Perfect (who has spoken at our European events) and will explore the EHRC’s policy, research and legal work on research or belief. Further details and registration here or contact Chantal Davies at chantal.davies@chester.ac.uk.
Saturday 12 September 10am – 4.30pm. Speakers and discussion on The Future of Faith in the UK – Evaluating Faith in a Secular Society with the Christian Muslim Forum, London Interfaith Centre and the Islamic Centre of England at St Anne’s and St Andrew’s Church, 125 Salusbury Road, London NW6 6RG (morning) and at the Islamic Centre of England, 140 Maida Vale, London W9 1QB (afternoon). Contributors include Shaykh Dr Mohammed Ali Shomali, Bishop Paul Hendricks, Aliya Azam MBE, Dr Chris Hewer and Revd Maggie Hindley. More information and registration here.
Monday 14 – Wednesday 16 September 9.30am – 4.30pm Understanding Islam Course with Dr Chris Hewer in Kingston. The course is designed for a small group of Christians who would like to learn more about Islam. Tuition is free but donations are welcome to cover costs. The course will take place in a private home. “Both Christians and Muslims have ‘wonderful ideals and awful realities’. We need to see the difference. Then we need to make sure that we compare like with like, ideals with ideals and realities with realities, and take care not to compare ‘my ideals’ with ‘your realities’.” There is a further three day course on 13 – 15 November. Tea/coffee provided; bring your own lunch. Booking and commitment essential. More info from Diana Mills.
Tuesday 15 September 4pm – 5pm Westminster Cathedral Interfaith Group at the Hinsley Room, Morpeth Terrace, close to Westminster Cathedral. The speaker will be Karanodakasayi Visnu Dasa Adhikari (Man Mohan Gupta) who will be talking on Vedic culture and civilisation. More info from John Woodhouse.
Thursday 17 September 9.30am – 8pm at The Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, London, SW7 2AR. The Impact of Diasporas. The University of Oxford and the University of Leicester. The event is the culmination and conclusion of two innovative, multidisciplinary five-year research programmes. “Diasporas are not a modern phenomenon. Ever since the last Ice Age people have moved into the British Isles from the European continent. Our research focuses primarily on the cultural, linguistic, and genetic interactions between peoples known to history as ‘Celts’, ‘Britons’, ‘Anglo-Saxons’, and ‘Vikings’.” More info here.
Saturday 19 – Sunday 20 September All day. Open House London. Fifty-nine places of worship across the boroughs and many government and public sector buildings are open (free of charge) to the public during this annual architectural festival.
This year Open House includes BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, the Buddhapadipa Temple, the Zoroastrian Centre For Europe, Friends Meeting House, Golders Green Unitarians, Lambeth Palace, Sukkat Shalom Reform Synagogue and The Queen’s Chapel (St James’s Palace). More info here.
Monday 21 September 7pm and four more Monday evenings. The Curse and the Promise: Religion and Violence St Martin-in-the-Fields (Trafalgar Square) Church Lecture Series reflects on both how faith can become the cause and perpetrator of conflict and persecution, and also the victim.
Monday 21 September Revd Dr Sam Wells, Monday 5 October Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, Monday 19 October Revd Giles Fraser, Monday 2 November Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad, Monday 16 November Karen Armstrong. Download flyer. More info here.
Thursday 8 October LBFN’s training event at New Scotland Yard on cooperation on safety and security for local places of worship, with Ecclesiastical Insurance, Tell Mama, the Community Security Trust, London Resilience and the Metropolitan Police. The training will include checklists and guidelines. Our previous session was very popular, so early booking is recommended. Priority is being given to churches, temples, Islamic centres, gurdwaras and synagogues which book in pairs or groups. Contact LFBN’s convener for further details and booking.
Thursday 15, 22 October and 5 November Community Reconciliation – working creatively with division at St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace. A series 
of practical workshops to assist participants to develop strategies for bringing divided communities together. £150 for the three days and the workbook. More info here.
Sunday 15 November to Saturday 21 November Inter Faith Week 2015 – visit the website here to add details of your local activities this year. Download the flyer here.
Londoners may be interested in an initiative by the Anglican Bishop of Birmingham, enabling difficult conversations around lived faith in Birmingham post ‘Trojan Horse’. A series of conversations over six months explored the theme ‘What does Lived Faith look like in a 21st Century City?’ A group of 24 people from different faiths met once a month for three hours each time to talk through the way faith is lived in Birmingham. The group consisted of Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Ravidassi and Sikhs. The topics were wide ranging and included issues such as evangelism and conversion, gender issues, young people and education, caste legislation, race and global conflicts. The aim was not, necessarily, to reach consensus but to find a way to talk constructively about these topics. “By ‘lived faith’ we are looking to move beyond a purely intellectual understanding of religion to see faith as something that not only affects the way each individual member of a religion lives out their faith, but also the way in which that living inevitably interacts with those who live around them.” Read more about the Birmingham Conversations here.
3FF is developing a Festival programme, What Women Believe, that will premiere in Winter 2015. At its heart an exhibition of portraits and histories will celebrate the contributions of amazing women from the diverse communities of Camden. “Do you know an inspirational woman in Camden? Nominate a woman who is older than you and tell us about her in 150 words. Email your nomination to exhibition@3ff.org.uk. Stories will be shared in our online gallery, and a selection will be featured in a book and exhibition to celebrate Camden women.”
The Berakah Project is starting a multi faith youth ensemble in west London – the first of its kind in the world. The ensemble will be led by the founder of The Berakah Project, Mohammed Nazam, a professional musician and music educator with over 25 years touring experience with bands, writing music and working with young people in a range of contexts. “We’re looking for young people from all faith backgrounds to take part and we are searching for the very best young musicians to take part in this ground breaking and vitally needed project. Whether you play guitar, drums, percussion, sing, saxophone or keyboards – get in touch at: theberakahproject@gmail.com.”
Read the latest Inter Faith Network for the UK bulletin here. The well known Shap Calendar of Religious Festivals (for 2016) is now available on IFN’s website here. Shap continues its printed format.
BBC Radio 4 Sunday Programme in East London. Listen to this edition of the programme, recorded in East London on 26 July. It includes bee hives at East London Mosque, the Near Neighbours Programme, Ed Kessler from the Woolf Institute and Imam Yunus Dudhwala, head of Chaplaincy Services at Barts NHS Trust (who spoke at LBFN’s Multifaith Spaces event) on organ transplants.
Check out our new What’s On page for a full listing of London events for LBFN members & friends – email us with your news or add items to our Facebook page.
Thursday 21 May 3.30pm – 9pm Bridging Extreme Differences: Building Dialogue with Extremists at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, WC1A 2LP hosted by BIMA – Belief in Mediation and Arbitration. Download flyer.
Thursday 21 May 6:30pm – 8:30pm Death, Dying and Religion – Spirituality at the End of Life at Trinity Hospice, 30 Clapham Common North Side, SW4 0RN, on the role of spiritual care at the end of life, followed by Q&A. Rafi Fuchs, Spiritual Co-ordinator at Jewish care home Nightingale House, Eva Bellim, Trinity Hospice, Imam Suliman Gani, Tooting Mosque and Dennis Pearce, Bermondsey Buddhist Centre on their perspectives of death and dying, followed by a discussion on how we can work together to improve the relationship between religious communities and hospices. For healthcare professionals, community leaders and members of the public.
Tuesday 26 May – Saturday 6 June 7pm Like Mother Like Daughter at Battersea Arts Centre in partnership with Complicite, Women’s Interfaith Network and 3FF. If you could ask your mother one question about her life, what would it be? What is the most important thing a mother can pass on to her daughter? Performed by mothers and daughters from different religions, Like Mother, Like Daughter is a celebration of the traditions we inherit and what we pass on. LBFN is offered half price tickets (£7.50) – use the promotion code “FRIEND” when booking.
Wednesday 27 – Thursday 28 May European Network on Religion and Belief AGM in Brussels, Belgium. LBFN has been involved in setting up ENORB from the start. The AGM is free of charge and open to all. The focus this year is “Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion and Belief and Solidarity: what limitations are acceptable in a plural Europe?”
Thursday 28 May 1pm – 8pm Bridge the – GAP Musicians, artists and poets from all backgrounds are invited to to contribute. “This project aims to bring together residents of Camden, from all backgrounds to participate in an event to celebrate and enhance community harmony regardless of your background or beliefs. This will be achieved by designating a day to recognise and repair relationships which may have broken down, or by reaching out to someone not in our normal circle. It is a day in which we attempt to bridge the many gaps that have occurred in our relationships and community.” At Camden Lock – find details here.
Sunday 31 May 1pm – 3.45pm Lewisham Inter Faith Walk for Peace with Lewisham Police and Lewisham Council, including Catford Synagogue, Lewisham Civic Centre, Lewisham Islamic Centre (where lunch will be served), Lewisham Methodist Church, Lewisham Sivan Temple and Lewisham Police Station. Download flyer.
Monday 1 June 9am – 7pm Moving Beyond “Us” and “Them”: Challenging Discourses of Religious Otherness and Building a More Inclusive Society at Cumberland Lodge, Windsor Great Park – a forum to challenge the ‘us’ and ‘them’ divide – which is not a simple binary, but a complex relationship in which religion intersects with many other social divisions. 
Participants will discuss possibilities for reducing social divisions within and across groups as well as opportunities to build a more inclusive society in which the voices of Muslim and other minority religious groups are not simply heard, but also understood on equal terms to the majority religious and secular groups. LBFN’s Convener is one of the speakers along with Mohammad Saeed Bahmanpour, Islamic College of Advanced Studies, Justine Huxley of St Ethelburga’s Centre, Fiyaz Mogul, Faith Matters, and Revd Dr James Walters, LSE Chaplain.
Monday 1 June 7pm – 9pm Planting Seeds for Hope at St Martin in the Fields Church, Trafalgar Square, WC2N 4JJ. Join in solidarity with people across the planet as we fast and pray for the climate, leading up to the UN Climate Conference in Paris, December 2015. An evening of silence, prayer and collective action. Download flyer. LBFN is supporting multifaith & intercultural involvement in the lead up to the Conference. Walking and cycling pilgrimages to Paris are being planned.
Wednesday 3 June 6.30pm Examining the Extreme: Radicalisation among Muslim Youth – Mediums and Tools with Alex Krasodomski-Jones, Demos, Naveed Sheikh, Keele University, Anthony Richards, University of East London at the Dialogue Society, 402 Holloway Road, N7 6PZ.
Saturday 6 June 10am – 4.30pm Westminster Interfaith 30th Annual Multi-Faith Pilgrimage for Peace with Hounslow Friends of Faith, starting at Laxmi Narayan Mandir, 60 Neville Close Hounslow TW3 4JG.
Sunday 7 June 4pm South London Inter Faith Group AGM at Brixton Hill Methodist Church, SW2 2TX. Download flyer.
Monday 8 June 10.30am-3.30pm Day seminar on Migration with London Churches Social Action at The Abbey Centre at St Margaret’s Church, North Street, Barking, IG11 8AS. Lunch provided. “It promises to be an excellent day with fantastic contributions and plenty of opportunity for discussion. A timely opportunity for London Churches to develop some key “Common Voice” messages on this topic.”
Monday 8 June 6.30pm LBFN’s Frontline Film Club led by 18-30s at Collaboration House, 77 Charlotte St, W1T 4PW. Intercultural discussion group provoked by documentaries and film. Come along & have your say. Booking essential.
Tuesday 9 June 10am – 1.15pm Feeling secure, keeping safe and countering hate – We Stand Together. Following on from LBFN’s meeting at New Scotland Yard last month, Hounslow Friends of Faith have organised a morning with the Metropolitan Police, Tell Mama and London Resilience at Hounslow Jamia Masjid, Wellington Road South, Hounslow TW4 5HU. Download details.
Tuesday 9 June 6pm-8pm Westminster Faith Exchange: Child Safeguarding at Lord Mayor’s Reception Rooms, 18th Floor, Westminster City Hall, 64 Victoria Street, SW1E 6QP. Panel event looking at the work being done by local authorities, faith groups and charities to help improve the safeguarding of children. Download flyer.
Wednesday 10 June 10am – 4.30pm Fundamentals of Project Management Community and voluntary organisations are working hard to improve the lives of their members, users and the neighbourhoods they live in. There is never enough time or resources to do everything we would like to. Brush up on how to use your time wisely.
An intensive day of training (reduced cost £50 for community groups) led by Steve Miller of Faith-based Regeneration Network. This series is a joint project of FbRN, LBFN and Faiths Forum for London. It will take place at our new offices at Collaboration House (Goodge St tube).
Wednesday 10 – Thursday 11 June Mental Health First Aid Training with Faiths Together in Lambeth, TOPAZ and South London & Maudsley NHS Trust. Two day Mental Health First Aid course, free for members of FTiL, others welcome to inquire. Download flyer.
Saturday 13 or Sunday 14 June **details tbc** – contact Bethan for latest plans. 10.30am at Imperial War Museum Peace Garden & 12.30pm at Battesea Park Peace Pagoda Road to Peace Pilgrimage Walk sets off from London to Glastonbury in tribute to the Dalai Lama’s 80th year and his advocacy for Global Peace and Interfaith Harmony. “Like troubadours and pilgrims of old, we will offer screenings of Road to Peace and musical performances to local community and faith groups in towns and villages, in exchange for traditional hospitality by way of food and lodging,” Download flyer
Wednesday 17 June 4-5pm Westminster Cathedral Interfaith Group Guest speaker is Joan Salter “Being saved from the Holocaust”. Download flyer.
Wednesday 24 June 10am – 4.30pm Community Reconciliation: Collaborative Inquiry at St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation & Peace. Full-day conference. Speakers from Search for Common Ground, Community Resolve, Corrymeela Community in Northern Ireland and Bradford University. The day will include a) Reviewing the scale and nature of the need for community reconciliation work around the UK, b) Looking at what theoretical ideas can helpfully inform practice, c) Examining approaches that have proved most useful & d) Taking stock of what resources are available to support local action. £20 including lunch. Download flyer.
Papers are invited (from practitioners as well as academics) for a conference hosted by Cumberland Lodge in Windsor Great Park on Moving Beyond ‘Us’ and ‘Them’: Challenging Discourses of Religious Otherness and Building a More Inclusive Society.
The conference will take place on Monday 1 June.
“This one-day event will take an interdisciplinary approach, bringing together academics and students from the social sciences and humanities, as well as practitioners whose work deals with issues of social cohesion.
We welcome individual and group academic papers and non-academic presentations and papers that address topical issues regarding the process of religious othering experienced by religious minority groups, the role of religious ‘others’, their relations with other social actors and their representation in the political, educational and employment domains.
We are particularly interested in contributions that focus on defining current problems and on providing potential ways to resolve challenges associated with the following debates:
Education: How can education act as a vehicle for bridging the ‘us’ and ‘them’ divide?
Employment: How does religion affect (un)employment experiences and/or workplace interactions ?
Citizenship: How does religion and interfaith relations impact on political participation?
The team of organisers includes Rosalind Parker (PhD student at King’s College London), who has been involved with ENORB UK from its inception and who presented a paper at LBFN’s seminar on multifaith spaces at St Ethelburga’s in 2013.
The extended deadline for submitting ideas and abstracts is 31 March. Download more information here and contact the organisers here.
City Circle is hosting a panel discussion on Friday 20th March 6.45pm – 8.30pm at Abrar House, 45 Crawford Place, W1H 4LP on women in positions of leadership within Christianity and Islam.
“The role of women is one of the most challenging issues facing Christianity and Islam today. But why is the idea of women in positions of religious leadership so controversial?
Why aren’t more women breaking through the glass ceiling into positions of leadership?
Join us for a panel discussion as we explore questions of women’s representation, participation and leadership from the perspective of Islam and Christianity.”
Speakers include Revd Lucy Winkett, Khola Hasan and Shahin Ashraf MBE.
More information on City Circle’s website, Facebook page or by emailing rameez@thecitycircle.com.
Join Becky Brookman, the West (& South West) London coordinator for the Near Neighbours Programme, in Tooting (Mushkil Aasaan, 222 Upper Tooting Road, SW17 7EW, nearest tube Tooting Broadway) on Monday 23 March 6.15pm – 8pm. Download the flyer here. Hot food provided!
Wandsworth Community Empowerment Network, Faiths Together in Lambeth and the South London Interfaith Group are teaming up for a relaxed but engaging evening, talking about our local communities, how we can work together, sharing insights & knowledge, equipping and enabling us to transform our neighbourhoods. The evening is especially tailored for the eligible areas in south London boroughs – all are welcome.
Becky will be giving us more information about Near Neighbours, the free training available, tips on filling in the forms and ideas on partnership and joint working.
Please pass the invitation on to those who may be interested. Let LBFN’s convener know if you’re hoping to come along, or contact Nadeene directly at WCEN nadeene@wcen.org.uk.
If you are going to the Women of the World Festival at the Southbank Centre. SE1, on Sunday 9 March, come along to the Women and Faith session at 1pm.
Jude Kelly (Festival Director) says the WOW Festival “celebrates everything girls and women are doing to change the world for the better”.
WOW has been liaising with the Women’s Interfaith Network to put together an excellent panel of speakers which includes Dina Brawer from the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, the Church of England’s Reverend Sally Hitchiner, Polly Harrar, founder of The Sharan Project, Hudda K and Sofia Niazi from OOMK, with Catriona Robertson, convener of LBFN, chairing the session.
Here’s the trailer.
The Women’s Interfaith Network is celebrating its 10th anniversary and International Women’s Day with an art exhibition in the Galleries at the OXO Tower Wharf on 20- 30 March.
The artworks on display have been selected from nearly 1,500 submissions from women across the world, including Tracey Emin. Curator Rosalind Parker (of the Meridian Institute for Culture and Dialogue & previously involved in 3FF’s Urban Dialogues exhibition) says, “This is a platform for female artists, both established and emerging, to engage in discussion of gender, faith and spirituality.”
Women from communities across London will find this an exciting event.
“My Great Great Grandfather was a slave in the Ottoman Empire.
My Father was a Turkish Cypriot. He was a Muslim who grew up in a Greek village and spoke Turkish with a Greek accent.
My Mother is British. She grew up in London’s East End. She comes from a family of long time Gypsies.
Me – I am an international artist. I exhibit all over the world.
I am very happy to take part in this Exhibition.”
Tracey Emin
There’s also a Voices of Womanhood Festival Day (£15 for a day ticket) with an eclectic programme of films, speakers and panels on Sunday 23rd March 11am – 9pm at the Roxy Bar and Screen, 128 Borough High Street, SE1 1LB.
Download the flyer for details and book your place by emailing Marion Waruguru at marion@wominet.org.uk.
There’s plenty on in London to get 2014 off to a great start!
20 January 9.30am – 4.10pm A Conversation about Conflict exploring the faith influences that can be used to tackle difficult issues in a community setting. St Ethelburga’s and Christian Muslim Forum are co-facilitating the workshop at 305 Cambridge Heath Road, E2 9LH. Details here.
22 January 10am-12pm Together in Service funding briefing at Bethnal Green Mission Church, 305 Cambridge Heath Road, E2 9LH. There’s also a chance to talk to the TiS team individually about potential projects. Details here.
22 January 6.30-8pm Poverty and the Tolerance of the Intolerable – talk by Prof Amartya Sen at LSE . The talk will be live-streamed on LSE’s website and a podcast made available. Details here.
27 January Holocaust Memorial Day events have been been organised by many London boroughs in cooperation with local religious communities, including Barnet, Lewisham, Haringey, Southwark, Greenwich, Croydon, Brent, Lambeth, Hounslow and Havering. Details of all London events here.
27 January 5.30pm European Parliament training event with Faiths Forum for London at Europe House, Smith Square, W1. The aim is to engage with citizens and faith groups to raise awareness of the issues and debates taking place in European Parliament and how citizens can get involved the decision making. Details here.
South London Inter Faith Group meets on the last Thursday of the month at 12.30-2pm at Streatham Friends Meeting House, Roupell Park Estate, Redland Way, SW2 3LU. Next meeting 30 January. Details here.
4 February 6pm The Dialogue Society Book Group Meeting 5: A Distant Shore, by Caryl Phillips The Dialogue Society, 402 Holloway Road, N7 6PZ. Details here.
Westminster Faith Debates are back with a new series, on global religious trends, at RUSI, 61 Whitehall, SW1A 2ET at 5.30pm, including on 12 February What is driving sectarian violence in the wake of the Arab spring? and on 12 March Are attempts to promote worldwide religious freedom naive or necessary? Details here.
18 February Women in the 21st Century conference at Queen Mary University, London E1 4NS with a wide range of speakers and workshops (£40). Details here.
Westminster Cathedral Interfaith Group meets next to the Cathedral in Victoria on the third Wednesday of the month at 4pm. Upcoming speakers include Hugo Clarke (Curzon Institute) on World War 1 (19 February), Raheed Salam, faith and interfaith consultant for NCVYS (19 March). Details here.
11 March 3-5pm London Boroughs Faiths Network meeting at the Department for Communities and Local Government, Eland House, Bressenden Place, SW1E 5DU. We are also planning two focused meetings on health and on young Londoners.
Goldsmiths’ Faiths and Civil Society Unit has a series on Faith in the Public Realm, including How do governments do God? Warwick Hawkins MBE, Head of Faith Communities Engagement, Department for Communities and Local Government
12 March at 5pm. Near Neighbours – can Christians do public faith for everyone? Dilwar Hussain, New Horizons in British Islam, 14 May at 5pm. Details here.
15 March God and Government Conference with Theos, covering welfare, religious freedom, multiculturalism, and education among others. Details here.
Research Project on Attitudes to Self-Sacrificial Death for National and/or Religious Motives. Prof John Wolffe (Professor of Religious History, The Open University) is interested to hear from anyone from a Catholic, Protestant or Muslim background who would like to take part in this study by being interviewed. “In the run-up to the centenaries of the outbreak of the First World War (August 1914), of the Easter Rising in Dublin (April 1916) and of the Battle of the Somme (July 1916), we are developing a historical and contemporary study of British and Irish views on martyrdom and sacrificial death. We are interested not only in perceptions of events a century ago, but also in the way casualties have been regarded in events within living memory such as the Falklands War of 1982, the ‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland and IRA attacks in the mainland UK in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. We are also exploring more contemporary examples, notably reactions to the 9/11 and 7/7 bombings, to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and to the ‘Arab Spring’.” Details here.
The Women’s Interfaith Network has put out a call for entries to their 10th anniversary art exhibition next year. Spirit of Womanhood will be held at London’s Oxo Tower on 25 – 31 March, to coincide with International Women’s Day 2014 – dates to add to your forward planner.
Entry is open to female artists of any age, culture, belief or non-belief. Submissions are invited via www.win-exhibition.org.uk by 30 November. WIN says
“The exhibition will provide a unique platform for female artists from diverse backgrounds to celebrate their creativity and spiritual journeys.”
Pass the flyer on to female artists in your communities – this is bound to be a significant event within the art world and will draw visitors from across London and the UK.
For more information, contact the Curator, Rosalind Parker.
London Boroughs Faiths Network 