300 gather for first Interfaith Summit in London
Over 300 people of different faiths came together during National Interfaith Week for the inaugural London Interfaith Summit.
Run by alumni of 3FF’s ParliaMentors programme, the Interfaith Summit on 17 November brought together young leaders to engage with and celebrate positive change.
Sessions were on topics such as communities and culture, in addition to gender, power, politics and migration.
Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Jewish and Sikh music acts featured, whilst events such as as ‘Speed-Faithing’ allowed people to learn about each other’s backgrounds in just 60 seconds.
Muslim-Jewish theatre group MUJU also held a number of workshops.
Baroness Williams of Trafford spoke to guests, extolling the potential of leaders from different faiths and cultures in challenging injustice and driving positive change.
A panel of young leaders took questions on interfaith work, whilst Three Faiths Forum alumni Gulwali Passarlay introduced and signed his book The Lightless Sky, which describes his perilous journey to the UK as a refugee.
Hashim Bhatti, a the summit organisers, said: “Our cities and towns are becoming increasingly culturally diverse, which means that we need to understand each other much better in order for society to flourish. In our opinion, the kind of face to face dialogue we have seen at the summit beats anything else because it helps break down barriers and build better relations between people.”
Summit co-organiser Anna Connell-Smith said: “We didn’t want the event to be a conference where people are told what they should believe in or what they should be doing. Instead, we wanted the summit to be interactive and inclusive. We hope people have had their preconceptions challenged, gained new insights and left feeling inspired to create positive change.”
The Interfaith Summit was kindly supported by Pears Foundation.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
