There were 60 founder member organizations: national faith community representative bodies of the Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jain, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh communities (the Zoroastrian community joined in 1989, but had been involved in consultations before the Network was established); national inter faith organizations; local inter faith bodies; and educational and academic bodies with an interest in multi faith and inter faith issues. National inter faith bodies included UK chapters of international inter faith initiatives. The pattern of membership today is similar and there are nearly 200 organizations in membership.

It has also worked to ensure that the importance of religious identity and of good inter faith relations is understood in wider society.

IFN sends Circulars throughout the year to member bodies about matters connected to its work and developments relevant to inter faith engagement, including in as the area of public policy. It also distributes information more widely through its regular newsletter, which carries information about inter faith projects, relevant national updates, research projects, funding opportunities, and upcoming inter faith events.

Part of IFN’s work involves advocacy in the area of faith and public life. IFN links in direct membership many local inter faith organizations (LIFOs) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Within England, IFN links in membership a number of regional multi faith bodies, which play a significant role in their regions.

Vision

IFN’s vision is of a society where there is understanding of the diversity and richness of the faith communities in the UK and the contribution that they make; and where they live and work together with mutual respect and shared commitment to the common good.

Mission

Working with faith communities, inter faith organizations, educators and others to increase understanding and cooperation between people of different faiths and to widen public awareness of the distinctive religious traditions in the UK.

Working to achieve this through: supporting and encouraging inter faith initiatives and sharing good practice between these; helping create opportunities for mutual learning and tackling prejudice; and offering opportunity for engagement between faith communities and Government and other public agencies on relevant issues.

Values

Service to others, Integrity, Accountability, Trust, Consultative and cooperative working, Valuing diversity, Inclusiveness, Listening and openness, Courtesy, Mutual respect, Respecting dissent and people’s right to express this.

Contacts

• Address: Mary Sumner House, 24 Tufton St, London SW1P 3RB, UK
• Phone: +44 20 7730 0410
• Email: ifnet@interfaith.org.uk
• Website: www.interfaith.org.uk

Comparative Perspectives from Malaysia and Britain

By Sara Ashencaen Crabtree

Publisher: Routledge (January 31, 2021)

Drawn from over fifty-eight individual, in-depth, qualitative interviews with women of faith in Malaysia and Britain, Women of Faith and the Quest for Spiritual Authenticity is a multifaith, multicultural and cross-cultural comparative focus that explores women’s religious expressions, as derived from practising Buddhists, Hindus, Christians, Muslims, Jews, Wiccans and Druids among others.

This is an ecumenical and entertaining ethnography where women’s narratives and life stories ground faith as embodied, personal, painful, vibrant, diverse, illuminating and shared. This book will of interest not only to academics and students of the sociology of religion, feminist and gender studies, politics, ethnicity and Southeast Asian studies, but is equally accessible to the general reader broadly interested in faith and feminism.

About the Author

Sara Ashencaen Crabtree is Professor of Social and Cultural Diversity at Bournemouth University, UK. She has worked extensively in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and the Middle East and is widely published in the areas of gender, vulnerability, discrimination, disadvantage, cross-cultural issues and belief.

Table of Contents

1. Searching for the Sacramental: An Introduction
2. Gender and Faith: A Critical Review
3. ‘When Eve Delved’: Fieldwork Reflections
4. What is it to be a Woman of Faith?
5. God the Patriarch and Other Relatives
6. The Sacred, Sacramental and Sex
7. The Damnable, Salvational and Salvageable
8. Conclusions and Contemplations

Source: Routledge

Religion is a “red line” for many people, the study – based on a survey of 11,700 adults in England and Wales – will say. This is particularly so in the case of Muslims.

Almost three-quarters of non-black or Asian respondents said they were comfortable with a close relative marrying a black or Asian person, but only 43% were comfortable with a close relative marrying a Muslim.

Muslims were most often the subject of negative attitudes held by other faith groups, but were also the group most likely to hold negative attitudes towards people of other religions.

The researchers focused on the question of marriage as a way of measuring tolerance and prejudice. They found that the public is largely positive about intermarriage across ethnic and national lines. However, the word “Muslim” triggered more negative sentiment than the word “Pakistani”, even though the vast majority of British Pakistani people are Muslim.

Prejudice based on religion was stronger among people aged over 75, those with no or few educational qualifications, people from non-Asian ethnic minorities, and Baptists.

Men appear to be more uncomfortable than women about the idea of a close relative marrying someone from a different ethnic, national or religious background.

Among Hindus, Sikhs, Jews, Buddhists and people of no religion, the majority felt uncomfortable with the idea of a close relative marrying a Muslim. Among Christians, there was a significant minority.

A majority of Muslims were uncomfortable with the idea of a close relative marrying a Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish or Sikh person, or someone of no religion. Almost four in 10 Muslims were uncomfortable with a close relative marrying a Christian.

The study also found that attitudes within minority faith communities were undergoing significant generational shifts. In particular, British Muslim women were exercising more freedom to decide when, whom and how to marry.

Source: The Guardian

Our households – who lives with us, how we are related to them and what role we play in that shared space – have a profound effect on our daily experience of the world. A new Pew Research Center analysis of data from 130 countries and territories reveals that the size and composition of households often vary by religious affiliation.

Worldwide, Muslims live in the biggest households, with the average Muslim individual residing in a home of 6.4 people, followed by Hindus at 5.7. Christians fall in the middle (4.5), forming relatively large families in sub-Saharan Africa and smaller ones in Europe. Buddhists (3.9), Jews (3.7) and the religiously unaffiliated (3.7) – defined as those who do not identify with an organized religion, also known as “nones” – live in smaller households, on average.

Why study households from an individual’s point of view?

Household size is one easy way to compare the lived experiences of people around the world. Bigger households are common in less-developed countries, where people tend to have more children and families share limited resources. Smaller households are prevalent in wealthier countries, which tend to have aging populations and lower birth rates.

But the number of people in any given household is only one dimension of living arrangements. Since households of the same size can be so qualitatively different from each other – a three-person household might consist of a couple and one child, a child with a parent and grandparent, a husband and two wives, or numerous other combinations – understanding the distribution of various types of households also is valuable.

Globally, the most common household type is the extended family, accounting for 38% of the world’s population. But some religious groups are more likely to live in extended families than others. Hindus are the only major group in which a majority lives with extended family, such as grandparents, uncles and in-laws. Muslims, Christians and Jews are more likely to reside in two-parent households, composed of two partners with one or more minor children. Living alone is unusual among all religious groups, but it is more common among Jews than among the world’s other major religions: About one-in-ten Jews worldwide are in solo households. From a global perspective, Jews also are much more likely than non-Jews to live in households consisting of a couple without children or other relatives.

Source: Pew Research Center

This year, on the 125th anniversary of the original meeting, thousands of people gathered in Toronto, Canada, over seven days in November, to continue the work of building religious fraternity. In the past 125 years, religious pluralism has become much more widely accepted, at least in the United States and Canada, but religious unity remains an elusive goal. At a moment when religious conservatives make headlines, it is worth paying attention to what happened at the 2018 Parliament.

In Toronto, the thousands of attendees (nearly 10,000, according to the organizers) were a mixture of the world’s religions. The mostly North American visitors mingled with many different spiritual communities and faith leaders.

The Parliament has been a regular event since it was revived in 1993 and renamed “The Parliament of the World’s Religions” on the 100th anniversary of the original meeting. It met in Chicago in 1993 but soon went abroad to Cape Town (1999), Barcelona (2004), Melbourne (2009), and back to the United States in Salt Lake City (2015) before this year’s meeting in Toronto. Although the meeting is expensive ($495 USD per person), it attracts religious leaders, activists, and some everyday folks interested in the interfaith movement. Climate change was a central focus of the Toronto Parliament…

Since the original Parliament 125 years ago, the interfaith movement has changed in important ways. Its leadership is much more diverse and inclusive. Its politics is attentive to Indigenous issues, women’s rights, and climate change. Many old challenges remain, not least of which is that many religious communities continue to stay away.

Source: Religion & Politics

The Plan of Action was developed over two years of intensive consultations at the global and regional levels organized by the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect, with the support of the International Dialogue Centre (KAICIID), the World Council of Churches (WCC), and the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers.

A total of 232 religious leaders and actors from 77 countries took part in the consultations.  Participants included Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews, Muslims and Sikhs from different groups and denominations, as well as representatives from various religious minorities, including Baha’i, Candomblé, Kakai, Yazidi and humanists.  At least 30 percent of participants at all meetings were women.

The Action Plan was developed in response to an alarming spike in recent years in hate speech and incitement to violence against individuals or communities, based on their identity. Incitement to violence, in public discourse and the media, is both a common warning sign and a precursor of atrocity crimes. The Action Plan is the first document to focus on the role of religious leaders and actors in preventing incitement to violence that could lead to atrocity crimes and the first to develop context specific regional strategies with this objective.

Implementation of the Plan of Action will contribute to the prevention of atrocity crimes, especially in areas affected by religious and sectarian tensions and violence and enhance the respect, protection and promotion of human rights, including the rights to freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of religion or belief and peaceful assembly.

António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations said: “All religions teach respect for life, and recognize human beings as fundamentally equal. These principles summon us to show respect for all human beings, even those with whom we might profoundly disagree or whose cultures might seem alien. I urge the widest possible dissemination and implementation of this Plan of Action.  It can help to save lives, reduce suffering, and realize our shared vision of peaceful, inclusive and just societies in which diversity is valued and the rights of all individuals are protected.”

Adama Dieng, United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide said: “States are primarily responsible for protecting their populations from atrocity crimes, as well as incitement to violence. But religious leaders can be particularly influential here, as they can influence the behaviour of those who follow them and share their beliefs. Since religion has repeatedly been misused to justify incitement to violence, it is vital that religious leaders from all faiths show leadership in this matter.”

At the launch meeting, religious leaders and actors, the United Nations, Member States, and civil society will begin discussing strategies for the implementation of the Plan of Action and the coordination between religious leaders and implementing agencies. Important next steps include the dissemination of the Action Plan among Member States, relevant UN agencies and other stakeholders.

Read the Plan of Action here.

Source: The World Council of Churches

By far, Hindus and Unitarian Universalists have among the largest share of those with a college degree – 77% and 67% respectively. Roughly six-in-ten Jews (59%) have college degrees, as do similar shares in both the Anglican church (59%) and the Episcopal Church (56%).

These groups are among the top of a list of 30 U.S. religious groups ranked by educational attainment based on data from our 2014 Religious Landscape Study. Given the strong correlation between educational attainment and economic success, it is not surprising that Jews and Hindus, on average, have high household incomes, with four-in-ten Jews (44%) and roughly a third of Hindus (36%) living in households with annual incomes of at least $100,000, according to the 2014 study.

Other religious groups also have a higher percentage of college graduates than the full sample of more than 35,000 U.S. adults surveyed in the 2014 Religious Landscape Study, among whom 27% completed university. They include Buddhists and members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) – both at 47% – as well as Orthodox Christians (40%), Muslims (39%) and Mormons (33%). Since Catholics make up one-in-five adults, it is not surprising that their share of members with a college degree (26%) roughly mirrors that of the general public.

One-in-five members of historically black Protestant denominations – the National Baptist Convention (19%) and the African Methodist Episcopal Church (21%) – have a college degree, as do members of the Southern Baptist Convention (19%).

Our study also looked at educational attainment in three categories of religiously unaffiliated people. About four-in-ten atheists (43%) and agnostics (42%) have earned college degrees, as have nearly a quarter (24%) of those who say their religion is “nothing in particular.”

Source: Pew Research Center