Archives: Book Chapters

Chapter Three: Land Animals and Humans – The Sixth Day

And God said, "Let the earth bring forth a living soul after its kind: cattle and creeper and wild beast of the earth after its kind."And it was so.

And God made the wild beast of the earth after its kind, and the cattle after its kind and every creeper of the earth after its kind; and God saw that it was good.

And God said, "Let us make adam in our image, after our likeness,

and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and the flyer of the heaven

and the cattle and all the earth and every creeper that creeps on the earth."

And God created the adam in God’s own image; in the image of God, God created him, male and female God created them.

And God blessed them and God said to them,"Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and master it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and the flyer of the heaven, and every live creature that creeps on the earth."

And God said, "See, I have given you every grass bearing seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree that bears fruit, seeding seed; it shall be yours for food."

And to every beast of the earth and to every flyer of the heaven and to every creeper on the earth that has a living soul, every green grass for food. And it was so.

And God saw everything that God had made and look! it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

 

And God blessed them and God said to them,

"Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and master it,

and have dominion over the fish of the sea and the flyer of the heaven,

and every live creature that creeps on the earth." (1.28)

Va-yivarekh otam Elohim va-yomer lahem Elohim

Peru u-revu u-milu et-ha-aretz ve-khiveshu-ha

u-redu bi-degat ha-yam u-ve-of ha-shamayim

u-ve-khol chayah ha-romeset al-ha-aretz.

 

The Human Place in Nature

In 1967, historian Lynn White argued in a now famous essay in Science Magazine, that the Bible gave humanity a mandate to exploit nature when it empowered the adam/human to "master the earth," and "have dominion over" it. Many environmentalists and theologians are still haggling over White’s thesis even after hundreds of articles and books have tackled the topic over the last 30 years.

In my environmental studies courses at U.C. Berkeley in the early 70’s, we read White’s article and were taught that the theology of the Bible laid the ideological roots for the current environmental crisis. I naively accepted this idea having no real knowledge of the Bible and no positive experience of religion. It was comforting to find a scapegoat to blame for society’s problems, and religion has always been an easy target.

White’s interpretation of Genesis had enormous ramifications on a whole generation of environmentalists and their students. I still encounter some who challenge my work, insisting that Judaism couldn’t possibly have ecological integrity because "the Bible encourages people to control nature." They shun organized religion, claiming that it is the source of the environmental problem.

It is conceivable that people who have little experience reading the Bible could examine this verse and decide that the language of "dominion" and "mastery over nature" is anti-ecological. But a verse is not a collection of words, just like nature is not a collection of plants and animals. Extracting a word or verse out of its context is like removing a tree from its habitat, taking it from the soil, the weather and all the creatures with which it lives in total interdependence. It would be impossible to really know the tree outside of its relationships. It’s no different with the Bible. When you read the Bible, you have to consider the derivation of the words under consideration, the meaning of the neighboring words and verses, the message of the Bible as a whole, the context in which it was written, and how others have understood the verse throughout its 3000 year history.

The concept of "dominion" in this context is a blessing/bracha, a divine act of love. While God blessed the birds and fishes with fertility, God blessed humanity with both fertility and authority over nature. In more abstract terms the fish receive a blessing in a horizontal dimension while the adam is blessed in both horizontal and vertical dimensions. Like the animals the adam is called to multiply and spread over the earth, but unlike the animals, he stands upright as God’s deputy, overseeing all the animals and the plants.

Caring for Creation is an awesome responsibility. The psalmist captures the sense of undeserved honor that humanity holds:

What are human beings that You are mindful of them

Mortals that You care for them?

You have made them a little lower than God,

And crowned them with glory and honor.

You have given them dominion over the works of your hands,

You have put all things under their feet,

all sheep and oxen and also the beasts of the field the birds of the air

and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the sea.

As a blessing, responsibility for Creation is a gift. According to anthropologist William Hyde, the recipients of a gift become custodians of the gift. The Creation is a sacred trust and dominion is the most profound privilege.

It is necessary to remember the context of blessing as we examine the so-called "accused" words, kvs "master," and rdh, "have dominion over." It is also important to remember that Hebrew is a more symbolic, multilayered and vague language than English—any single word root can have multiple meanings and often a word and its opposite will share the same word root. According to Bible scholar Norbert Samuelson, both kvs/master and rdh/have dominion over, appear in these particular grammatical forms here and nowhere else in the Bible, so translating them is not a cut and dried affair. The root of the Hebrew word for mastery, kvs, comes from the Aramaic "to tread down" or "make a path." In the book of Zechariah, the root kvs is interchangeable with the root akl, the word for "eat." Although kvs is often translated as "subdue" or "master," it appears to have agricultural implications.

The root of the Hebrew word for "have dominion over," rdh, generally refers to the "rule over subjects." In a play on the word rdh, Rashi, the foremost medieval rabbinic commentator, explains that if we consciously embody God’s image and rule with wisdom and compassion, we will rise above the animals and preside over, rdh, them, insuring a life of harmony on earth. However if we are oblivious to our power and deny our responsibility to Creation, we will yrd, sink below the level of the animals and bring ruin to ourselves and the world. If we twist the blessing to further our own ends, the blessing becomes a curse. The choice is ours.

As I was writing my book, I had long discussions with environmentalists and feminists who urged me to substitute a less "offensive" word for the word "dominion," the traditional translation of rdh. They argued that "dominion" carries the negative connotations of control and domination. I considered what they said, and pondered the nuances of other words like "govern" or "preside over," (one feminist suggested "have provenance over"). I decided that while these words are less offensive, they are also less inspired; they do not carry the sense of dignity and nobility captured by "dominion;" they do not capture the sense of taking responsibility for something much larger than oneself.

Like the Hebrew rdh, "dominion" implies two sides: graciousness and domination. Dominion, like money, is not in itself bad; it all depends on how we exercise it. As Rashi said, we can recognize our responsibility to nature and rise to the occasion to create an extraordinary world, or we can deny our responsibility and sink to our basest instincts (dominating nature) and destroy the world. Such is the human condition. It is time that we understand our conflicting tendencies and deal with them, rather than deny their existence.

Humanity’s role is to tend the garden, not to possess it; to "guard it and keep it," not to exploit it; to pass it on as a sacred trust, as it was given. Even though we are given the authority to have dominion over the earth and its creatures, we are never allowed to own it, just like we can’t own the waters or the air. "The land cannot be sold in perpetuity." The land is the commons and it belongs to everyone equally and jointly. In the biblical system, private property does not even exist because God owns the land and everything in it. (When the state of Israel was established the Jewish National Fund took responsibility for the management of the land—with an original intention to insure its perpetuity.)

The blessing of mastery over the earth calls us to exercise compassion and wisdom in our relationship with nature so that the Creation will keep on creating for future generations. We use nature every day in every thing we do; nature provides our food, shelter, clothing, energy, electricity, coal, gas. "Mastering" nature involves determining how much land and which animals should be designated for human use and the development of civilization, and what should remain untouched.

According to Sadia Gaon in the 11th century, "mastery" of nature meant harnessing the energy of water and wind and fire; cultivating the soil for food, using plants for medicines, fashioning utensils for eating and writing, and developing tools for agricultural work, carpentry and weaving. It meant the beginning of art, science, agriculture, metallurgy, architecture, music, technology, animal husbandry, land use planning, and urban development.

That the power is in humanity’s hands is clearly a risk for all of Creation. Indeed the rabbis question why God created humanity, with the capacity to do evil, in the first place. Some of them figured that humanity would only destroy itself and the world. But our ability to choose between good and bad is what makes us human. Free choice is what distinguishes us from animals, who follow their instinct, and angels, who have no will of their own and act entirely on God’s decrees. It is up to us to determine if we will make of ourselves a blessing or a curse. To rule nature with wisdom and compassion is our greatest challenge, our growth edge. It demands that we understand ourselves and guard against our own excesses and extremes; it demands a constant level of heightened awareness.

One of the pleasures of grappling with a biblical text is that one can always find new meanings in it. Over the years as I’ve turned this verse over and over, I’ve discovered a psycho-spiritual nuance. The complementary pair of blessings: "fertility" and "mastery," can be understood as blessings for "love" and "work." Fertility implies love, creativity and being; mastery implies work, strength, and doing.

For most of us love and work are the two dimensions that define our lives; for Freud they set the criteria for a healthy life. The complementary pair: love and work take other forms such as being and doing, sex and power. God blesses us with the ability to experience both. Yet our contemporary worldview attributes more value to our dominating side, to work, than to our fertile side, to love. It’s important to temper our dominating tendencies with our fertile creative ones, and to remember that mastery over the earth is a sacred act just like love is. They both invite the Divine in us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Two: Planets and Time – the Fourth Day

 

And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heaven to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and for years."

And they will be for lights in the expanse of the heaven to shine upon the earth.

And it was so.

And Gmade the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the smaller light to rule the night, and the stars.

And God gave them to the expanse of the heaven to light up the earth and to rule over the day and over the night and to divide between the light and the darkness;

and God saw that it was good.

And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

 

And God gave them to the expanse of the heaven to light up the earth (I.17)

Va-yitain otam Elohim bi-rekiya ha-shamayim lehair al-ha-aretz.

 

The Gift of Time; The Practice of Prayer

The word yitain is a form of the word "to give" in Hebrew. It has the same root as the word, natan, gift. The luminaries, and the dimensions of time they create, are a gift from God.

We rarely approach time as a gift. Unlike many of the gifts of Creation which we can see and touch, time is imperceptible. Because it is vast and invisible, we imagine it stretches on forever ahead of us and behind us, and too often we take it for granted.

The idea of time as a gift is powerful both spiritually and ecologically. If we could fill ourselves with the invisible moments of time, rather than the material artifacts of space, we might discover a new fulfillment as we deepen our care for nature.

Time (zeman) is an invitation (zeman) to encounter all the mysteries a moment brings. We can relish time, awake and aware, choosing life in every moment, or we can let time pass by, reacting unconsciously to our circumstances.

Responding to time doesn’t mean using time to accomplish or accumulate; it doesn’t mean doing more in less time. It means simply being in time. It means experiencing time fully—being aware of whatever feelings and thoughts, good or bad, time offers us, and integrating them all. It means living with the presence of the present.

We are invited to discover, uncover, and explore the gifts of time and all of nature, to turn them over and around, to treasure them. We are invited to wonder at all we have been given.

Time becomes a gift only when it has a receiver. When a gift is offered and it is not received, it becomes an object with no particular meaning. It loses its power as a gift. We cannot receive if our hearts are hard. The gift may be delivered, but the door is closed.

Many of us are not receptive to gifts freely given. We think that the only rewards come from our own willfulness. Every day we gird ourselves for battle to advance and progress; we tense our shoulders, tighten our jaws, furrow our brows, and harden our hearts. We become used to a constant state of defendedness, never availing ourselves to the gifts all around.

Prayer is a practice of opening the door, opening the heart to welcome the gifts. In Hebrew, to pray, hitpalel, is a reflexive verb, something we do to ourselves, like wash or dress. It requires practice, like playing an instrument or learning a language. When our hearts soften, our bodies open and we can receive the gifts.

The rabbis composed blessings—for rain (which as desert dwellers they understood as "good news"), the ocean, mountains, valleys, shooting stars, thunder, and lightning—to train us to open our hearts to the Creator’s gifts. They gave us a simple practice to help us to meet the world afresh with beginner’s eyes. Upon seeing mountains, valleys, oceans, rivers, and wilderness, for example, we say, "Praise to You who makes the works of creation."

While prayer is the practice of receiving, it is also the practice of giving. If the fundamental human flaw is our insistence that the world is ours to take, then the fundamental repair requires our giving back to the world. The rabbis believed that the way to give is to express gratitude—constantly. They suggested making one hundred blessings a day to train us to give back to the world. We’re to do this even when we’re not in the mood for gratitude, even when the world looks bleak.

My favorite Jewish teaching is probably the most obvious one: Yehudim, the Hebrew word for Jews, means to give thanks; yehuda is related to todah, "thankyou." My friend Gershon Winkler says being a Jew means first and foremost being a "thanks-giver." This is our obligation. It’s time for Jews to adopt this as a slogan, the watchword of our faith. An attitude of gratitude provides the foundation for our caring for the world.

Prayer or any form of quiet contemplation can center a stewardship practice. It can help us overcome our narcissism and our indifference to Creation; it can sensitize us to the world. It can help us regard all of life as a gift and teach us to care for it.

Lately I’ve been using the first few words from psalm 23—"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want"—as a mantra to focus my mind and keep my heart open to the Creation’s gifts. I love the imagery of God as a shepherd. Shepherding was considered the lowliest of tasks of ancient Israel, the most earth bound, the closest to the ground. If God is my shepherd, then I am a sheep. As I lay myself down, outstretched on the bosom of the earth, I smell the sweetness of the dew and feel the coolness of the earth. The emerald green meadows, flecked with wild flowers, roll out before me. And I realize, what more could I want? I am hopelessly provided for.

Traditional prayers in all religions include bowing postures and prostrations. As we lower our heads beneath our hearts, we are brought down to our humble roots and reminded that we are not masters of the universe. I never knew that this idea was alive in Judaism until I conducted a survey of the psalms that are chanted for the Friday night service, kabbalat Shabbat, literally the service for "receiving" the Sabbath, the ultimate gift of time. The practice of bowing down, of falling on your face in devotion, in recognition of the Mystery of life, is noted in six of the seven psalms that we chant as we welcome Shabbat. We don’t perform the motions any more, nor do we bang the cymbals or play the trumpet or the shofar to herald the Sabbath Queen, but I imagine if we did we would have a whole new experience of humility and grace.

It’s not just to purify ourselves, not just to see the world anew, that we pray. Nature needs us to give back. The cycle of giving and receiving must be complete. The Talmud said that it is forbidden to enjoy anything without blessing it first. If you eat a fruit and neglect to make a bracha, blessing, to express your gratitude, you are like a robber. The plant needs your energy to bring forth a new generation of fruit, and by not blessing, you rob it of its energy. You have taken from the plant and not given back. The expression of gratitude (or lack of it) has material consequences in the world. So religions provide us with prayers to say every time we eat or partake of the gifts of Creation, to remind us where our food comes from and to teach us to complete the eternal cycle of giving and receiving.

Prayer and blessings are religion’s ways of bounding off palatable slices of time, of ritualizing particular moments, to capture them and lift them up from the ocean of time. When we see the blessedness of certain moments, we become more open to the possibility of blessedness in all moments. Most traditions set particular hours of the day for prayer. The Benedictines observe fixed times for waking, working, praying, eating and resting; every hour has its purpose.

Dawn and dusk are common times for prayer in all traditions. Many people experience a sublime sense of life’s mystery and a deep peace at sunrise or sunset when earth is changing from light to dark or dark to light. We see more clearly when the light is not overhead but when we are losing it or gaining it, when it is balanced with a touch of darkness. These transition times provide a window to holiness and an opportunity for seeing more deeply.

I have always been a morning person; I’m up with the birds to watch the day break. The beauty of these hours finds their way into my heart, and I am moved, basking in gratitude for the life I have been given. In my courting stages with Judaism, I was gratified that my tradition marked these times with prayers that expressed what I could not find words for.

Source of Blessing, Eternal our God, Master of the Universe;

You form light and create darkness, make peace and create everything. How great are Your works, O God,

in wisdom You have made them all;

the earth is full of your possessions.

You give light out of mercy to the earth

and in your goodness you renew Creation every day. . .

I like to use the traditional hours that the rabbis designated as prayer times to tune into my soul and the soul of the world. This way I can connect with the cosmic world and my ancestors at the same time, joining my prayers with theirs and with all of the natural world.

Today people go to great lengths and spend small fortunes pursuing all kinds of therapies and self-help technologies to find a connection to the world and to identify their life purpose. We’re so used to our purchasing power that we think we can go to market to acquire an identity.

But our identities are wrapped up in what we value, our relations, and how we spend our time. The practice of prayer in all traditions has helped to sustain people and taught them to live meaningful lives for thousands of years. When we take time for quiet prayer and reflection every day, we can get in touch with our deepest values, our true identity, and honor our bond with nature.

Chapter One: Light – the First Day

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

The earth was desolate and void and darkness was over the surface of the deep

and the breath of God hovered over the surface of the water.

And God said, "Let there be light;" and there was light.

And God saw the light was good, and God made a division

between the light and the darkness.

And God called the light: "Day!" and God called the darkness: "Night!"

And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. (I.1)

Be-raishit bara Elohim et ha-shamayim ve-et ha-aretz.



The Mystery of Creation

The idea that a God exists who created heaven and earth is truly unfathomable. It means that the earth that we walk upon, the air that we breathe, the food that we eat, are all signs that the world is filled with Mystery. Those who cherish this idea sense that everything they encounter is sacred. Nurture this idea, and it will guide the choices you make and the way you live your life.

For most of us, the idea that our land, waters, and air are manifestations of the Sacred has disappeared from our mental vocabulary. We point to it in other cultures—Native American and Buddhist—but we have forgotten that it exists in our own biblical tradition.

Many of us have lost this idea, in part, because we’re estranged from nature. We think of nature as inert stuff without any life of its own; we approach it merely as a tool to achieve human ends. In a world in which we are divided from nature, in which we recognize nature for its economic value only, land becomes "real estate" and trees "timber." It is no wonder we have become oblivious to the sacredness of the world.

Many years ago, I realized that God was the overlooked dimension of the environmental equation. As a forever-in-the-woods tomboy, who found adventures or solace in nature, I believed that all of nature had a purpose and that all creatures had value whether or not I could know that value. My experiences in wilderness often overwhelmed me with feelings of grandeur and mystery. A random universe made no sense for me, given the extraordinary beauty of the world. If all these creatures belonged here and had distinct purpose, there must be a Creator.

As I grew older I nurtured my interests in nature through studies in biology and ecology. But the deeper I delved, the more I realized that science approached environment as a problem to solve rather than a Mystery to revere. If I wanted to experience the Mystery of Nature, I would have to make room for the Mystery inside myself. I began, with some trepidation, to explore the possibility of living with God in my life.

My seeking initially took place in my mind. I liked the idea that a spiritual life, a God-centered life, could provide the antidote to the "me-centeredness" and the consumer orientation that define our culture and threaten our environment. While the primary goal of an American life is to make money to buy "things," the primary goal of a spiritual life is to make time for no-"thing," for that which money can’t buy: for God, for mystery, conversation, ideas, passion, nature, soul. While the deafening voice of the market place drives us to get rich, get smart, get beautiful, advance, achieve, buy, the still small voice of a spiritual life delights in long walks in the woods, regular periods of silence, and hearty meals with friends. Adopting a spiritual life, a God-centered life could be the most difficult and radical step one could take towards creating more ecologically sustainable world.

A God-centered life is not about leaving the world and nature. Quite the contrary. It means finding ways to engage in life and nature more deeply, with all of the senses. We have been trained to read the world with our heads only, as if our bodies, hearts, and senses had nothing to do with it. In the process we split our minds from our bodies and our bodies from the world, and we lose touch with a whole domain of sensual and intuitive knowledge. Even the word "environment" is so intellectual, removed from the textures, smells, and colors of the living world; abstracted from its beauty. A God-centered life is a fitting response to a world that devalues nature itself, while it overvalues the "things" we take from nature.

Seeking God became for me the ultimate ecological expression. But it is one thing to accept the idea of God in my mind, and quite another to let the presence of God penetrate my being, take root in my body and inform my feelings and behaviors—for God to be alive in my heart.

If I could actually live this reality, that God created heaven and earth, then my life would be enriched with the miraculousness of everything. I would know deeply that the world is founded in generosity and love. I would give more than I would take; I would be more compassionate, less judgmental, more aware that all of my actions, even all of my thoughts, have repercussions in the mysterious round of life.

And if all people could remember this and act on their awareness, then I imagine we would finally learn how to care for the world.

If God exists in everything and everyone, if the world and everything it holds is sacred, then we have no choice but to find and lift up the godly sparks in all of life. According to the Jewish mystics when the world was created, God poured light into the original unformed mass, forming ten etheric vessels. But the vessels were not strong enough to contain the light and they shattered, leaving the shards of the vessels embedded in the matter of the world. It is our task, in the language of the Jewish mystics, to retrieve the shards of the holy vessels and put the pieces back together again.

Nothing could be more difficult, really, than taking God seriously. If we were to accept the presence of God in our lives, we would move more slowly, eat more slowly, take time for loving each other, and act with curiosity and sensitivity to all things. We would treat the whole world as a gift.

Genesis I.1 tells us this. The whole world is holy because God created it and is alive within it. It is an idea that is so powerful, that if we are open to it, it can lead us to an ecological vision and guide us toward ecological lives. It lays the foundation for a deep environmental ethic, a Creation ethic.

Introduction: The Splendor of Creation: A Biblical Ecology

At the core of the environmental crisis is a great divide between mind and body, between head and heart, between human and nature. This divide is not new. The world’s religions and mythologies have always told stories of humanity’s separation from nature. But today the split is so vast that its consequences on the environment are potentially catastrophic.

The Jewish mystics of the seventeenth century said that when Adam and Eve ate the apple from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they set in motion the rift between humanity and nature.

In the beginning, the world was whole and the creatures knew their place. Adam and Eve lived a peaceable life in the Garden of Eden. God had invited Adam to enjoy all of the fruits of the Garden—except for the fruit of the tree of knowledge. "If you eat from it, you will surely die."

Adam and Eve ate the apple from the tree of knowledge. They let themselves be seduced into thinking that the knowledge tree would bring them superior powers; that knowing more would mean being more. They challenged the original order and goodness of the universe by taking something that was not theirs to take. The fruit of the tree of knowledge was God’s sacred property. It was not for people to eat or use.

Adam and Eve did not die a bodily death for their transgression (at least not immediately), but they did die a spiritual one. They were expelled from paradise and condemned to a life of suffering. They would be alienated from each other and the land for the rest of their lives. In taking what was not theirs, they upset the balance of nature and ruptured their own interior balance.

We choose a path that leads to spiritual death and nature’s ruin whenever we take what is not ours, whenever we believe that our portion is not enough, whenever we assume that knowledge is a thing we can consume.

Yet, just as we have the power to spoil the Creation, we also have the power to make it whole. We have the power to mend the earth and to mend ourselves, to sew the pieces back together again.

Mending the earth and our selves demands sustenance and vision. It is a life-long task. It requires life-long love. I have chosen Judaism as the path I walk and the Bible as the sacred text I contemplate along the path. I offer them up to you in The Splendor of Genesis.

As a child in New England in the 50’s and 60’s, playing in nature was my raison d’etre. My life revolved around outings of all kinds: canoe trips, mountain climbing, bike adventures and rambles through the woods. I loved the feeling of being all tuckered out from a day well spent in the fresh air.

I was grateful to have an opportunity to pursue my love of nature in high school through an innovative program in environmental science. Each week we would visit various sites along the Ashuelot River in southern New Hampshire to determine the health of the river. Like real scientists, we waded out in the water to measure dissolved oxygen and various pollution indicators with our new Hach Kits. I was hooked on this emerging field of environmental studies and followed my interests throughout college.

My love for nature grew deeper as I watched it disappear before my eyes: forest clear-cut, rivers dammed, farms gobbled up. I feared for nature. In my own life, nothing was more central, but most people seemed unmoved by this destruction. They did not see what I saw.

I was frightened that we were destroying our Earth in vain attempts to aggrandize ourselves and I wanted in some way to transmit to others my sense of the preciousness of nature. When I graduated college, I taught high school biology. But the scientific information I tried to impart was not enough to motivate my students to care. Facts and figures got in the way of love and meaning, of genuine connection.

So I abandoned the traditional textbooks and, instead, introduced my students to the great nature writers. I designed a curriculum to teach various ecological and biological concepts using the stories of Annie Dillard, Loren Eiseley, Lynn Margulies. It worked; my students were captivated. The stories were the flesh and blood experiences that could bring the dry scientific bones to life. Stories and personal experiences, I discovered, find their way into the body and the heart, into the places that "information" alone will never go; and they stick. Learning becomes effortless through stories.

While I was teaching, I was on my own spiritual quest. I understood my relationship with nature as a kind of religion and I wanted to see what wisdom I could find from sacred texts. I had left behind the lackluster Judaism of my youth and had experimented with a variety of eastern practices and paths, but thought that I should revisit the Hebrew Bible to see if perhaps I might have missed something in my childhood. Reading the Bible afresh with ecologist’s eyes, I was amazed to find the distinguished place that nature holds in the stories, poetry, celebrations, holidays, law and prayers.

I realized that ecology and the Bible were using different languages to describe the same thing. The Bible and ecology both teach humility, modesty, kindness to all beings, a reverence for life and a concern for future generations. They both teach that the earth is sacred and mysterious. They both describe an interconnected universe, bound together through invisible threads. They both speak of life flowing in spirals and cycles and hold that all actions—no matter how small—yield consequences.

I began to see churches and synagogues, which hold the Bible sacred, as natural places to raise ecological consciousness. If you consider the fact that the Bible is still the most widely read book in the world, touching the lives of millions of people every day, and that it has served humanity as a guide for living for the past 3,000 years, it becomes clear that religious institutions could take a powerful leadership role in environmental repair. If churches and synagogues could teach people to read the Bible with ecological eyes and see spirituality in ecological terms, then we’d have a built-in infrastructure for expanding environmental awareness and practice. And since religious institutions also strive to teach people to "care," I dreamed that maybe they could inspire their congregants to care for nature.

My passion for nature and religion led me, with much trepidation, to start the first national Jewish environmental organization, Shomrei Adamah, "Keepers of the Earth." I had never been involved in organizational life before, had little knowledge of Judaism, and knew nothing about the established Jewish community (indeed, I was still pretty ambivalent about my own Judaism).

For ten years I worked with rabbis, scientists, environmentalists and writers around the country to create educational materials that would bring to life the ecological dimensions of the Bible and Judaism. We developed books and curricula that rabbis and educators could use with their congregants to illuminate the "natural" side of Jewish holidays, stories, ethics, law, and practices.

Even though the work was successful, I felt it was limited in its ability to reach a wide audience. And perhaps more important, I felt I had not fully articulated my own ecological vision.

Having long before witnessed the power of stories to transform the attitudes of my students, I imagined that one of the Bible’s most popular stories, Genesis I, could have the potential to reach a broad audience and open peoples’ hearts to nature.

The Genesis narrative was so familiar that for years I would just breeze through it. But even a surface reading yields ecological significance. Genesis I recounts the seven days and seven categories of creation: light on day one, air on the second day, waters and earth on the third day. Once the elemental habitats are created, their inhabitants move in: waters give rise to swimming creatures, air gives rise to flying creatures, and earth gives rise to walking creatures. The story is beautiful. Its lyricism and poetry eloquently express a sense of wholeness and a reverence for nature. I realized that Genesis I is indeed the Western World’s first environmental epic.

As I rooted around in the text, I discovered several eco-spiritual themes embedded within: the mystery of creation, the goodness of nature, the power of limits, the importance of diversity and sustainability, the ecology of time, the balance of work and rest, the interdependence of everything, and a sense of place, order, and harmony.

I also recognized mystical and mythic dimensions of the creations: soul is created on day one, intellect on the second day, emotions and actions on the third, time on the fourth, movement on the fifth, love and work on the sixth, and rest and eternity on the seventh. Genesis speaks to our inner nature, as well as to our outer nature.

Inspired by the text I committed myself to the task of illuminating its deep ecological message for others. This book, The Splendor of Genesis is my midrash—a story about a story—on Creation. To help me with my task, I have explored the teachings of my own tradition, the writings of the rabbis, as well as the wisdom of scientists, philosophers and poets through the ages. One of the great rewards of investigating ancient texts is finding what you thought were your own original ideas, clearly articulated by people who lived hundreds or thousands of years ago. Two rabbis in particular provided special guidance for me: Nachmanides (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman), a thirteenth-century Spanish scholar, philosopher, physician, and poet, a renaissance man who brought a kabbalistic or mystical orientation to the text, and Samson Raphael Hirsch, a nineteenth-century German Orthodox rabbi who expressed an uncanny ecological perspective.

Today, as I write, the words of Rabbi Bahya ibn Pakuda, an eleventh-century Jewish philosopher, ring in my ears: "Meditation on creation is obligatory," he said. "You should try to understand both the smallest and greatest of God’s creatures. Examine carefully those which are hidden from you."

It is the pleasure and the work of each generation to bring the Bible to life. My job is to breathe new light into the very first chapter. This book considers the mysteries of Creation and offers back a reverence for life and a Creation ethic. In the end the Earth will become whole as we become whole, when we see nature as integral to our identities, and stewardship as an extension of our everyday lives.

Notes

NOTES.

The quotation on the dedication page is from a hymn by F.W. Faber, 'Souls of men'. Hymns Ancient and Modern, No 364.

The quotation in the Preface is from Arnold Toynbee, 'End and Beginning' in The Observer, 24.10.54.

Beginnings

1. From Will Hayes' paraphrase of Tennyson's poem in Will Hayes, Every Nation Kneeling, published by the Order of the Great Companions, Meopham, Kent 1954, p.29.

2. Queen Victoria, quoted by R A Butler in an address to WCF at Caxton Hall on 4.6.43 in the WCF archives.

3. See Kenneth Cracknell, Justice, Courtesy and Love, Epworth Press 1995.

4. This is the sub-heading to Patrick French's full and vivid biography, Younghusband, HarperCollins Publishers 1994. There are several references below to this book.

5. Religions of Empire, ed William Loftus Hare, Duckworth 1925,pp. 18-19. See also the Manchester Guardian report for 23.9.24.

6. Ramsey MacDonald. File of press cuttings in WCF archives, 9/1.

7. Religions of Empire, p. 3

8. Report in The Observer, 14.9.24.

9. Evening News 6.9.24.

10. Religions of Empire, p.4.

11.Religions of Empire, p.3.

12. Manchester Guardian, 23.9.24.

13. The Record, 25.9.24.

14. Marcus Braybrooke, Pilgrimage of Hope, SCM Press 1992.

15. World Fellowship. Addresses and Messages by leading spokesmen of all Faiths, Races and Countries, Ed Charles frederick Weller, Liveright Publishing Co, New York 1935, p. 536. I have given a summary of the second Parliament in Marcus Braybrooke, Inter-Faith Organizations, 1893-1979, Edwin Mellen Press 1980, pp. 167-170.

16. World Fellowship, p. 10.

17. World Fellowship, p.59.

 

2. FRANCIS YOUNGHUSBAND.

1. Lord (Herbert) Samuel in a BBC broadcast soon after Younghusband's death. The text is in the WCF archives.

2. Sir John Squire, 'A Man of Action and Ideas', The Illustrated London News 7.3.53.

3. Dame Eileen Younghusband, 'My Father As I Knew Him', World Faiths, No 65, Spring 1966, p.2. See also French, p. 342.

4. Dame Eileen Younghusband op cit, p. 3 and p.5.

5. BBC broadcast by Francis Younghusband 1936. The Listener, 24.6.36., pp. 1195.

6. Quoted by K D D Henderson in 'Francis Younghusband and the Mysticism of Shared Endeavour', 1976 Younghusband Lecture, WCF 1976, p.9.

7. Chairman's speech at the WCF AGM, December 1940.

8. Inaugural address to WCF Paris Conference, 1939.

9. WCF Archives.

10. Francis Younghusband, Vital Religion, John Murray 1940, pp. 3-5.

11. Quoted in George Harrison's unpublished A Younghusband Anthology of Divine Fellowship.

12. Quoted by George Harrison, 'World Fellowship Through Religion', World Faiths, No 56, April 1963, p.5.

13. The Younghusband Collection, India Office Library, MSS EUR F 197/123

14. The Younghusband Collection, MSS EUR F 197/123, From a talk in New York on 18.4.35.

15. The Younghusband Collection, MSS EUR F 197/123. Interview in Great Thought by R L Megroz, August 1936.

16. French, p.7

17. Quoted in George Seaver, Francis Younghusband, John Murray 1952, p. 14.

18. Seaver, pp. 97-100.

19. French, p. 109.

20. French, p. 119

21. French, p. 295.

22. Quoted in Seaver, p. 274.

23. Vital Religion, op cit.

24. French, p. 295

25. French, p. 318

26. John Squire, op cit.

27. K D D Henderson, op cit , pp. 6-7.

28. Quoted from the Times Literary Supplement by George Harrison in 'World Fellowship Through Religion', World Faiths, No 56, April 1963, p.2

29. George Harrison, ibid,p.3.

30. Pilgrimage of Hope, p. 65, quoting from Vital Religion, p.17.

31. The Younghusband Collection, MSS EUR F 197/119. Notes for a talk at Westerham, Kent, p.11.

32, Quoted in A Peacock, Fellowship Through Religion, WCF 1956, pp.12-13.

3. THE 1936 CONGRESS.

1. The Younghusband Collection, MSS EUR F 197/119.

2. Minute book in WCF archives.

3. Ibid.

4. Lambeth Palace archives. Letter from Buckingham Palace of 5.5.36 and reply to Commander Campbell from the Archbishop of 6.5.36.

5. Lambeth Palace archives, letters of 17.6.36 and the archbishop's reply of 19.6.36 and the King's message, 3.7.36 in the WCF archives.

6. French, p. 369.

7. French, p. 368.

8. The papers are printed in Faiths and Fellowship, J M Watkins 1936 or 1937 (no date of publication is given). Yusuf Ali, Faiths and Fellowship, p. 24.

9. p. 47.

10. pp. 75ff.

11. pp. 104ff.

12. p. 151.

13. p. 268.

14. p. 131.

15. p. 224.

16. p. 422.

17. pp. 365ff.

18. Vital Religion, p. 93.

 

 

4. HOPING FOR A NEW WORLD ORDER IN THE MIDST OF WAR.

1936-1942.

1. The World's Need of Religion, Nicholson and Watson, 1937.

2. The Renascence of Religion, published for WCF by Arthur Probsthain, 1938.

3. Paris Conference. Louis Massignon

4. Paris Conference. Baron Palmstierna

5. Chairman's Circular Letter, No.6, May 1940

6. The Younghusband Collection, MSS EUR F 197/120, WCF 1939 AGM.

7. Chairman's Circular Letter, No.8

8. The Younghusband Collection, MSS EUR F 197/120.

9. Chairman's Circular Letter, No 1, October 1939.

10. Chairman's Circular Letter, October 1940.

11. Bedford College 1940 Conference Report, WCF Archives.

12. Church Times, 1940, cutting in WCF archives.

13. The Younghusband Collection, MSS EUR F 197/124

14. Chairman's Circular Letter, No 11, Feb 1941.

15. Chairman's Circular Letter, No 13, October 1941.

16. The Younghusband Collection, MSS EUR F 197/123.

17. The Younghusband Collection, MSS EUR F 197/120

18. French, p. 394.

5. CARRYING ON. 1942-1952.

1. Heather McConnell, The Times, 14.2.66.

2. Palmstierna's first Chairman's letter and at the AGM of 10.12.42.

3. Typescript of meeting. WCF Archives.

4. Typescript of meeting. WCF Archives.

5. Press cuttings and WCF minutes, WCF archives and the Bell papers in the Lambeth Palace archives.

6. See Marcus Braybrooke, Children of One God, Vallentine Mitchell 1991, p. 29.

7. WCF Executive Committee minutes, 22.5.45.

8. WCF Archives.

9. Minutes of AGM, 19.2.48, WCF Archives.

10. R.G Coulson, I am, Tunnicliffe and Paice, (ISBN 0 95035005 3 2) no date, p. 63.

11. I am, pp. 65ff.

12. John Stewart Wallace, 'The Shape of religion to Come', The Contemporary Review, August 1948.

13. John Stewart Wallace, 'Religion and the Philosophy of Synthesis', The Hibbert Journal, April 1950.

14. WCF Archives.

15. See for example, Hendrik Kraemer, Religion and the Christian Faith, Lutterworth, 1956.

6. NEW SHOOTS. 1952-1967.

1. The Times, 3.2.59.

2. The Times, 31.3.80. See also the discussion of Dr Runcie's Younghusband Lecture in chapter 8.

3. A.C.Bouquet, The Sacred Books of the World, Penguin 1954.

4. General Introduction by M A C Warren to William Stewart's India's Religious Frontier, SCM Press 1964.

5. W W Matthews, Forum, No 47, December 1960, pp. 1-4.

6. Report in The Christian Century, 15.3.56.

7. French, p. 365.

8. Elizabeth Barrett-Browning, quoted in Fellowship Through Religion.

9. WCF Archives.

10. WCF Archives.

11. Reg Sorensen, I Believe in Man, Lindsey Press 1970, p. 120.

12. World Faiths No 77, Autumn 1969, pp. 18-20.

7. KEEPING UP WITH CHANGE. 1968-1995.

1. Appleton papers, WCF Archives.

2. Appleton papers, WCF Archives. See also 'Opportunity Knocks',World Faiths No 80, Summer 1970, pp.3-8

3. George Appleton, Unfinished, Collins 1987, p. 16.

4. World Faiths, No 101, Spring 1977, p. 4

5. Letters by Archbishop Ramsey, 25.10.69 and 17.11.69 and by Edward Carpenter 7.11.69. WCF Archives.

6. Cyclostyled report by Rev Jack Austin, WCF Archives.

7. Lesley Matthias, report to the WCF executive, WCF Archives. See also World Faiths Encounter, No.3, Nov 1992, pp. 34-40.

8. Report by Elizabeth Montgomery Campbell in the WCF Archives, 17/3.

9. Report by Nikki de Carteret in the WCF Archives, 2/6.

10. Report by Pauline Astor, WCF Archives.

 

8. 'LECTURES, CHAT AND LUKEWARM COFFEE'.

CONFERENCES AND LECTURES.

1. World Faiths, No 65, Spring 1966, p.9

2. Forum, No 9 June 1951, pp.7-8.

3. Ibid, p.1.

4. Report by M O'c Walshe, Forum, No 35, Dec 1957, pp.3-7.

5. World Faiths, No 77, Autumn 1969. See above

6. World Faiths, Nos 101 and 102.

7. World Faiths Insight, New Series 22, June 1989.

8. World Faiths, No 110, Spring 1980.

9. World Faiths Insight, New Series 16 and 17, June and October 1987.

10. World Faiths Insight, New Series 22 -24, June and October 1989 and February 1990.

11. World Faiths, No 99, Summer 1976, pp. 22-3.

12. One Family, Summer 1994.

13. World Faiths Insight, New Series 8, January 1984, p. 33.

14. A Journey in Faith, WCF pamphlet and notes by Tom Gulliver and Dorothy Thomasson.

15. In Westminster Interfaith, July 1995.

16. World Faiths Insight, New Series 6, January 1983.

17. World Faiths, No 20, October 1988.

18. World Faiths, No 13, June 1986.

19. World Faiths, No 12, February 1986.

20. World Faiths, No 14, October 1986.

21. World Faiths, No 22, June 1989.

22. World Faiths Insight, New Series 16, June 1987.

 

9. 'TRULY EXTRAORDINARY: FOREIGN RELIGIONS IN A CHRISTIAN CHURCH'.

INTERFAITH PRAYER.

1. The Church Times, 19.11.1869, reproduced in the paper one hundred years later.

2. There is a growing literature on this subject and it is fully discussed in WCF's forthcoming publication from Oneworld Publications, Oxford. See, for example, Multi-Faith Worship?, Church House Publishing 1992.

3. The Listener, 24.6.36, p. 1195.

4. Will Hayes, op cit.

5. French, p. 398

6. Ibid

7. See Forum, No 16, March 1953, p.1. and No 17, JUne 1953, p.1

8. Sermon at Great St Mary's 24.9.67. See World Faiths, No 71, Winter 1967, pp. 13ff.

9. See Marcus Braybrooke, Inter-Faith Worship, Galliard 1974, p. 5.

10. Inter-Faith Worship, pp. 5-6.

11. WCF statement in WCF archives.

12. George Appleton, World Faiths No 81, Autumn 1970, pp.13-19.

14. Inter-Faith Worship, op cit.. The order of service arranged with Donald Swann is Appendix One, pp. 15-20.

15. Details from Rev Jonathan Blake, Whispering Trees, 273 Beechings Way, Rainham, Gillingham, Kent ME8 7BP.

16. One Family, Nos 8 and 9, 1995.

17. Religions of Empire, Ed William Loftus Hare, pp. 18-19.

 

10. 'PAGES ENRICHED BY LIVES DEDICATED TO TRUTH'.

PUBLICATIONS.

1. Memorandum by Heather McConnell, July 1974, in WCF archives.

2. Forum, No 44, March 1960, pp. 7-8.

3. World Faiths, No 48, March 1961, p. 10.

4. World Faiths, No 100, Autumn 1976.

5. Ibid, p 31.

6. Ibid, p. 13

7. World Faiths Encounter, No 1

8. Interfaith News, No 3, Autumn 1983.

9. Interfaith News, No 12, October 1986.

10. Interfaith News, No 25, February 1991.

11. Marcus Braybrooke, Faiths in Fellowship WCF 1976.

12. Faiths and Fellowship, J M Watkins 1936; The World's Need of Religion, Nicholson and Watson 1937; Renascence of Religion, Arthur Probsthain 1938.

13. Arthur Peacock, Fellowship Through Religion, WCF 1956.

 

11. WORKING WITH OTHERS.

1. Kathleen de Beaumont, My Memoirs. Privately published, no date, but about 1964, pp. 23-6.

2. Ibid, p. 36.

3. Ibid, p. 38.

4. Cambridge Daily News, 26.7.54.

5. French, pp. 399-400.

6. World Faiths Insight, New Series 16, June 1987, p.39.

7. World Faiths Encounter, No 4 March 1993, pp. 43-51.

8. Religions in the UK: A Multi-Faith Directory, Ed Paul Weller, University of Derby 1993.

9. Memorandum 26.6.78, quoted in Pilgrimage of Hope, p. 89.

10. Recomendation to AGM from WCF executive Committee, 15.3.86.

11. From the Introduction to The Handbook of the Inter faith Network of the UK. The address is 5-7 Tavistock Place, London WC1H 9SS.

12. 1994-5 Annual Report, p. 2

13. World Faiths No 48, March 1961, pp. 15-17.

14. World Faiths No 73, 1968, p.24.

15. Bernard Cousins, Introducing Children to World Religions, CCJ 1965.

16. World Faiths No 62, March 1965, p. 11.

17. World Faiths No 81, 1970, p. 20.

18. World Faiths No 86, 1972.

19. Initiation Rites; Death; Marriage in Family Life; all edited by John Prickett and published by Lutterworth, 1978, 1980 and 1985. The contact address is 88a Brondesbury Villas, Kilburn, London NW6 6AD.

20. SHAP, c/o National Society, 23 Kensington Square, London W8 5HN.

21. Religious Education Council, 1 Raffin Park, Datchworth, Herts SG3 6RR.

23. Week of Prayer for World Peace, 'Whispering Trees', 273 Beechings Way, Rainham, Gillingham, Kent ME8 7BP.

 

12. A YEAR OF INTER-RELIGIOUS UNDERSTANDING AND CO-OPERATION.

1993 IN BRITAIN.

1. Pilgrimage of Hope, SCM Press 1992.

2. A Study for 1993, Braybrooke Press 1992.

3. The Independent, 9.1.93.

4. For a fuller account see Marcus Braybrooke, Faith in a Global Age, Braybrooke Press 1995.

4. Programme for the Launch of 1993 as a Year of Inter-religious Understanding and Cooperation.

 

13. INTERNATIONAL LINKS.

1. See above p.

2. Ursula King, 'Exploring Convergence: The Contribution of World Faiths', World Faiths, No 106, Autumn 1978, p. 7.

3. World Faiths, No 107, Spring 1979.

4. In an article for The Spring, the Ecumenical magazine of the churches in Wells, Somerset, 1981.

5. World Faiths, No 111, Summer 1980.

6. Pilgrimage of Hope, p. 299.

7. Ibid, p. 302.

8. Visions of an Interfaith Future, Ed David and Celia Storey, International Interfaith Centre, Oxford. I give a personal impression of the events in Faith in a Global Age.

9. Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions, P.O.Box, 1630, Chicago, IL 60690-1630, USA.

International Committee for the Peace Council, W9643 Rucks Road, Cambridge, Wisconsin 53523, USA.

United Religions Organization, 1055 Taylor Street, San francisco, CA 94108, USA.

10. The address of the IARF and WCF offices and of the International Interfaith Centre is 2 Market Street, Oxford OX1 3EF.

12. Visions of an Interfaith Future, p. 25.

 

14. 'IN THE GREAT UNITY, WE ARE MEMBERS ONE OF ANOTHER'.

CONCLUSION.

1. Douglas Brown, The Church Times, 2.12.83, p. 12.

2. Kathleen de Beaumont, Forum, No 21, June 1954, p. 21.

3. The quotation is from Paul Tillich, Christianity and the Encounter of World religions, Columbia University Press, New York and London 1963, p. 97.

4. Quoted in A Peacock, Fellowship Through Religion, pp. 12-13.

 

 

1. Interreligious Insight, 1, 1, January 2003, p. 70.

2. Ibid. See also my A Heart for the World, John Hunt 2006 and my ‘The Mystics Contribution to the Inter-religious Movement’ in Intereligious Insight, 4, 3, July

2006, pp. 27-35.

3. World Faiths Encounter, 16, March 1997, pp. 4 – 17.

4 World Faiths Encounter, 17, July 1997, pp.18-33

5 World Faiths Encounter, 17, July 1997, pp. 34-38

6 World Faiths Encounter, 23, July 1999, pp. 17-24.

7 World Faiths Encounter, 27, November 2000, pp. 34-42.

8 World Faiths Encounter, 29, July 2001, pp 25- 36

9 World Faiths Encounter, 29, July 2001, pp. 37-43.

10 Interreligious Insight, Vol 1, No 1, Jan 2003, pp. 20 -33.

11 Excerpts from the lecture are given in Interreligious Insight, 1, 4. October 2003,

pp. 65-6, and on the World Congress of Faiths website.

12 One Family, July 2005

13 Tariq Ramadan, Western Muslims and the Future of Islam, Oxford University

Press, 2004, p.5.

14 See A Wider Vision, (book) p. 22 or p. 15 above.

15 See further One Family, , 12, July 1996.

16 For a full report see World Faiths Encounter, 30, November 2001, pp.58-64.

17 One Family, October 2003.

18 WCF has published a journal - known variously as Forum, World Faiths, World Faiths Insight – since the nineteen forties. See A Wider Vision, pp.126ff.

19 2003 Leaflet advertising the journal. See also, ‘What’s in a Name?’ in Interreligious Insight, 1,1 January 2003.

20 See further A Wider Vision, (book) pp. 117-125, or above pp. 74 ff

21 All in Good Faith, Ed Jean Potter and Marcus Braybrooke, World Congress of Faiths, 1997.

22 Testing the Global Ethic, Ed Peggy Morgan and Marcus Braybrooke, World Congress of Faiths, CoNexus Press and IIC, 1998.

23 See furtherr my Faith and Interfaith in a Global Age, CoNexus Press, braybrooke Press, 1998, pp. 73- 88.

24 One Family, October 2002

25 Keith Ward, The Case for Religion, Oneworld, Oxford, 2004, p. 5

26 One Family, 21, July 1999.

27 Interfaith Worship, Ed. Marcus Braybrooke, Galliard, 1974.

28 One Family, April 2006.

29 Tributes have been paid to him in Inte-religious Insight, 4,2, April 2006, pp.13ff.

30 Ecclesiasticus, 44, 3-4. (Jerusalem Bible).

 

 

 

15. Interfaith Witness in a Changing World:: 1996 – 2006

The context for interfaith work has changed very significantly since I wrote A Wider Vision ten years ago. The aims and activities of the World Congress of Faiths, however, have continued much as before and the links with other interfaith organisations in Britain and worldwide have been maintained.

As the Millennium approached, there was a widespread hope that together the world religions could offer a moral and spiritual basis for a more just and peaceful world order. There was considerable talk of a Global Ethic and, in the year two thousand, spiritual and religious leaders from around the world met at the United Nations building. Already, however, religious extremists were hi-jacking religion to support violence and terrorism. Already there was talk of a ‘clash of civilizations.’

The attack on the Twin Towers in New York on September 11th, 2001, together with the military action of America and its allies in Afghanistan and Iraq, has switched the focus of interfaith activity from the creative to the preventative. ‘The West’ and ‘the world of Islam’ have moved further apart. In Britain, the London bombings reinforced this change.

Governments have looked to faith leaders to curb the violence of some of their followers, to denounce acts of terror which are ‘justified’ by appeal to holy books, and to encourage ‘social cohesion.’ In Britain, there has been growing criticism of so-called ‘multi-culturalism’, which is a vague term which implies that each faith community maintains its own way of life, often largely apart from other communities. Instead the emphasis now is on ‘Britishness’ – an equally vague term – to which all who live in the (no longer) United Kingdom are expected to subscribe.

In fact, what is needed is balance between the freedom to affirm one’s identity with confidence and the affirmation of the values which are shared by people of faith. Rabbi Jackie Tabick, who is chairperson of WCF, has written, ‘We are dedicated both to respect for the integrity of different religious traditions and to the exploration of the potential for overlap, shared values, common spirituality and mutual acceptance at the boundaries of our religious commitments.’(1) It can be difficult to hold to a mediating position at a time of polarization and when secularists, who despise all religion, have become more vocal. Nonetheless, WCF has tried to do this, seeking to show that interfaith activity is not just an attempt to limit inter-communal strife, but offers hope for a better world and spiritual growth. We believe, writes Jackie Tabick, ‘that understanding and interaction between people of different faith-communities is important for healing suspicions, forging strong bonds of community and generating a renewed spiritual vision of justice and peace in our own societies and throughout the world.’(2)

 

 

 

Lectures

WCF has continued to arrange a varied programme of lectures and conferences. The annual Francis Younghusband Lecture is always a significant occasion. In 1996, to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the Congress, it was given by Archbishop George Carey – following the precedent set by Archbishop Robert Runcie, who gave the lecture on the fiftieth anniversary. Sadly, Archbishop Rowan Williams did not have the time to follow this example during the seventieth anniversary year.

Dr Carey, recalling that Francis Younghusband would be remembered for his travelling and exploring, chose as his theme ‘How far can we travel together?’ After describing some of the people we might meet on our journey – the syncretist, the pluralist, the universalist, the isolationist and the dogmatist – he talked about ‘dialogue’ as the primary mode of transport for our journey with people of other faiths. Although the goals of our spiritual journeys may be different, we share, he said, as fellow travellers, our common humanity, our common spiritual quest and our common longing for peace, acceptance and love.

Dr Carey stressed the need to work together to foster the recognition by all of each other’s common humanity, the importance of standing up for our co-religionists when they come under fire from the media; engaging in common action, as for example in working together to relieve suffering or to protect the environment and in upholding moral values in society. The Archbishop also welcomed the fact that members of different communities had stressed the need for a spiritual dimension to the celebrations of the new Millennium. (3)

In 1997, Professor Rabbi Jonathan Magonet, then Principal of the Reform Jewish Leo Baeck College, (1997), spoke on ‘The Task of Rabbinic Training in the New Europe.’ He recognised that this might sound rather parochial, but following Hillel, he suggested it was good to start where we are, although with our particular identity we are also part of humanity. The founding of Leo Baeck College so soon after the Holocaust was an expression of hope. Its life, Jonathan Magonet said, has been characterised by ‘dialogue’ in the broadest sense – with people of other faiths, with teachers in Pastoral Care and Community Skills courses and with fellow students who may come from any part of Europe, from North America and even Korea. Jonathan Magonet also described the development of the annual Jewish-Christian-Muslim student conference at Bendorf in Germany. (4)

Responding to the lecture, Dr Helen Fry outlined the clergy training that she felt was appropriate for the new Europe, with both the opening up of Eastern Europe and the moves towards greater integration. (5) She suggested that training should encourage a new relationship to other faiths - both as a pastoral and as a theological concern, as well as awareness of history and cultural identity.

In 1998, Bishop Bill Swing, the inspirer of the United Religions Initiative, started by quoting these words of Lee Holby, with which the service held in San Francisco to mark fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Charter began:

 

 

Through the long night we have come

The sun is bright, the wars are done,

We will unite. We will be one.

A new light has begun.

Bishop Swing said it was time for the religions of the world to copy the example of the nations and to be in daily dialogue.

In 1999, to mark the three hundredth anniversary of the initiation of the Sikh Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh, the Younghusband lecture was given by Dr Patwant Singh, author of The Golden Temple and other books (6). Held at the Royal Commonwealth Society, it was particularly well attended, but the venue, despite generous concessions, proved too expensive to be used again. Just as Bishop Swing began with a quotation, Dr Patwant Singh, whose theme was ‘Religious Beliefs in Renegade Times’, ended with one from the Indian Muslim poet Sir Muhammad Iqbal:

Beyond the stars

Lie other vistas ahead.

To challenge your compassion

Lie other tests ahead.

Dr Patwant Singh began by contrasting the world-wide moral authority and compassion of religion which was matched by ever more tyrannies, political evil and corrupt cabals and regimes. After highlighting the work of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, he urged the faiths together ‘to make religious reality part of our political reality.’ Collective action, he insisted, was essential ‘before human lives are lost and not after the killing fields are once again strewn with the dead and dying.’ The Sikh Khalsa, (the body of initiated Sikhs) which was established by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699, was evidence of the power of collective action, if it is founded on the bedrock of a people’s convictions. The United Nations should be such a vehicle but, in his view, it had been manipulated by the wealthy nations which are the permanent members of the Security Council. A strategy was needed to ‘bring the collective influence of all faiths to help those in danger of being destroyed by the waywardness of wilful leaders. Religious ethics must prevail over their paranoia.’

In 2000, the lecture was given by Dr Mato Zovick, Vicar General of Sarajevo, which had been the scene of great suffering during the war, from 1992-1995, in Bosnia and Herzegovina (7). Initially after the war, he said, each side blamed the other for all the suffering. Gradually people ‘were coming to the conclusion that war criminals on all sides should be prosecuted and that we cannot reach a stable peace without inter-ethnic trust and reconciliation.’ It was difficult to start on this because Christians thought the process of reconciliation could and should start before full justice was achieved, whereas Muslims insisted that priority should be given to justice. All faith communities wanted freedom of religion in a free and democratic society. It was important Dr Zovick said that Muslims in Europe wished not only to be tolerated but to be accepted in its political, social and cultural life.’ Dr Zovick recalled the words of Pope John Paul II on his visit to Sarajevo in 1997, that ‘the future of peace, while largely entrusted to institutional formulations, which have to be effectively drawn up by means of a sincere dialogue and in respect for justice, depends no less decisively on a renewed solidarity of minds and hearts. It is this interior attitude which must be fostered… an attitude which can only be established on the foundation of forgiveness. For the edifice of peace to be solid, against the background of so much blood and hatred, it will have to be built on the courage of forgiveness. People must know how to ask for forgiveness and to forgive.’

In 2001 the lecture was given by Professor Rita Gross of the University of Wisconsin, who is a scholar of comparative studies in religion, a feminist theologian and a Buddhist critical and constructive thinker (8). Her subject was ‘Buddhism and Social Justice’ – an exercise in Buddhist ‘theodicy.’ ‘I wish’, she said, ‘to take seriously the traditional Buddhist perspectives that multiple lifetimes occur and that karma is inherited from previous lives. But I also wish to take seriously the question of whether one can also evaluate some experiences that occur in the ‘present’, in this lifetime, as unjust or oppressive, rather than merely the result of karma inherited from past lives.’ Her concern for this issue grew out of her discomfort with the traditional Buddhist idea that female rebirth is a result of ‘bad karma.’ She argued that if Buddhists are to be concerned about social justice, in addition to practising kindness and compassion, it must be possible for them to evaluate some present occurrences as unjust and therefore needing to be changed rather than just endured.’

Responses were given by Dr Peter Moore, of the University of Kent and Sister Maureen Goodman, of the Brahma Kumaris (9). Sister Maureen ended by saying, ‘The philosophy of karma can promote social justice, but the method is not to fight against something that we feel is not right, rather to focus energy on creating something new that can be an inspiration for change in our world.’

The 2002 lecture was given by the Reform Rabbi Tony Bayfield. His subject was ‘The World Will Never Be the Same Again: September 11th and the Fundamentalist Challenge to Living Religion.’(10) ‘One of the most horrifying things that should have been apparent’ in the attack on the Twin Towers, he said, ‘was the failure, the absolute failure of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.’

Rabbi Bayfield on behalf of Satan, the prosecuting counsel, made five indictments against these three religions:

  1. As Jews, Christians and Muslims you have failed to recognise that you are siblings. You continue to act out the worst features of sibling rivalry that even the most dysfunctional family could possibly muster.

  2. None of you have confronted the challenges of your own scriptures.

  3. You have been seduced by Greco-Roman and later notions of imperialism into thinking that you alone are the ‘way, the truth and the life’, into thinking that your story is the only story, into thinking not only that yours is the only family on earth but that you are the only child who is loved by God, the only child who really matters, the only child who is the true heir of Abraham.

  4. Since the 1960s we have seen the rise of the most disfiguring feature on the face of world religion and particularly amongst you three… It is called fundamentalism.

  5. You have indulged in the rape of the Third World.’

Responses were given by Dr Harriet Crabtree of the Inter Faith Network of the UK and Dr Ataullah Siddiqui of the Islamic Foundation at Markfield, near Leicester.

In 2003, the lecture was given by Imam Abduljalil Sajid, who, amongst many other activities is one of international secretaries of WCF. He stressed the importance of inter-religious dialogue, which should go beyond getting to know each other. The hope was ‘that through active intellectual interaction and engagement a shared universal spiritual-moral world view would emerge which will serve as the basis for a new truly just and compassionate global civilization.’ He stressed that one of the core principles of Muslim belief is shura or ‘consultation.’ Both the Qur’an and the Hadith embrace and affirm difference in belief and perspectives. Responses were given by Dr Kamran Mofid, tireless promoter of ‘Globalization for the Common Good’ and by Mr Paul Seto. (11)

In 2004 William Dalrymple, the well known travel author, spoke on his acclaimed book, From the Holy Mountain, A Journey in the Shadow of Byzantium. He made particular reference to the demise of Christianity in its Middle Eastern homelands and the isolation of surviving Christian communities there. The lecture was held at the St John’s Wood Liberal Synagogue.

The 2005 lecture, entitled ‘Devil’s Triangle: Religion, Values and Politics in a Religiously Plural World’ was given by the well known American scholar Professor Harvey Cox of Harvard University (12). The lecture was held at the Brahma Kumaris Global Co-operation House. After the lecture, Dadi Janki, who had recently become a Patron of the Congress, made a few comments. The lecture was repeated, thanks to the gracious invitation of Peggy Morgan, at the University Examination Schools in Oxford.

Cox’s theme, ‘The Devil’s Triangle’ was inspired by the story of Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness. We all struggle with how to be authentic, Cox said, in the modern world where trust is breaking down. Cox urged each religion to break the habit of thinking it has the only story. He called for religious peacemaking rather than just religious dialogue, in which people often avoided controversial issues. Cox also spoke of his own efforts to engage in conversation with ‘fundamentalist’ Christians in the USA. Those who share in interfaith activities, he said, need to reach out to others who are suspicious of this work.

In 2006 the lecture was given by Tariq Ramadan, one of Europe’s leading Muslim intellectuals and author of Western Muslims and the Future of Islam. In his work, Tariq Ramadan has reread the classical texts of Islam in the light of the new Western context in which many Muslims find themselves. In contrast to those Muslims who feel that they can only protect the values of Islam by isolating themselves from Western society, Tariq Ramadan, beginning with the message of Islam and its universal principles, has ‘investigated the tools that can give an impetus, from inside, to a movement of reform and integration into the new environments.’ These universal principles teach that wherever the law respects Muslims’ integrity and their freedom of conscience and worship, they are at home and must consider the attainments of those societies as their own and must involve themselves, with their fellow citizens, in making it good and better’ (13).

 

 

 

Conferences

The World Congress of Faiths has continued to hold regular conferences. Several of these have been held at the Centre for Extra-Mural Studies of the University of London. Two residential conferences have been held at Leicester. Some events have been held jointly with the International Interfaith Centre, for example a conference in 2001 on ‘From Conflict to Trust.’ A number of smaller gatherings, retreats and social events have also been arranged. These are all advertised and reported in copies of One Family. Here there is only room to mention a few so as to give an impression of WCF’s varied programmes, which encourage fellowship and personal friendship between members of different religions, provide an opportunity to learn more about their beliefs and to experience some of their spiritual practices. It is never forgotten that interfaith understanding is not an end in itself but should be in the service of a more just and peaceful world. Several conferences have focussed on how the faiths should address contemporary problems, as for example, a day conference in London in 1997, on ‘Wealth and Poverty in the World Religions.’

Let us take the Diamond Jubilee Year in 1996 as an example. Perhaps the most remarkable event was a tour to Nepal and Tibet. It was in Lhasa in 1903 that Sir Francis Younghusband, who founded WCF in 1936, had a decisive spiritual experience (14). After consulting the Dalai Lama, a Patron of WCF, who said it was good for people to go to Tibet ‘with their eyes open’, it seemed appropriate to mark the sixtieth anniversary with a visit to that country. After two days in Nepal, the group flew to Lhasa and from there made their way back, at a high altitude, over-land to Friendship Bridge – on the Tibet-Nepal border. The group became more aware both of the hardships experienced by the people of Tibet and the deep compassion which is at the heart of Tibetan Buddhism (15)

In addition to the Younghusband Lecture by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey, which has already been mentioned, the sixtieth anniversary was also marked by a conference arranged by the Leicester Inter-Faith Group to which members of WCF were invited. This included visits to the Jain temple, a Sikh Gurdwara, a Christian church and a Hindu temple. Everywhere the visitors were warmly welcomed, given a talk and a tour as well as generous hospitality. A very enjoyable Garden Party at the Global Retreat Centre, near Oxford by kind invitation of the Brahma Kumaris, was another special Jubilee event.

The following year, a very special visit to Westminster Abbey was arranged. After a buffet lunch in St Catherine’s Gardens in the Cloisters, the group had a tour of the Abbey and were then invited to attend evensong. In the same year, a day retreat was held at the Amaravati Buddhist Centre and a ‘Vaishnava Devotional Experience’ was held for three days at Bhaktivedanta Manor. At the latter, several participants got up by 4.30 a.m. so as to share in the Vaishnava devotions. In 1997, also, I led a small group - nicknamed ‘The Top Ten’, which was the name of the tour company - on a tour to China. Besides sight-seeing, the group met with the minister responsible for religion, attended a Roman Catholic and a Protestant service, and also visited a Confucian centre, a Tibetan Buddhist temple in Beijing and a Mosque in Xian, at the end of the Silk Road.

Two further conferences have been held in Leicester in conjunction with the Leicester Council of Faiths. Leicester, one Britain’s most multi-faith cities, has gained a good reputation for its management of relations between the very diverse communities in the city. This was underlined by the support for the conferences given by the city’s civic authorities and religious leaders. In 2003, the Mayor of Oadby welcomed participants who were also invited to a civic reception by the Deputy Lord Mayor of Leicester.

The conference in August 2001 addressed the issue of ‘The Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain’ – a title borrowed from The Parekh Report. On the first evening, Robin Richardson, the editor of the Parekh Report, gave a passionate but carefully argued summary of it. He began with a quotation from Ben Okri, ‘Stories are the secret reservoir of values: change the stories individuals and nations live by and you change the individual and the nations.’ Robin Richardson divided his talk into two parts. In the first he discussed stories about Britain, concentrating on Prime Minister John Major’s confidence that in fifty years time Britain would still be ‘the country of long shadows on county grounds, warm beer, invincible green suburbs … old maids cycling to holy communion through the early mist.’ Robin Richardson commented that the picture excluded the vast majority of Britain: women, those who lived in urban areas, and people of all faiths except a minority of Anglicans. In the second part of his talk, Robin Richardson urged members of all faith communities together to challenge religious and racial discrimination, especially in employment and public life. Other speakers included Judge Mota Singh of Southwark Crown Court and Ishatiaq Ahmed of the Bradford Council of Mosques, Sarah Tinker, a Unitarian who led a session on ‘Forgiveness’, Rev David Hart who spoke about the plans for a Multi-faith Centre at the University of Derby and Om Parkash Sharma, President of the National Council of Hindu Temples. Participants also visited several places of worship (16).

In July 2003 the theme was ‘The Future of Multi Faith Britain.’ Speakers included the Bishop of Leicester and Dr Jabal Buaben, Director of the Centre for the Study of Islam and Christian/Muslim Relations at Selly Oak, Birmingham. The significant participation by young people was a special feature of the conference. The keynote address by Ataullah Siddiqui, from the Islamic Foundation at Markfield near Leicester, ranged widely over many aspects of interfaith dialogue. He challenged faith communities to open themselves to the impact of other communities, saying that this is bound to alter each faith community’s perception of the whole picture. The differences are real, which is why it is vital to remain in dialogue. Charanjit Ajit Singh, an educationalist, who now is chair of the Trustees of the International Interfaith Centre, and Rabbi Jackie Tabick, who both belong to faith communities that are minorities both in Britain and in the world, spoke movingly about the fears and suspicions of dialogue in their communities. Fr Lally, a Catholic priest in Leicester and Ravi Gupta, a member of ISCON, led a session on ‘Why Dialogue?’ Receptions were held at the Town Hall and in the garden of the Bishop of Leicester, Tim Stevens. (17)

In 2004, attention focused on the Parliament of World Religions, which was held in Barcelona. Prior to the Parliament, WCF arranged a preparatory meeting at the Global Retreat Centre by kind invitation of the Brahma Kumaris. I gave some background history of previous Parliaments of Religion. Celia and David Storey and Sister Maureen recalled impressions of the 1993 Parliament and Mary Braybrooke spoke about the 1999 Cape Town Parliament. Dr Josef Boehle talked about his research on institutional efforts, especially of UNESCO, to encourage dialogue. Attention was paid to how the Parliament event could be made relevant to interfaith work in the UK.

Following the Parliament, a weekend conference was arranged at Fintry House, near Godalming, at which some of those who attended shared their reactions and reflections. Special attention was given to four tasks identified at the Parliament: ‘Countering Religious Violence’, ‘Debt Relief’, ‘Refugees’ and ‘the Provision of Clean Water for All.’ The gathering at Fintry was greatly enriched by the presence of the distinguished scholar Professor Huston Smith and his wife Kendra.

At the Parliament itself several members of WCF gave presentations and WCF arranged a session on ‘Can We Pray Together?’

In 2007, the Seventieth Anniversary Year, a day Conference on ‘Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda and Sir Francis Younghusband,’ was held at Golders Green Unitarian Church. Professor Hal French of the University of South Carolina, a long standing member of WCF, and I gave talks. In October, an International Conference, arranged jointly with Birmingham University, was held at Birmingham, on ‘Seeking Transformation in a Fractured World.’ Earlier in the year Revd Dr Richard Boeke arranged the third in a series of conferences on ‘Fideology – Faith as Trust,’ at Croydon Unitarian Church.

WCF has tried not to forget the ‘World’ in its title. Besides its links with other international interfaith organisations, mentioned below, WCF has arranged a number of tours and overseas conferences. Conferences, in conjunction with the International Association of Religious Freedom have been held in Florida and tours to India have been arranged, especially in connection with the University of the Punjab in Pattiala in 2002 and again in 2007, in conjunction with the International Interfaith Centre. The 2002 conference was followed by a pilgrimage to Sikh holy places including an unforgettable visit to the Golden Temple at Amritsar.

In addition to the national and international events, there has been a lively London programme and WCF members are active in many local interfaith councils and groups.

Several occasions have been arranged at which people of different faiths can come together in prayer and mediation. A series of well attended ‘Interfaith Celebrations of Animals’ have been held at Golders Green Unitarian Church. These have emphasised the concerns for animal welfare and for the natural world, which are to be found in all religions.

Publications

In 2002 the journal, World Faiths Encounter marked its tenth anniversary (18). The next year, the Journal underwent a metamorphosis. World Faiths Encounter became Interreligious Insight, but this was not just a change of name but a transformation. The appearance and lay out has been changed and has become more artistic. There are more poems and pictures.

The Editors explained the name in these words:

The subtitle a journal of dialogue and engagement indicates its purpose. The name has been chosen with great care in order to mirror an emerging task. Given that they have traditionally acted as overarching worldviews, the religions have long been accustomed to thinking of themselves as self-sufficient, supplying their own separate vision of sacred truth. That era has now passed. It is the space between convictions that commands more and more of our attention. We are for Dialogue and Engagement.

Take Dialogue first. There is the assumption that no one religion possesses the fullness of religious truth. Our convictions are precisely that, our convictions, fallible intimations of a transcendent reservoir of being and value. Dialogue implies that we have as much to receive as to give to one another.

What now of Engagement? The journal will reflect on practical projects, examples where faith-communities are working together in order to make a difference. What ethical values are being harnessed, or even generated, when people enter relationships of truth? Its (the journal’s) pages will provide opportunities for hearing varying voices – voices crossing spiritualities and embracing practitioners from many different contexts around the world.’ (19)

Rev Dr Alan Race and Professor Seshagiri Rao have continued as editors and have been joined by Jim Kenney, a former international director of the Parliament of Religions and now heading the Interreligious Engagement Project. The journal – now more international, although mainly an Anglo-American initiative – is sponsored by the World Congress of Faiths, Common Ground and the Interreligious Engagement Project. The journal is beautifully produced and full of well written and relevant articles written by interfaith activists and scholars. The difficulty persists. However attractive the journal, how does one attract new readers?

The newsletter One Family, started for the Year of Inter-religious Understanding and Co-operation in 1993, proved so popular that it has continued as way to link members together and to make a wide variety of interfaith events known to a wider public. Jean Potter edited One Family from 1993 to 2002, when she was succeeded by Dr Joy Barrow. One Family is now available electronically or as a printed newsletter.

Jean Potter’s interest in interfaith activity dates back to her time in the sixties in Nyasaland, now called Malawi. Jean was asked to lead a Guide company of Asian girls who met on a Friday afternoon in the grounds of the local mosque. When she and her husband David, who was teaching in Nyasaland, returned to Britain in the late nineteen-sixties, she became Community Relations Adviser to the Girl Guide Association. In this capacity, she approached WCF for suggestions of suitable speakers about the various religions. In due course she became a member of the Executive and with David, who for several years was Hon. Secretary and the effective organiser of the Congress, they have given devoted service to the Congress and were regular contributors to the various events arranged by the Congress. They have also been active in developing interfaith activity in Exeter and the surrounding area.

Dr Joy Barrow, the present editor of One Family and a member of the WCF Executive, is now the Director of the International Interfaith Centre. A former teacher, she has long experience of interfaith activity. She has particularly close links with the Sikh community and her doctorate was on aspects of Sikhism.

WCF has also published two books during this period: one on Interfaith Worship and the other on ‘the Global Ethic.’

The World Congress of Faiths has been a pioneer of interfaith worship, which after much initial opposition, is now becoming more common (20). To assist those in what is sometimes also called ‘multi-faith prayer’, Jean Potter and I edited a resource book entitled All in Good Faith, which was published by WCF in 1997 (21). The book has sold well and been quite influential.

All in Good Faith is dedicated to the memory of Sir Alan Richmond, who was a generous supporter of WCF. It is in three parts. The first section includes a chapter which tells of the historical development of interfaith services and the discussion which has taken place about them. It also includes articles by a member of each world religion on the attitude of his or her faith to the subject. The second part is an anthology of brief quotations from different faith traditions on topics such as ‘Freedom and Justice’, ‘Human Dignity’, or ‘Together in Times of Trouble.’ The third part reproduces a variety of interfaith celebrations and observances.

Testing the Global Ethic was also published by WCF, together with the International Interfaith Centre and CoNexus Press (22). Edited by Peggy Morgan and myself, it was designed to stimulate discussion, especially among young people, of the Global Ethic which was endorsed by many of the Assembly members at the 1993 Parliament of World Religions (23). ‘The Declaration Towards a Global Ethic’ invites people to make four commitments:

    1. to a culture of non-violence and respect for life,

    2. to a culture of solidarity and a just economic order,

3. to a culture of tolerance and a life of truthfulness,

4. to a culture of equal rights and partnership between men and women.

Members of several faith traditions were asked to indicate how far these four commitments are rooted in their faith tradition and what their application would involve for them. A further section invited comments on how spiritual practice could assist the ‘transformation of life.’ The book includes quotations from the scriptures of the world and a selection of photographs. Letters of commendation were received from Kofi Anan, Secretary General of the United Nations, and the Prime Minister, Tony Blair. The book sold quite well, but it was a little too early for the teaching of ‘citizenship’ which is now taking place in some schools and for which it would have been a useful resource. Copies were given to members of the Assembly at the Cape Town Parliament of World Religions.

 

 

 

 

 

Officers.

In 1997 Hugh Adamson, succeeded me as Chairperson. Hugh was born in Britain but had lived for several years in Canada before moving back in 1987 to Britain to take up the post of Secretary General of the National Spiritual Assembly of Baha’is of the UK. This position had increasingly involved him in interfaith work and he had served for some years on the WCF executive. He was also a founder member of the Institute for the Healing of Racism and a member of the Refugee Council.

The 1997 AGM also saw other changes. Rev Dr Edward Carpenter became a Patron, joining His Holiness The Dalai Lama and Lord Menuhin. Subsequently Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Professor Diana Eck and Dadi Janki, Additional Adminstrative Head of the Brahma Kumaris, also agreed to become Patrons. Shahin Bekradnia, a Zoroastrian, was elected Hon. Secretary.

Sadly for the Congress, after only a year Hugh Adamson decided to return to North America, and therefore also resigned as chairperson. I was asked temporarily to act as chairperson until the following year, when Rev Dr Richard Boeke, a Unitarian, was elected. Richard grew up in the USA and graduated at Yale Divinity School and the Pacific School of Religion. A short time serving as a chaplain in the US Air Force made him so aware of the destructive potential of nuclear weapons that he resolved to dedicate himself to a ministry of peacemaking. He served as a minister in Berkeley, California, for twenty one years and then came to England in 1994 as minister of the Unitarian church in Sevenoaks. He is now minister of the Unitarian church in Horsham, Sussex, where his wife Jopje had previously been the minister. Richard has played an active part in the International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF) and was founding president of the US chapter.

At the same time (1999) as Richard was elected to the chair, Rabbi Jacqueline Tabick was elected as vice-chairperson. In 1975 she was ordained as Britain’s first woman rabbi and worked for over twenty five years with Rabbi Hugo Gryn at the West London Synagogue. She then became the rabbi at the North West Surrey Synagogue in Weybridge. Jackie plays an active role in the life of the Reform Synagogues of the UK and in a number of interfaith organisations. In 2002, she succeeded Richard as chairperson. Writing in One Family (24), she said, ‘As we watch the news with horror, it is evident that the task we have set ourselves has become more urgent than ever. We need to bring the message to the widest possible audience that one can be a committed and active member of your own faith while not just learning about, but also learning from other faiths, fully respecting each other’s rights to be different, rejoicing in the differences. For there is just one creation, one world and we are all inter-related.’

In I999, I was invited to become Joint President with the distinguished theologian Professor Keith Ward. He subsequently resigned because of other commitments, but, especially through his writings, he has continued to argue for dialogue and co-operation between the great religions. In his recent book The Case for Religion, about which he spoke at a WCF meeting in 2005, he suggests that in the fourth stage of humanity’s religious history, which we are now entering, religion is seen ‘as a process of spiritual exploration …which gives human life an ultimate meaning, as people … live in conscious relation to a supreme spiritual value.’ He adds ‘that people will be able to accept other spiritual paths as different ways of seeking such realisation, not just as rivals but as valuable and complementary forms of life.’ (25)

The Congress also has a distinguished panel of Vice Presidents. In 1988 Sir Sigmund Sternberg, who is one of them, was awarded the prestigious Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion.

The continuing work of the Congress has been largely made possible by the unpaid voluntary efforts of all the officers and members of the Executive Committee. Recent copies of One Family have had profiles of several members of the Executive Committee. The Congress has also been blessed by the dedicated work of the part time organizers. Diana Hanmer had been secretary to Bishop George Appleton when he was editing the Oxford Book of Prayer and had already met many WCF members when she accompanied him to gatherings at Ammerdown, before she took up her work for WCF. Tony Reese also had wide interfaith experience, especially in Bristol, before he started his work for the Congress. He is also very at home with modern technology, which, he is confident, can be an instrument to develop inter-cultural and interfaith contacts.

‘In Happy Remembrance’

Sadly, the last decade has seen the death of several leading members of the Congress.

Lord Menuhin, who had been a Patron of WCF for many years, died in 1999. A Jew by birth, Yehudi Menuhin, a world renowned musician, found inspiration in all the great faiths. The Thanksgiving Service for his life, held at Westminster Abbey, ended with these words written by Yehudi Menuhin himself. ‘Grant me the inspiration you have provided humanity and encourage me to revere and follow those living examples who enshrine your spirit – the spirit within and beyond each of us - the spirit of the One and Many – the illumination of Christ, of Buddha, of Lao-tzu and of the prophets, sages, philosophers, poets, writers, painters, sculptors, musicians, all creators and artists, and all selfless people, the saints and the mothers, the known and the unknown, the exalted and the humble – men, women and children of all times and all places – whose spirit and example remains with us and in us for ever.’ (26)

Rabbi Hugo Gryn, widely known and very popular, especially for his great repertoire of stories, died in 1996. He was a member of WCF for nearly thirty years and vice-chair for several years. In 1967, a memorable All Faiths Service, at which HH the Dalai Lama spoke, was held in the West London Synagogue, where he was the rabbi. He was involved from the earliest days in the plans to set up the Inter Faith Network of the UK and served with Bishop Jim Thompson as co-chair. He also was co-chair with Edward Carpenter of the Rainbow Group, which played an important part in the seventies in developing dialogue. Having himself experienced the evils of Nazi prejudice, Hugo believed passionately that people of faith are called together to help create a just, peaceful and caring society.

The Very Reverend Edward Carpenter KCVO, who was President of WCF from 1966 to 1997, when he was elected a Patron, died in 1998. Edward, who was born in 1910 became a Canon of Westminster Abbey in 1951 and was Dean from 1974 to 1985. He was introduced to the Congress in the nineteen fifties by Lady Ravensdale, the then President. For a time he also acted as chairperson for Bishop George Appleton, until George returned to Britain from Jerusalem. Edward and Lilian regularly attended WCF meetings and conferences. He chaired the group that produced the WCF report Inter-Faith Worship and it was he who welcomed the annual Commonwealth Day Multi-faith Observance to Westminster Abbey. Edward was active in many other interfaith organisations and author of several books, including a biography of Archbishop Fisher. As long ago as 1969 he wrote, ‘at a time of division and fratricidal strife, the great faiths of the world, within their continuing witness in depth, ought to be able to contribute something to the healing of the world’s ills.’

Viscount Michael Combermere, who died in 2001, served on the Executive for many years and was chairman from 1983 to 1988,. As head of Extra Mural Studies at London University, he developed a wide-ranging programme of religious studies. He also arranged a number of conferences in conjunction with WCF. He and Lady Combermere organised a very enjoyable fund-raising concert at the Fishmongers Hall.

Many other people have made a very valuable contribution to the life of the Congress. There is room only to mention a few, who served on the Executive.

Margot Tennyson, a member of the Society of Friends, served on the Executive for many years and played an active part in the Hampstead Interfaith Group. She died in 1999. Margot came to England at the age of 18 in 1939, as a refugee from Nazi germany. After the war, she ah dhe rhusband Hallam Tennyson, went to India and stayed at an ashram where she met Gandhi who called her ‘My little Jewish sister.’ In he rlast year, she initiated an event in preparation for the Millennium on ‘Universal Love’ which was held at friend’s House the day before she died.

Peter Talbot Wilcox, who served on the Executive Committee, from 1992 died in September 2000. He regularly attended conferences and lectures and hosted a Garden Party in his beautiful garden at Shamley Green, Surrey. A shipbroker by profession, in 1989 he took on the work of Alison Barnard’s Centre for Spiritual and Psychological Studies from which grew the Religious Education and Environment programme (REEP).

Rosita Conway, a member of the West London Synagogue, who died in 2002, served for many years on the Executive. She was an enthusiastic and generous supporter.

Another long serving member of the Executive who died in 2002 was Amar Singh Chhatwal, who from 1962 was managing editor of The Sikh Courier International. His enthusiastic and friendly presence at many lectures and conferences has been much missed.

Nadi Dinshaw, who died in December 2002, was a long standing and generous supporter of WCF, as of so many charities. Nadir grew up as a Zoroastrian, but in his mid thirties he became a Christian. He always felt both religions were part of him. He was introduced to WCF by Edward Carpenter.

Ivy Gutridge, MBE, who was a Vice President of WCF died in 2004 – ‘a lovely person’, as so many people said in their tributes to her. It was largely her initiative and ready gift for friendship that led to the founding and steady growth of the Wolverhampton Inter-Faith Group, which has been a role model for similar developments elsewhere. Ivy was a founding member of the Inter Faith Network and served for a time as its Vice-chair. She was also an active member of the World Conference on Religion and Peace. As a Muslim friend said at the Service of Thanksgiving for her life, ‘I would recommend her for sainthood.’

Rabbi Albert Friedlander, who was born in Germany and who witnessed the destruction of Kristlnacht, devoted his life after the War to building bridges between faiths, especially between Jews and Christians. A sensitive and compassionate person, Albert was much loved. He was a prolific author and Dean of Leo Beck College. Albert, who died in 2004, was a Vice President of the WCF and Chair for several years of the Committee for the Week of Prayer for World Peace.

In 2005, another Vice President, Professor Geoffrey Parrinder died. Geoffrey, after training at Richmond College, went to the French colony on Dahomey in Africa to serve as a missionary in the Methodist Church there. From 1949- 1958 he lectured at the University College of Ibadan in Nigeria. His first book, West African Religion, was published in 1949. It was followed by numerous other works, which between them covered almost all religions. He was the editor of the encyclopaedia Man and his Gods. In 1958, Geoffrey returned to Britain to teach at King’s College, London. Many of his students have made a significant contribution to the study of religions and interfaith work. He was a President of the London Society of Jews and Christians, a founding member of the SHAP Working Party on World Religions in Education. Geoffrey made a significant contribution to the WCF booklet, Interfaith Worship. (27)

David Patterson, CBE, also a Vice President of WCF, died in December 2005. His greatest achievement was the establishment of what is now the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies at Yarnton Manor, near Oxford. He was deeply concerned to rebuild Jewish scholarship after the devastation of the Holocaust. Hist studies led him to recognise the importance of interfaith dialogue.

Early in 2006, Zaki Badawi, an outstanding Muslim leader passed away. He was born in Cairo in 1922 and earned his doctorate at Al-Azhar University. After a few years in London in the fifties and then in Nigeria, in 1978, he was appointed the first chief imam of the Regent’s Park Mosque and director of the Islamic Cultural centre. There he encouraged meetings and dialogue with the neighbouring West London Synagogue and St John’s Wood parish church. Zaki was horrified that hardly any of the other imams in Britain could speak English, so, in 1986, he founded the Muslim College to train imams who would be at home in British society. In 1997, with Sir Sigmund Sternberg and myself, he helped to establish the Three Faiths Forum. His wide experience made him a trusted adviser of the government and of royalty. As Rabbi Jackie Tabick has said, ‘He bridged so many gaps, between faiths, between cultures, between generations, between traditional and modern Islamic learning; he will be sorely missed.’ (28)

Vera Harley, M.B.E, who was endowed with a wonderful gift for friendship, was a popular, active and long standing member of WCF. She died in 2006.It was her work as International Secretary of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) that first brought Vera into touch with WCF. Vera quickly became an active and enthusiastic member – regularly coming to conferences and joining in a WCF tour to India. Vera was conscientious member of the Executive and always deeply interested in the business in hand. Vera represented WCF on the Week of Prayer for World Peace Committee, and also at a conference of the Temple of Understanding. Vera was elected a Vice President of WCF and also awarded a M.B.E. In 1999, Vera wrote Faiths in Friendship: Twenty-five Years with the World Congress of Faiths – a lively account of the Congress. Vera chaired the Expansion Committee and – a WCF highlight - arranged a fund raising recital by Rosalind Runcie at Lambeth Palace. Vera was the life and soul of WCF tours to India – interested in everything and making friends with everyone. On one occasion, Vera was dressed in a purple suit. Bishop George Appleton greeted her, saying, ‘I see you’re wearing the purple, Vera.’ ‘Not in my life time I fear,’ she replied – but what a bishop she would have been!

Many others deserve a mention. Amongst them are Louis de Pinna, who served on the Executive Committee for several years and was, for a time, chairperson of the London Group and Edward Bradby, a former Principal of Royal College, Colombo and of St Paul’s College, Cheltenham, who attended many conferences. Bill and Joan Steiner, mentioned above, were long standing members of the Congress. Bill served on the Executive and he also tirelessly recorded lectures and talks given at conferences. This treasure store of material deserves careful research. Joan chaired the Wellingborough branch of WCF for many years.

Annette Franco, was another enthusiastic and active member of the Congress, died in 2002. In particular, she organised and energetically recruited participants in a WCF London programme, which included visits to temples, mosques, synagogues and churches. She also gave help with finances in the office.

Several overseas friends of the Congress have died in the last ten years. Joel Beversluis is particularly missed. He was editor and owner of Co-Nexus Press, which specialised in interfaith literature. Joel published A Source Book for the Earth’s Community of Religions and co-published with WCF Testing the Global Ethic.

Father Luis Dolan, was a long standing member of the Temple of Understanding. He had extensive contacts at the United Nations and he shared over several years with members of WCF others in the planning for Sarva Dharma Sammelana in 1993 in Bangalore.

Juliette (Judith) Hollister, founder and President of the Temple of Understanding, and Chief Priest Yamamoto, a President of the International Association for Religious Freedom, were good friends to the Congress. More recently the death of Brother Wayne Teasdale, a visionary interfaith pioneer and author, has been a sadness to his many friends. (29)

I had not expected this section to be so large, but essentially WCF is a fellowship, which means it is a story of people. The mention of some names – and there are many more – is a reminder of the wide ranging influence of the World Congress of Faiths, which is exercised through its members and their various activities just as much as through WCF’s programmes and publications. It is right too that we remember those who ‘were intelligent advisers and uttered prophetic sayings and who directed people by their advice, by their understanding of the popular mind and by the wise words of their teaching.’ (30)

Conclusion

In 2002, WCF adopted a logo, which is a four hexagon symbol. The four parts symbolise the vision of a meeting of faith traditions, from North, East, West and South. Each tradition relates to the whole, but it preserves its own identity. The hexagon becomes a honeycomb, which is a reminder of the sweetness of life. The hive is a reminder of our spiritual home, where we are renewed in trust, hope and compassion. ‘Like bees we co-operate with the flowers in enriching life.’

WCF also adopted the motto ‘Faith meeting faith: a rich resource for life.’

Despite the increased concern for good relations between faith communities, there has been little increase in WCF’s membership. Partly, this is because of the rapid and welcome growth of local interfaith councils and groups, of which there are now over two hundred, and because faith communities increasingly invite members of other faiths as guests and speakers at their events. This means that there are, in many parts of the country, plenty of opportunities to meet with members of other faiths, although this is still only a minority activity and even fewer people invite members of other religions into their homes.

There is, however, still an important place for the World Congress of Faiths. The Congress is a membership organisation for individuals who seek fellowship with those of other religious traditions – it not a body of representatives. This gives it a certain freedom to explore. Further, beside the vital efforts to encourage social cohesion and practical interfaith work for peace and justice, relief of suffering and the protection of the environment, WCF has always recognised that interfaith friendship can assist a person’s spiritual growth. Learning what others believe may encourage one to reflect more deeply upon one’s own convictions. Experiencing other people’s spiritual practices, may enrich one’s own spiritual exploration.

There are many reasons why people of different religions are meeting and working together. If, however, interfaith activity becomes just a branch of ‘religious community relations’ – important as this is - and is not deeply rooted in the Spirit, the moderates in all religions may not be strong enough to withstand the extremists and, God forbid, further terrorist attacks. The only secure basis for the affirmation of the sacredness of all human life is the belief that every person is a child of the One God.

14. In the Great Unity, We are Members One of Another: Conclusion

The World Congress of Faiths has not become the world organization that Sir Francis dreamed of: yet there is now a worldwide movement for inter-religious understanding. The World Congress of Faiths has also not gained large popular support: yet there has been a significant shift in attitudes about the relation of religions to each other.

A Changing World

It is never easy to assess the achievements of an organization concerned with public education. A full study would require more detailed analysis both of the changing social and political scene and of theological developments.

Younghusband, as we have seen, has been described by his biographer as the 'last great imperial adventurer'. By the time the Congress met in 1936, albeit unbeknown to the participants, the days of the British Empire were numbered. Many who enthusiastically supported the Congress, however, had been schooled in imperial service and were deeply interested in the various religious beliefs and practices of those who belonged to the Empire.

In the years after the Second World War, the number of people in Britain who retained this world concern declined. Interest in world religions was a minority pursuit.

It was not until the mid seventies that religious and political leaders in Britain began to become aware of the growing Muslim, Hindu and Sikh communities in some of Britain's larger cities.

Even then, with the decline of church going, there was a widespread feeling that religion was a matter for the individual in his or her private life. The social importance of the fact that Britain was becoming multi-religious as well as multi-racial and multi-cultural was largely ignored.

It was not until the late eighties that the relevance of religions to social and political life began to be recognized, even by those who were not personally committed members of a faith community. This was for two reasons. One was negative, as people suddenly woke up to divisive power of religious extremism and inter-religious hostility not only in the Lebanon or Sri Lanka, but after the Salman Rushdie affair, in Britain itself. Recent tragic events in former Yugoslavia and the evidence of increasing anti-Semitism and xenophobia in many parts of Europe have confirmed how serious a threat religious extremism is to social stability. Whereas at one time religious news in the papers mostly consisted of stories about clergy caught up in a sexual scandal, now most serious newspapers give careful coverage to developments in the life of the different faith communities. Religion is seen, for good or ill, to have an impact on the life of the whole community.

The positive reason for renewed attention to religion is the growing recognition that the major issues that face humanity, such as how to provide for the millions who are starving in poverty or how to protect the environment or questions of genetic engineering, have a profound spiritual and moral dimension. With the collapse of communism, the United Nations, in its many programmes, can now acknowledge the relevance of spiritual and ethical concerns. Further, the recognition that so many problems are global ones has encouraged more people to think in world terms and to recognize that the involvement of religious people in public debate has to be multi-religious.

This new situation, both in world and national terms, means that there is a wider recognition today by those who shape public opinion, even if they are themselves not religious, of the importance of the sort of work that the World Congress of Faiths has been trying to do for sixty years.

Much of the work is in fact being done by other bodies. Members of WCF could be excused for feeling a little jealous of new comers to the scene who have grown more rapidly. Yet the purpose of WCF has never been to create a large organization but to change the attitude of members of the great religions to each other.

The fact that many members of one religion now look on members of other religions as friends rather than as enemies is a sign of a considerable alteration in religious relationships to which WCF, along with other groups, has made a valuable contribution. At the leadership level of many faith communities, there has been a dramatic change of attitude over the last sixty years, but this has been matched, in other quarters, by a dangerous increase of religious extremism and hostility. The work of bodies like WCF now has the endorsement of many religious leaders at a time when the evils of religious extremism are all too apparent. It is by no means clear either in Britain or on the world scene whether the future lies with inter-religious understanding and co-operation or with religious rivalry and hatred. What is clear is the enormous consequences of the path that is chosen - consequences summed up in the slogan 'dialogue or die'.

A Pioneering Body

WCF has been a pioneering body. Its influence is partly to be seen in the establishment of organizations specializing in concerns to which WCF was amongst the first to draw attention. WCF, as we have seen, from its early days voiced the need for the study of world religions in universities and schools. The change in the shape of RE in the last fifty years has been remarkable. WCF was probably the first organization to arrange occasions at which people of different religions could pray together. Fifty years after the first Congress, the Pope invited leaders of the world's religions to the World Day of Prayer for Peace at Assisi. Interfaith prayer has now become quite a widespread, if still controversial, practice. WCF started a few local interfaith groups. Now there are such groups in most parts of Britain. In the eighties, WCF brought together international interfaith organizations. Now plans are well developed to establish an International Interfaith Centre. More examples of WCF's pioneering role can be seen by looking back at previous chapters. This is not to claim all the credit for WCF. Many others, including theologians and scholars in the study of religions, have helped create a changed awareness about the relationship of religions to each other. It is, however, to acknowledge WCF's influence, even if in organizational terms WCF remains very fragile. Some years ago the BBC's Religious Affairs correspondent Douglas Brown, rightly in my opinion, spoke of the World Congress of Faiths as a 'comparatively small but very significant' body (1).

Today, WCF continues its pioneering role. It is, for example, stimulating reflection between members of different religions about the nature of multi-faith prayer. It is also encouraging discussion of the sensitive issues surrounding mixed faith marriages. Both of these are controversial but important subjects. WCF has also recognized that interfaith concerns now have an impact on many aspects of life and are not just of interest to religious professionals. For example, WCF has arranged conferences to look at how people of different faiths in the caring professions should minister to the elderly and to the dying. WCF has also given attention to questions about the possibility of recognizing moral values which are shared by members of the world religions.

The value of WCF's work will depend on the quality of its contribution to the discussion of important issues. This suggests that instead of the large conferences of the seventies, WCF's meetings may be smaller and more focussed on particular topics. The discussion should also be followed up by working parties and the preparation of publications. Already, WCF has a great asset in its journal.

It has always been difficult to attract significant funding for such pioneering work, although sometimes it can be found for specific projects. This is why WCF has throughout its history been so dependent on voluntary effort. It may also be that WCF's membership has remained quite small, not only because WCF has been poor at publicity and self-promotion, but also because its outlook has been ahead of its time. Many of its members have been highly gifted and original people, who had a wider vision.

A Wider Vision

It is this wider vision which perhaps is still a distinctive characteristic of WCF. There are many good reasons to recognize the importance of understanding and co-operation between members of different faith communities, such as the evident suffering caused by religious prejudice, the need to live together harmoniously in a multi-faith society, a desire to understand our neighbour's beliefs and practices, the search for shared values and the hope that people of different religions can together address the urgent challenges that face our world. Such concerns have inspired different members of WCF. They all, however, at their deepest spring from a sense of a common humanity and of a spiritual unity that transcends religious particularity. In the presence of the Ultimate Mystery all are at one.

This is why WCF has had to be a fellowship of like-minded individuals, albeit of different religions, rather than a body consisting of representatives of particular faith communities. For the discovery of the wider vision is intensely personal and has been called a second conversion - the first conversion being to a living faith. Kathleen de Beaumont wrote:

The basic fact of our spiritual attainment is and must be an individual one. The awakening to the spiritual life becomes a reality when man of his own free will opens wide his soul, when he becomes attuned to those divine vibrations within and around him of which for so long he has remained unconscious - when the flood of Being possesses him and he becomes aware of union with his Source'. (That union also inspires a sense of unity with others, whatever their religious label). We believe that, in the Great Unity, we are members one of another (2).

Many of those who have played a significant part in the life and work of WCF have had some such personal spiritual experience, which Archbishop Runcie described in words borrowed from Paul Tillich:

In the depth of every religion there is a point at which religion itself loses its importance and that to which it points breaks through its particularity, elevating it to spiritual freedom and to a vision of the spiritual presence in other expressions of the ultimate meaning of man's existence (3).

This is not the only motive for seeking inter-religious dialogue, but it gives a distinctive feel to the contribution WCF has made and continues to make to the very varied interfaith movement. This is why the growth of other interfaith organizations, many more powerful and better organized, has not replaced the need for the World Congress of Faiths to provide a fellowship for all, of whatever religion, who have sensed with Dean Inge that ‘God does not mind whether he is called Dieu or Allah or Brahma or even Bog.’

The emphasis in the early days of the World Congress of Faiths was on the transcendent unity. Today the richness of diversity is equally appreciated. Yet still WCF, as a fellowship of people of faith working together for peace, justice, the relief of need and the preservation of the planet, is nourished by spiritual experience of communion with the Ultimate - an experience in which human barriers are dissolved. It is this experience which WCF has sought to embody in its fellowship and in its varied activities. The Congress continues, as Younghusband hoped, 'to awaken a wider consciousness and to offer people a vision of a happier world-order in which the roots of fellowship strike down deep to the Central Source of all spiritual loveliness' (4).

13. A Worldwide Interfaith family </P>

International links.

 

Although Younghusband quickly took steps to establish the World Congress of Faiths as an international organization, the Second World War largely destroyed his efforts. Subsequently, small WCF groups have come into being in some other countries. The journal has had a small international circulation. WCF has also had friendly links with organizations with similar aims in several parts of the world, such as, in the fifties, the World Alliance for International Friendship Through Religion and subsequently with the International Association for Religious Freedom, the Temple of Understanding and the World Conference on Religion and Peace.

WCF Overseas Groups.

The Netherlands: Interreligio.

Interreligio, founded in 1948 and then called 'Wereldgesprek der Godsdiensten', has been one of the most successful of WCF groups outside Britain.

News of the 1936 World Congress of Faiths created quite a lot of interest in Holland, especially among Liberal Protestants, Theosophists, Sufis and others with a real interest in eastern cultures and religions. In 1938, Sir Francis Younghusband visited the Netherlands, with the hope of arranging for a congress in the Peace Palace at the Hague. The Council of the Peace Palace were, however, not enthusiastic about the idea. In any case, the outbreak of the Second World War soon made the project impossible.

After the war, the initiative to found a Dutch branch of the Congress was taken by Professor C J Bleeker of the University of Amsterdam, who was a distinguished scholar of comparative religion, who was for some years secretary of the International Association for the History of Religions. When the society was officially registered on November 17th, 1948, Professor Bleeker became the first chairman with Mrs Helene Calkoen-van Thienen as secretary. The objects of the society were the furtherance of inter-religious dialogue, the spreading of knowledge of the different religions and improving contact between different religious communities in the Netherlands. Lectures were held in several major cities and a number of conferences, often with participants from other countries, were held at the School for Philosophy at Amersfoort, just outside Amsterdam.

The sixties and seventies saw a considerable change in the population of the Netherlands, which is now a plural society. Interreligio, as the society was now named, was devotedly led by Dr Rudolf Boeke, whose doctoral thesis was on Rudolf Otto. Interreligio attracted many who were not in contact with the main religious bodies but who were concerned for spiritual values and religious experience. It dealt with inquiries about the specific practices of the world religions and with requests for educational material, for speakers, and for information on new religious developments. A quarterly magazine, Levensteken (Lifesign) was started. Interreligio maintained contact with similar centres abroad, especially through the newsletter Lifesign, which went to about five hundred people or institutions overseas. For a time Interreligio had a centre in a busy street in Rotterdam, from which it provided help for teachers of world religions, answered a wide range of queries and at which it arranged exhibitions. It started meetings for those working for the media, to encourage more responsible reporting of religious matters.

After twenty years as chairman, Dr Boeke felt the time had come to resign. After an interregnum, his place was taken by Mrs Toja van Dongen-Meyer, a liberal Protestant. She was very active in organizing many lectures. She also attended a large number of national and international conferences on behalf of Interreligio. A good library of religious and spiritual books and magazines was formed and housed in a rented room in the Remonstrant house in Deventer in the East of Holland. The library room quickly became a centre for meetings.

After nine years, Mrs Toja van Dongen-Meyer was succeeded by chairman, Mr Erik Hoogcarspel, who is a Buddhist and a teacher of philosophy. The number of lectures and meetings has decreased recently, but greater importance is attached to the journal, Levensteken, of which the quality and the size has been improved. Interreligio is represented at many interfaith meetings in the Netherlands and is actively engaged in improving contacts with the various ethnic and religious groups that make up the population of the Netherlands.

France.

In France, as we have seen, a Congress was held in 1939 (1). The war made any immediate follow-up impossible. In the late forties, steps were taken, to establish a French branch of WCF, which became known as L'Union des Croyants with the private encouragement of Teilhard de Chardin, who wrote a paper for the inaugural meeting, although it was read for him because of restrictions imposed on him by the Church. (2).

In her 1978 Younghusband Lecture, Professor Ursula King, of the University of Bristol and a Vice-President of WCF, spoke of Teilhard de Chardin's concept of the ‘convergence of religions’. He did not use the term in the sense of syncretism.

In a realistic appraisal, he affirmed that religious diversity is here to stay... The idea of the convergence of religions is the opposite to the attitude which assumes that all religions are already one in essence... Unity is not pregiven, it is not reducible to something already there. Like all living things it has to grow and take shape over time. True convergence means the presence of an overall orientation, an axis along which certain developments of major importance occur.

With such a viewpoint, Teilhard de Chardin, who like Younghusband had travelled widely, especially in China, was naturally sympathetic to the aims of WCF.

L'Union des Croyants was led for many years by Comtesse de Pange, who quite often attended the annual conference in Britain. L'Union des Croyants, for several years, arranged lectures at a high scholarly level, but it has become less active in recent years.

Belgium.

In Belgium, Rev Christiaan Vonck, a Belgian Protestant clergyman, has, from small beginnings, established a Faculty for the Comparative Study of Religion at Antwerp University. Christiaan Vonck initially drew support from the World Congress of Faiths and continues to keep in touch with WCF activities. The Faculty has grown steadily to become an important centre of study.

India.

In South India, based on the ancient city of Madurai, Dr Ahamed Kaber, who is a poet and the author of The Beacon Light to the World, founded a branch in 1950. As Founder-President of the South Asiatic Zone of WCF, he arranged regular lectures and meetings.

WCF Tours

Pilgrimage is part of the life of several religions. WCF was amongst the organizations to pioneer the idea of travel as a way of inter-religious meeting. Each WCF tour has included visits to a variety of religious communities.

The itinerary of the first WCF Tour to India was hastily rearranged because of extensive flooding in North India. The group spent time with the Ramakrishna Mission in Calcutta and also visited Madras and Madurai, where the local WCF group arranged a memorable reception. Bernice Joachim, in her report, beautifully captured the 'intriguing kaleidoscope of colour and contrasts' of the days in India.

We sat cross-legged on a cool stone floor of an ashram at the feet of a guru for two hours in the early morning at Poona; and wound our way through massive crowds and between or over reclining bodies beneath the blare of piped music at midday at the Meenakshi temple at Madurai; trod softly, with wonderment, between the "thousand pillars" of the hall of the neighbouring museum with its stirring altar of flame at the far end.

For short while we shared the still attention of the simple, devoted worship at the temple of the Ramakrishna Mission at Belurmath, and with the sound of the worshippers' chanting in the background, stood on the banks of the swollen waters of the Ganges as it swept silently by, carrying unidentified bundles in its swirling torrents...'(3).

On the Second India Tour, the group was warmly welcomed by the Guru Nanak Foundation in New Delhi and welcomed to the Golden Temple at Amritsar, where the Treasury of Jewels was specially opened. Many of the group travelled to Dharamsala for an audience with the Dalai Lama.

Mary Braybrooke in her report, mentioned both the poverty and the exhilaration of a first visit to India.

'Materially it is impossible to forget that we have so much in the West and many of them so little. Yet they have much to teach us about acceptance, about family love and hospitality - some of them about the way of non-violence.

I cannot begin to describe all we did and saw. Highlights were a visit to the Taj Mahal, as impressive as its pictures; houseboats on Lake Dal in Kashmir; watching arti, Hindu evening worship by the Ganges; shopping and bargaining in the bazaars; riding on an elephant in Corbett National Park; flying over the Himalayas; the ashram at Vrindaban and unforgettably crowded street scenes of cars, buses, rickshaws, tongas, cows and dogs - all converging'.

The group was reminded of the suffering that is caused by religious hostility. On ‘the Sunday before we left we attended worship at the local Church of North India in Srinagar - burnt down twice during Muslim rioting' (4).

Indeed memories of that tour, with its visit to Amritsar and Kashmir, have added poignancy to reports of subsequent troubles and suffering in both places

Many members of WCF also travelled to India in 1993 for Sarva-Dharma-Sammelana (see below) and took part in the accompanying tours.

There have also been tours to the Holy Land. The first took place whilst George Appleton was Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem. He arranged an interesting interfaith conference for the group, which stayed at a hotel on the Mount of Olives.

The second tour, which I led with Rabbi Hugo Gryn, included Jews, Christians, Hindus and Buddhists. Amongst the visits was one to Yad Va'shem. Jean Prickett wrote:

This coloured for some of us all our subsequent experiences in Israel. Of course, we all knew about it, but I walked out into the sunlit concourse feeling hollow and numb. It was a sensitive move to take us next to see Chagall's brilliant stained glass windows of the twelve tribes of Israel in the synagogue of the Hadassah-Hebrew Medical centre.

On our last evening, we stood in silence by the shore of the Sea of Galilee as dusk came and distant lights appeared across the water. The single plaintive call of a bird became less insistent and then ceased. A boat glided out from the bank a few yards and the fisherman circled the boat, spreading his net' (5).

In 1994, the tour included a visit to Jordan as well as Israel. This was just after the peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization had been signed. In fact, the group left Amman on the very day that Jericho and Gaza became autonomous areas. A highlight of the tour was the welcome by the Bahai's to their holy places at Haifa, Bhajji and Akko.

 

 

 

Links with Other Interfaith Organizations.

In recent years, WCF has tried to discharge its international role by building up links with other interfaith bodies in different parts of the world and particularly by initiating the conferences for international interfaith organizations which led to them working together to mark 1993 as a Year of Inter-religious Understanding and Cooperation.

Friendly relations with other international groups have been developed by WCF being represented at many international gatherings. Heather McConnell and I attended the Temple of Understanding's Second Spiritual Summit Conference, which was held in Geneva in 1970. Bishop Appleton, K.D.D.Henderson, Mary Braybrooke, Vera Harley and I have attended other Temple of Understanding events. Several WCF members over the years have attended Congresses of the International Association for Religious Freedom and also the Assemblies of the World Conference on Religion and Peace. Regular contact has been maintained with World Thanksgiving, which is based in Dallas.

WCF has also kept in touch with many world religious bodies and been represented at some of their gatherings. For example, I attended the Vancouver Assembly of the World Council of Churches and David and Jean Potter attended the Canberra Assembly. David and Celia Storey and others have been to several interfaith meetings in India and Mary and I have been invited to conferences in Korea and Japan as well as the USA.

Much of the lasting value of such gatherings is the friendships which are created and remain. There has slowly developed an international interfaith family. This has enriched the lives of those involved, but also provided an important channel of information and support in building up good inter-religious relations. Whilst the expression of this often is very local, the international dimension is important. What happens in one country, affects relationships in another. Communal trouble in India has had repercussions in Great Britain. Violent clashes in the Middle East have affected Christian-Muslim-Jewish relationships in Europe. Events in former Yugoslavia, have caused problems for Muslims elsewhere.

Ammerdown 1985.

To try to strengthen the sense that various interfaith organizations were partners, WCF arranged a meeting of representatives of international interfaith organizations at the Ammerdown Conference Centre near Bath in April 1985. It was not as representative as had been hoped, being dominated by Europeans and Americans. This was partly because no funds were available to subsidise travel for participants from Asia. Even so, the major international interfaith organizations participated. A number of national organizations and some study centres were also represented.

Ammerdown, is a retreat as well as a conference, centre. The discussions were deliberately set in the context of quiet, meditation and prayer. Time was given to building personal relations, which are vital in interfaith work, and to describing the work of the organizations represented.

Besides recognizing the need to strengthen links between interfaith organizations, the conference suggested that the various events held to commemorate the Chicago World Parliament of Religions might be linked and that the year 'could provide an opportunity to touch people more widely with the spirit of interfaith dialogue'.

In a rather euphoric mood, the conference warmed to the suggestion of Dr John Taylor of trying to create a 'World Council of Religions', 'to bring together people of all religions to overcome religious sectarianism, to work for peace, and to link individuals and organizations which are working for interfaith understanding' . Attempts to pursue this came to nothing, but the idea was mentioned again at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago in 1993 and at the Conference held in San Francisco in 1995 to mark the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Signing of the Charter of the United Nations (6).

Following Ammerdown communication between interfaith organizations increased. WCF, the Temple of Understanding, IARF, World Thanksgiving and WCRP were invited to be represented at the World Day of Prayer for Peace at Assisi in 1986.

Ammerdown, April 1988.

In April 1988, a second meeting of international interfaith organizations was held, again at Ammerdown. The main outcome was a call for 'world wide celebration of the centenary of the World Parliament of Religions'. By the following January, all four organizations, IARF, the Temple of Understanding, WCF and WCRP agreed jointly to sponsor 'A Year of Inter-religious Understanding and Co-operation' in 1993 and to hold a special centennial gathering. After considerable discussion, Bangalore was chosen as the venue (7).

The planning body - an ad hoc group - became known as the International Inter-religious Co-ordinating Committee (IIOCC), with David and Celia Storey as secretaries and myself as chairperson. I had known David at College and we had met on occasions since then. I was asked to speak at Chichester and had a meal with Celia Storey beforehand. David was away at Findhorn. Very quickly they became excited by the plans for 1993 and soon found themselves immersed in an enormous amount of work to make it possible.

To publicise plans for Bangalore and to link other events being planned around the world to mark the Year of Inter-religious Understanding and Co-operation, a newsletter 'Towards 1993' was circulated. The first issue appeared at the beginning of 1991.

India

Besides the main conference, known as Sarva-Dharma-Sammelana, which means Religious People Coming Together, there were other conferences in Bangalore, as well as at Kanyakumari, organized by the World Fellowship of Inter-Religious Councils in which Fr Albert Nambiaparambil has played a leading part, and in Delhi and also retreats at Mt Abu and in Rishikesh.

Nearly six hundred people attended Sarva-Dharma-Sammelana, which was held at the Ashok Hotel at Bangalore. There is a full record of the conference in Visions of an Interfaith Future (8).

The whole conference was set in a context of prayer and meditation. Indeed in the hotel garden, where many events took place, there was a tree under which Gandhi used regularly to spend time in meditation when he was in Bangalore.

The conference began with a joyful and prayerful Opening Ceremony. This started with the lighting of a lamp by Cherry Gould, a member of WCF, and by various religious dignitaries. There were prayers from each tradition, I gave a message of welcome, Dr N Mahalingam, President of the Ramalinga Mission, gave the keynote address and the main address was given by HE Kursheed Alam Khan, the Governor of the State of Karnatika.

The final ceremony, arranged by the younger participants, was also a joyous and prayerful occasion. Each day participants came together in the morning and evening for times of prayer and meditation, led by members of one faith community.

There were three programmes. One involved intensive small group work in which participants produced a shared vision of interfaith co-operation. The second consisted of visits to a large number of local religious centres. In the third programme, there were seven workshops on key issues, such as 'Education for Understanding' or 'Service and Solidarity'.

In the evening there were cultural programmes, some hosted by local communities. These allowed many of the citizens of Bangalore to share in some of Sarva-Dharma-Sammelana. The Governor kindly arranged a reception at Raj Bhavan for all the delegates.

One Japanese participant, who had been afraid to come to India because of reports of communal trouble, said of Sarva-Dharma-Sammelana that it was a foretaste of paradise, with the blue skies, beautiful flowers, butterflies and everywhere smiling faces. Certainly, my own lasting memory is of the warmth of the friendships and the sheer enjoyment of our rich variety. It was primarily a gathering for those involved in interfaith work and gave them the chance to share their achievements, their failures and their hopes. It showed that in all their diversity, those committed to inter-religious understanding and co-operation have become an international family and are a symbol of hope to a world still scarred by ethnic and religious conflict.

In Delhi there was a Day Centennial Meeting, at which Dr Karan Singh, a former member of the Indian government and Chairman the Temple of Understanding presided and gave a keynote address. The highlight was a speech from Shri P V Narasimha Rao, the Prime Minister of India, who stressed that India's constitution gave equal respect to all faiths.

Worldwide

There were other international gatherings to mark the centenary of the World's Parliament of Religions, especially in Japan and at Chicago itself. Dr Daniel Gomez-Ibanez, the Executive Director of the Chicago Parliament, attended several meetings of IIOCC and has become a good friend. Mary and I were privileged to represent WCF both in Japan and at Chicago. Several other WCF members, including Sir Sigmund and Lady Sternberg, David and Celia Storey and Brian Pearce were present at Chicago.

An International Interfaith Centre.

Many who took part in the year of Inter-religious Understanding and Co-operation have felt it was important to maintain the links that have been built up. A number of new initiatives are being explored. There is a continuing organization at Chicago, concerned both with work in the metropolitan area and internationally. A Peace Council, of which Dr Daniel Gomez Ibanez, who was Executive Director of the Chicago Parliament is now Executive Director, held its first meeting at Windsor at the end of November 1995. A United Religions Organization was initiated by Bishop Swing of California, following celebrations to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the UN Charter in San Francisco. Existing international interfaith organizations are increasing their programmes (9).

The World Congress of Faiths has been particularly involved in the establishment of an International Interfaith Centre at Oxford. The energies which were channelled into its International Committee are now invested in the Centre.

For some time before 1993, IARF and WCF had been in conversation about the need for such a centre. After careful consultation, it was agreed that Oxford would be a very suitable venue and Westminster College, which has a strong department for the study of religions, agreed to co-operate with the project. By the end of 1993, both the International Association for Religious Freedom and the World Congress of Faiths had relocated their offices to Oxford (10).

In December 1993, a Trust Deed was signed to establish the International Interfaith Centre (IIC) at Oxford, which is now a registered charity. The objects of the Centre are:

"To advance the education of the public world-wide in its understanding of the different faith traditions and various faith communities and how they might live in harmony, by establishing a Centre to promote or assist research into:

1. Issues of interfaith understanding, co-operation and religious freedom;

2. teaching methods and the development of educational materials;

3. aspects of worship, prayer, meditation and spiritual discipline;

and to disseminate the useful results of such research".

The Centre held its first international conference, in April 1994, on 'Religious Practice, Justice and Transformation'. It took a critical look at the effectiveness of religion in helping to make society more just. There was discussion of the patterns of religious education in several countries. The second international conference, in April 1995, was on 'Threat or Promise? The Study of Religions and Interfaith Activity'. There was again sober analysis of what interfaith organizations could do in areas of conflict.

Lectures on the relation of religions to the environmental crisis have been given by Dr Seyyed Hossein Nasr, of George Washington University, USA and by Professor Seshagiri Rao, of the University of Virginia, USA. Reports of the conferences and lectures are contained in International Interfaith News.

Visits to faith communities and educational centres in or near to Oxford have been arranged, including The Postgraduate Centre for Hebrew Studies at Yarnton, Keston College and The Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. Other visits have provided an opportunity to learn about different aspects of worship, prayer, meditation and spiritual discipline.

The Centre in its first eighteen months has received a steady stream of visitors, who have come to seek advice and information. Several have been staff members of international or national interfaith organizations or of world religious bodies. Others have been scholars in this field. A far greater number of enquiries have come by letter, telephone, fax and E-mail.

The co-ordinators, Celia Storey and Sandy Martin quickly collected information on major international interfaith organizations and multi-religious world bodies. Information is also held about many national and local interfaith organizations. Information is also being gathered on major faith communities and their structures for interfaith relations and also about major academic centres for the study of religions. A programme of research is being developed.

Plans were put in had for a purpose built centre at Westminster College. The architects Evans and Shalev, who have designed a number of distinctive buildings, prepared an initial design for the centre. A fund raising campaign for the building and endowment fund, under the guidance of Mr Neville Sandelson, a former member of Parliament, was launched. HRH Prince Charles wrote a message of support and Sir Richard Greenbury, Chairman of Marks and Spencer, agreed to be President of the Appeal. Sadly this ambitious project was frustrated, mainly because local residents objected to the proposal and planning permission was refused. The work of the Centre has continued but not on the scale initially envisaged.

 

The preparations for the Year of Inter-religious Understanding and Co-operation and the travel involved showed me how many people in different parts of the world are working for inter-religious understanding, human rights, peace, the relief of the hungry and the preservation of the planet. As I said in my welcome at Bangalore, 'The flowing together of so many streams of new life will create a river strong enough to wash away the stains of ethnic cleansing, racism, sexism, discrimination, communalism and apartheid. Many people long for renewal, for a world rebuilt on spiritual principles. What is necessary is that those who share this hope should share their energies' (11).

12. A Year of Inter-religious Understanding and Cooperation: </P>

Creating interest.

1993 marked the centenary of the World's Parliament of Religions, which was held in Chicago. The International Interfaith organizations, as we shall see, agreed to designate 1993 as 'A Year of Inter-religious Understanding and Co-operation'. In Britain, celebration of the Year was co-ordinated by the World Congress of Faiths.

In order to prepare for the Year of Inter-religious Understanding and Co-operation in 1993, the World Congress of Faiths called together a small group to discuss how to promote it in Britain. The World Congress of Faiths offered to co-ordinate the activities, but in a way that encouraged as many other groups as possible to arrange a special event to mark the centenary.

It was clear that there were not the resources to organize many central events. In fact, the only central events were the Launch at Global Co-operation House in January and a concluding service at the West London Synagogue.

First, however, people had to be made aware of the year. The aim was never just to mark the centenary of the 1893 World's Parliament of Religions at Chicago. We wished rather to focus on the achievements of one hundred years of interfaith activity and to encourage people to look forward to the task ahead.

To many, it was a surprise to learn that the interfaith movement was a hundred years old. They knew little about interfaith work, less about the interfaith organizations and nothing about the World's Parliament of Religions. If we were to gain support for the year, we had to increase awareness of interfaith activities. My history of the interfaith movement, Pilgrimage of Hope, which was published in February 1992 in Britain and the USA provided a solid historical account of what had happened and had been achieved (1). It was deliberately written in a factual rather than a hortatory style. In many faith communities there is still suspicion of interfaith activity. I wanted to avoid the accusation of special pleading. The aim was to present evidence of what had actually taken place, leaving people free to make their own evaluation of this.

Because there was so much material, the book was long. This meant that it was published as a hardback and so seemed expensive. Something much simpler was also needed, so I prepared a study guide as part of a study pack which a small group put together (2). Both became quite popular and - a rare event in WCF history - the project made a profit thanks to much voluntary labour.

We could not, however, rely just upon our own publications. Considerable efforts were made to get news of the year into a range of journals and newsletters. An enormous variety of publications emanate from religious communities and although by themselves they have quite small circulations, together they have a cumulative effect. Rev James Paterson was particularly effective at getting the Scottish Religious Press involved. Local papers reported local events which were arranged for the year.

There was some attention in the national media. The Launch was featured on BBC Thought for the Day. The Independent had a series on inter-religious relations and Mr Indarjit Singh in particular mentioned the year, hoping that it would lead to 'action for a saner world order' (3). In the autumn of 1993, BBC 1 showed an excellent series called 'Faith to Faith'. The first programme, shown as the Chicago Parliament ended, focused on that event. Subsequent programmes looked at the contemporary multi-faith situation in Britain. In one, a Christian/Hindu couple talked about the early years of their marriage. In another, a group of friends attended worship in a gurdwara, a synagogue and a mosque and discussed the possibility of people of different faiths worshipping together. Another considered the extent to which the environment is a religious issue. There was some coverage on the radio, including two very thoughtful programmes on the World Service of the BBC.

Media coverage - both mass and mini media - served to increase public awareness of the possibility of religious people working together and provided some contrast to the sombre news from former Yugoslavia, the Middle East and other areas of conflict.

In order to contact as many organizations as possible, a letter inviting participation in the year was sent out in March 1992 to religious bodies and local interfaith groups. In the letter, WCF offered to produce a hand-out listing events. This would help to create the sense of participating in a national event. In fact, the hand-out became a well produced four page news letter, called 'One Family'. The response was such that the first issue could only list events up till the end of July 1993 and it was necessary to produce four issues. As we have seen, 'One Family' has proved so useful as a listing of events and summary of interfaith activity in the UK that it continues to be published. An envelope sticker advertising 1993 also proved to be popular.

Local Events.

Events took place up and down the country and were very varied in character. Bristol, which anticipated the national launch with its own launch nine days earlier, had monthly meetings for which each faith in turn took responsibility. The Lord Mayor, as well as the Bishop of Bristol, attended the Bristol launch and subsequently the Mayor arranged his own event at the City Hall. The Mayors of several other cities also gave their support to the Year.

Most local interfaith groups and councils reported that events were better supported than usual. There does seem to have been some quickening of interest. A number of people for the first time met with and talked to people of other faiths. Many events included a shared meal and a cultural programme. This is evidence of a growing recognition that difference is a gift not a threat. British life today is enriched by its wide variety of peoples, cultures and religions.

Some events were in inner cities and others in country gardens. Many religious groups arranged special programmes. The Ramakrishna Order, whose Swami Vivekanada played a leading role at Chicago in 1893, held a series of meetings. The Unitarian Church arranged some national events and local Unitarians were supportive of local programmes. A Methodist Day Conference to commemorate the Parliament was held in West Yorkshire. In Edinburgh, a day long programme was held in the General Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland, with a welcome from the Moderator. There were a few protestors and one wondered what John Knox, whose statue dominates the courtyard, would have made of it. The Swedenborgian Church arranged a conference in London. This was appropriate because Charles Bonney, who suggested the Chicago Parliament and was its President, had been a Swedenborgian. Birmingham Cathedral hosted events as did St James, Piccadilly, St Martin in the Fields, Christ Church, Bath and a few other churches. The predominantly Anglican Modern Churchpeople's Union, which in 1991 had held a conference on the monotheistic religions and in 1992 on eastern religions, devoted its 1993 conference to 'Faith Outside Faiths'. Westminster Interfaith, which has strong Roman Catholic support, focussed its very active programme on observing the centenary. There were special lectures or meetings at Lancaster University, at Exeter University and at some other universities and colleges. The World Congress of Faiths' own programme, naturally enough, focussed on the year.

The above is only a sample, but indicates the breadth of support, although one is aware that large numbers of the practising members of religious communities still are unaware of, disinterested in, or opposed to interfaith activity. There was some endorsement from acknowledged religious leaders, but still considerable caution - His Holiness the Dalai Lama, during his visit to Britain, being a notable exception to this generalization. Even if religious leaders are increasingly recognizing the importance of interfaith co-operation, religious bodies are still very reluctant to make available the funds and resources that this work requires.

The Launch.

Although the emphasis for the Year of Inter-religious Understanding and Co-operation was on local activity, it was agreed to arrange a major national event to launch the year. The hope was that this would create public awareness of the Year and would encourage and inspire those planning local events.

A committee widely representative of the faith communities in Britain was convened to plan the Launch. The first meeting of the committee was held on April 22nd, 1992. It was encouraging almost all of those invited attended the meeting, which was chaired by Lord Ennals, with great charm and skill. Lord Ennals gave a great deal of time to the detailed planning of the event. Whilst not identified with a particular religious community, he was a spiritual person. This was significant because from the beginning it was hoped that the Launch would not only be a gathering for an 'inter-religious in-group', but would also speak to many in British society, who are not involved with institutional religions, but who have a deep concern for spiritual and moral values. This was why the programme included participants from many walks of life.

The Launch, held at Global Co-operation House at the invitation of the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University, on January 27th, 1993, was a day-long event. It fell into three parts. The morning was fairly formal; the afternoon was spent in workshops and the evening was a cultural celebration. I have described the Launch quite fully in my Faith in a Global Age, so here I will summarize the main components of the day (4).

The morning began with welcomes from Lord Ennals and Dadi Janki, who is Additional Administrative Head of the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University. There were addresses from Bishop Trevor Huddleston, known for his long campaign against apartheid, Dr Mai Yamani, a social anthropologist who gave a very clear exposition of Islam's concern for a society based on moral values, Swami Bhavyananda, head of the Ramakrishna Vedanta Centre in Britain, Rabbi Hugo Gryn, of the West London Synagogue and Edgar D Mitchell, the Apollo XIV Astronaut, who spoke movingly of the sense of the oneness, beauty and fragility of our planet as seen from space. That image had in fact been shown at the start of the proceedings.

To create a link with the 1893 Parliament, a lively dramatisation of the 1893 Parliament was presented by Jane Lapotaire, Clarke Peters and Robin Ramsay. At the end of the morning, children from a local school, Barham Junior School, carried in a great globe on a stretcher - the world was dying and required urgent care. As the children started to rescue the world they sang, led by Marneta Viegas, Michael Jackson's 'Heal the World', whilst an enormous 'One World Quilt of Unity', made by a group in Milton Keynes, was raised as a backdrop to the stage.

The morning was punctuated by the Water Ceremony. On the stage, there was a fountain. Two members of each faith were asked together to bring a gift of water and to say a prayer. For some the water came from a special source. The Christians brought water from the river Jordan, the Hindus from the river Ganges, the Muslims from Zamzam. Some of the prayers specifically related to water. The Christian prayer was from the Roman Catholic baptism service. From the Qur'an there was a verse which speaks of God making all things from water.

Because of suspicions that interfaith is really a new amalgamated faith, some care was taken with explaining the significance of the ceremony. The programme said,

Each religion has treasures to share with all people. In the ceremony, representatives of each World Faith will say a prayer and offer its treasures in the form of water. The 'water' may symbolise the cleansing of the scars of conflict, the bringing of refreshment to the thirsty or the renewal of hope for a just and peaceful world where nature's bounty is valued and not polluted. The mingling of the waters symbolises how from their own rich and diverse sources faiths can come together in the service of humanity. (5)

The afternoon workshops focussed on particular values but in a way which showed their relevance to world issues. This was done by the careful choice of co-ordinators and speakers, who represented a wide range of concerns and activities, including, for example, a member of the UN Department of Economic and Social Development and the President of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation. Mr Douglas Martin, Director General of the Office of Public Information of the Baha'i International Community in Haifa and I were asked to respond to the Workshop reports.

The evening, introduced by Clarke Peters, included moving readings by Hayley Mills and by John Cleese, who chose passages from Sogyal Rinpoche's Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, and contributions of music and song from several faith traditions. As always, children stole the show. Tibetan children from the Pestalozzi Children's Village sang and danced. Thai children also danced. A young Sikh performed a spiritual sword dance, Jain children gave us a Lullaby Dance and children of Forest School acted a play. There was a devotional Kathak piece by Sushmita Ghosh and music from the Baha'i National Choir. There were closing messages by Edward Carpenter, former Dean of Westminster who, with his wife Lilian have long supported a variety of interfaith organizations and by Dadi Janki. At the end of a long day Sheila Chandra sang 'Sacred Stones'. Sacred Stones blended in a wonderful and moving way Eastern and Western traditions of sacred music and, late into the evening, provided a fitting climax to the day.

The day served its purpose. Over eight hundred people participated on a working day: many of whom were later to arrange local events. Some had travelled from Scotland and Wales. Some religious leaders had come from the South of France. The day was a blend of faiths, cultures and walks of life. It demonstrated the enrichment that our cultural and religious variety can bring to our life together. The Launch also made clear that interfaith is not just about how religions relate but about how together they can contribute to a divided and needy world.

A Service of Thanksgiving and Rededication.

This theme was to be taken up in a Service of Thanksgiving and Rededication held in the West London Synagogue to mark the conclusion of the Year. It was felt to be important that there should be a concluding event, as sometimes 'Years' just peter out.

The attendance of nearly two hundred people was much less than that for the Launch, yet it was quite good for a winter's evening. The service included a sermon by Bishop Tom Butler, the Bishop of Leicester and the reading of the Introduction to the Declaration Towards a Global Ethic, followed by comments on this. The service itself was for the Jewish festival of Chanukkah, which recalls the time when, in 168 BCE, Antiochus IV Epiphanes defiled the Temple in Jerusalem. It was recaptured by the Maccabees, but when they came to rededicate the Temple, only one day's supply of pure olive oil could be found. Miraculously it lasted for the eight days necessary to fetch further supplies of pure oil.

The light of faith and hope lit at the World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893 has often been nearly extinguished by the bloodshed and cruelty of the twentieth century. The hope is that the Year of Inter-religious Understanding and Co-operation has passed on that light to a new century. The word Chanukkah means dedication and all who attended the service of Thanksgiving and Rededication were aware of the work that remains to be done. There is a rabbinic saying that it is not given to us to complete the work, but neither is it for us to cease from it.

11. From Aids to Yoga: Working With Others

The files in the WCF archive at the Parkes Library at Southampton University, cover a wide range of subjects. More than half relate to correspondence with other organizations. The list includes the 'Anti-apartheid movement'; 'Black people in Britain: the Way Forward', which was the title of a conference in the seventies; Humanism; the Niwano Peace Prize; Religious dance; the Teilhard Centre for the Future of Man; Ways of the Spirt, which was a spiritual festival held in London in the seventies; the World Peace Prayer Society and many more.

Many organizations have in the past approached the World Congress of Faiths to introduce them to faith communities in Britain. Religion touches on so many aspects of life; the arts, health, social issues, the concern for peace, human rights and justice. At the same time, WCF has been in touch with faith communities and there is correspondence with many religious bodies. As an educational charity, WCF has been concerned to educate people of all ages to appreciate the great religions, so there are letters to educational bodies and to the media. WCF has also tried to encourage contact between people of different faiths not only in different parts of the United Kingdom, but throughout the world, so there is correspondence with local interfaith groups and, as we shall see in chapter 13, correspondence with other international interfaith organizations.

In this chapter, we shall look at WCF's efforts to encourage local interfaith activity in Britain, its support for the Inter Faith Network of the UK, its educational work and its contact with one or two other societies.

Local interfaith activity.

Local interfaith activity has largely depended on the enthusiasm and initiative of one or two keen people in an area. Some of these have been members of the WCF and in a history of WCF it is appropriate to concentrate on these people. This is not, however, the place to tell the varied and fascinating story of the development of local interfaith activity, which now exists in many parts of Britain. That history deserves to be written and will tell of many more far-seeing, generous and creative people.

Kathleen de Beaumont.

Thanks particularly to the inspiration of the Hon Mrs de Beaumont, there was, in the fifties, a lively branch of WCF in Cambridge. Kathleen de Beaumont, the eldest child of Lord and Lady O'Hagan, was born in London in 1876. She was brought up a Roman Catholic, but when she was a teenager, the family converted to the Church of England. This caused a rift with many of the relations, which took many years to heal. Kathleen was a devout Anglo-Catholic but of broad vision. She acclaimed the writings of Teilhard de Chardin and the ecumenicial outlook of Pope John XXII (1). Her husband, known as Dr Klein until the time of their marriage, had also left the Roman Catholic Church. Soon after they were married, he became the Unitarian minister at Little Portland Street, Marylebone, in succession to Dr James Martineau, by whose writings he had been much influenced.

In 1915 the de Beaumonts moved to Cambridge, where Kathleen was involved in many community activities, especially in work for the Girl Guides. In 1909, she and her two daughters, complete with broomsticks, had attended the first Scout rally at Crystal Palace. Noticing the girls' presence, Sir Robert Baden-Powell enquired about them and decided something must be done for girls. Once it was decided to set up the Girl Guides, Baden Powell asked Mrs de Beaumont to become County Commissioner for Cambridgeshire, a position that she held for thirty years. In Cambridge, she and her husband made many friends, especially of Dr Raven, who was Master of Christ's College and of Dr Burkitt, a Professor of Theology.

Kathleen's husband died in 1934. Soon afterwards, she met Sir Francis Younghusband and took part in the founding of WCF, which, she wrote, 'became a major interest and activity in my life'(2). Unfortunately her memoirs give few details of her work for WCF. During the war she was active in her support for La France Libre. In 1953, she returned to London, after forty years in Cambridge.

Back in London, Kathleen regularly attended meetings of WCF and served on the Executive Committee and became a Vice-President. She also was a regular participant in the meetings for contemplative meditation, arranged by Rev G Coulson, which have been mentioned in chapter 5. For many years she suffered from arthritis and her last years were ones of illness, but her spirit was indomitable. 'Finally, came illness - a truly blessed experience because at the same time that I was stricken by the illness which kept me house-bound for years, some of the works of Pere Teilhard de Chardin came into my hands. A new heaven opened for me with the vision glorious of the Cosmic Christ. To have lived to witness this opening of a new era in the history of religion on this earth is indeed a privilege for which I am humbly thankful' (3).

Kathleen de Beaumont, like Sir Francis Younghusband, had deep personal spirtual experiences and a wide sympathy for the faiths of the world. She was also a member of the Fellowship of Meditation and was much influenced by Marion Dunlop. With her links with and deep concern for France, she helped to maintain links with the Union des Croyants (the French branch of WCF) and became a close friend of Comtesse Jacques de Pange.

It was Kathleen de Beaumont, who in the early fifties, inspired the Cambridge branch of WCF in which both Canon Raven and Dr Stewart Carter, the Unitarian minister, took an active interest. The branch had a varied programme and attracted good support. In 1954, for example, The Cambridge Daily News reported that there had been a crowded Service for People of All Faiths (4).

During the fifties a WCF branch was established at Bournemouth and Poole and several events took place at the home of Lady Madeline Lees at Lytchett in Dorset. A film was made to promote the idea of 'World peace through Religious Drama' (5). Lady Lees remained a supporter of WCF throughout her life and continued, almost to the end, to paint water colour cards to raise money for the cause.

Another 'devotee' of Younghusband was George Harrison, who himself had had deep mystical experiences. For a time he was the WCF's North of England officer, but there seems to have been disagreements about the financial arrangements for his work. Nevertheless, despite the demands of his work for British Rail, he found time to do much to promote WCF in the north of England. There are many reports in World Faiths of talks that he gave and of All Faiths services being held in Sheffield and Leeds and other northern cities.

Bristol and Bath.

The beginnings of interfaith work in the Bristol and Bath area owe a lot to two very remarkable, if very different people: Albert Polack and Brian Pamplin.

In the late sixties a 'Younghusband branch of WCF' was established in the Bristol and Bath area. At the time, I was a visiting lecturer at Bristol University. I met Albert Polack and we talked about Younghusband.

Albert's father, Rev Joseph Polack, was the first housemaster of Polack's House, which was a house for Jewish boys at Clifton College. Albert was a school boy there and in 1926 himself became housemaster of Polack's house. He knew about and admired Clifton's famous son, Francis Younghusband. When he 'retired' in 1949, he became Education Officer of the Council of Christians and Jews. By the late sixties, he had just 'retired' again and had returned to live in Bristol. Together we arranged a meeting, at it which was agreed to set up a Bristol branch of WCF. Albert suggested that as Sir Francis had been a pupil at Clifton College, it should be called the Younghusband Branch. Tony Reese, a member of the Bristol Progressive Synagogue, soon became an active member and officer of the branch and is still active in interfaith work.

After a time, Dr Brian Pamplin, a science lecturer at Bath University became interested, partly through his study of the writings of Teillard de Chardin. He decided to set up a new group, which was called SHARIFH, Sharing the Future in Hope. This was designed to seek reconciliation between the religions and science. The work was centred on Bath University and there were several interfaith gatherings at the chaplaincy centre. He is still remembered in Bath by the Pamplin Addresses, which seek to promote dialogue both between members of different religions and between them and scientists. Although SHARIFH was potentially a national and international group, it remained centred in Bath. After Brian's death, those in the group whose main interest was interfaith dialogue and those more interested in Brian's scientific and spiritual enquiries separated and two independent groups were established. The Bath Interfaith group has continued to have a regular and varied programme. The difficulty is that faith communities other than Christian are small and it is hard to get a balanced membership - not that more than a few Christians have been actively interested.

In Bristol, by contrast, many faith communities are well established. There is an active interfaith group in the city, which had a particularly imaginative programme during the Year of Inter-religious Understanding and Co-operation in 1993. Neither the Bath nor Bristol interfaith group is now a 'branch' of WCF, but several members of both groups are members of WCF.

Brian Pamplin, gradually moved to a universalist position. He saw God's presence in every form of religion and indeed in all life. In 1983, he spent Christmas at the ashram of Sai Baba and heard him preach about Jesus. From that sermon he took the words which became SHARIFH's motto, 'There is one religion - the Religion of Love'. He sought not only the reconciliation of religions but of science and religion at the highest philosophical level. He was deeply interested in the relationship of the latest scientific thought to the speculations of Buddhist metaphysicians. This search for reconciliation was not just an intellectual matter, but for the future of the world and for the sake of the poor. From service in the forces in Korea, he was personally aware of the horrors of modern warfare. Just before his death he had visited Mother Teresa who had directed his attention forcefully to the needs of the destitute.

Bill and Joan Steiner.

Another person who combined an interest in the reconciliation of religions and of religion and science was Bill Steiner, a Unitarian, who served for many years on the WCF Executive. He regularly taped the lectures given at WCF conferences and the tapes are still a rich source of inspiration. He and his wife Joan came on several WCF tours. Joan, an Anglican, herself gave her energies to work for WCF in Wellingborough, where an active WCF branch existed for many years.

The above groups were all initially established as WCF branches. After a time, it became clear that less formal links were more helpful.

There are today many other local interfaith groups. In some, members of WCF have played an active part. In Wolverhampton, for example, there has for many years been a well organized and lively group, in which a leading member, Ivy Gutridge, had long been a member of WCF. In Glasgow, the moving spirit was a deaconess of the Church of Scotland, Stella Reekie, who became a keen supporter of WCF. Her home at the International Flat became the venue for numerous arranged and chance interfaith meetings. Stella helped to establish the Sharing of Faiths group in the city, where there have been regular exhibitions and where the St Mungo Museum was opened in 1993. The aims of the Sharing of Faiths group, which reflect Stella's wide concerns, are worth recording. They are

'to share human friendship across religious boundaries;

to foster understanding among people of different races and faiths

to learn from each other

to share religious experience

to deepen our religious insights' (7).

The stories of other groups, such as Westminster Interfaith or Leeds Concord, also deserve to be told and mention made of the many people, like Penny Reynolds of Bognor, who by their gift of friendship have brought people together. Groups are very different, just as the needs and character of towns and cities up and down the country vary. Some are very practical in their programmes, some more philosophical in their discussions. Some are well organized, some quite informal, some are universalist in outlook, some are more akin to religious community relations councils where the distinctive identity of each faith community is clear.

Local interfaith groups have offered people a chance to meet their neighbours who belong to other faith communities. Such meeting has broken down ignorance and prejudice and has led to friendships, which have enriched many lives. Local groups have dealt with a wide range of enquiries, but most important they have helped to sustain and build up the fabric of the multifaith, multi-cultural and multi-ethnic society, which Britain is becoming.

The Inter Faith Network for the UK

How to give some cohesion to this varied activity has been a continuing concern. There has also been a wish to ensure that national interfaith organizations should work as partners.

In 1965, besides WCF, only the Council of Christians and Jews and the London Society for Jews and Christians were already active. Since then, all three organisations have expanded their work and influence. Whilst Christian-Jewish dialogue retains its specific character, it has become more related to wider interfaith dialogue. In 1977, The British Council of Churches Committee for Relations with People of Other Faiths was formed, with Rev Kenneth Cracknell as first full-time secretary, followed by Rev Dr Clinton Bennett. The work was then taken on by The Council of Churches of Britain and Ireland, with Canon Dr Christopher Lamb as its officer for interfaith relations. Several denominations now have special committees for interfaith reflection and dialogue, some with, at least part-time, officers. Meanwhile, other faith communities have developed national structures. There is, for example, a National Council of Hindu Temples and an Imams and Mosques Council.

There has also been a growing interest in the teaching of world religions. Compared to twenty years ago, there is a plethora of interfaith activity and meetings and greater support from the leaders of the different faith communities. Some indication of the variety of religious life in Britain and of the various bodies linking faith communities is given in Religions in the UK, a Multi-Faith Directory, edited by Paul Weller, of the University of Derby, which runs to over 600 pages (8). Even so, those involved need to be aware that a large majority of the population are still untouched by these developments.

In 1977-8, Canon Peter Schneider, Rev Jack Austin and I, with some others, made tentative moves to explore forming a 'Consultative Interfaith Council'. In a Memorandum, Canon Peter Schneider, outlined the possibilities. On the projected Council, compared to the BCC Committee on Relations with People of Other Faiths, 'members of various Faith Communities would meet and discuss as equal partners. All are hosts and none are guests'. Compared to WCF, which was based on individual enthusiasts, the Council 'would consciously relate to the various Faith Communities as a whole and seek to provide a structured forum of meeting and discussion'.

The aims of this Council can be seen as facilitating a more comprehensive meeting and acquaintance and knowledge of different Faiths than is at present the case. Further its purpose would be that issues of common interest and concern could be discussed and if it seemed proper decisions reached. In times of crisis the Council would be the obvious framework for urgent consultation and possible united decision, provided this had the support of the Faith Communities represented in the Council' (9).

Nothing came of these moves, partly because of the untimely death of Peter Schneider and because of lack of support from the religious communities.

Some ten years later, Brian Pearce, who had taken early retirement from the Civil Service, patiently researched the best ways to strengthen good relationships between the faith communities in Britain. One possibility might have been to try very considerably to strengthen and expand the work of WCF, as Rev Jack Austin had tried ten years before. It became clear that members of several faith communities felt this would mean accepting the view of the relationship between religions implicit in the approach of WCF. This they were reluctant to do. The WCF Executive, in April 1985, unanimously agreed to give its support to the attempt to establish a new organization, which would bring together representatives of the faith communities and those already active in promoting good interfaith relations (10). It would be an organization for organizations and not for individuals and it would be a network, dependent on consensus for any policy decisions.

After a consultative period of nearly two years in all, the Inter Faith Network for the United Kingdom was formally established in 1987 and by 1996 linked over seventy organisations and groups. These included representative bodies from within the main world religious communities in Britain, such as the Council of Churches for Britain and Ireland, the National Council of Hindu Temples and the Buddhist Society; national interfaith organizations, such as the Council of Christians and Jews and the World Congress of Faiths; local inter-faith groups, such as the Wolverhampton Inter-Faith Group and the Leeds Concord Interfaith Society; and study centres and academic bodies concerned with the study of religions and the relationships between them, such as the Community Relations Project of Leeds University and the Religious Education Council. Not all local interfaith groups are, at present, affiliated to the Network, but all of them are invited to the area meetings that the Network arranges.

The constitution sets out the aim of the Network as being 'to advance public knowledge and mutual understanding of the teachings, traditions, and practices of the different faith communities in Britain including an awareness both of their distinctive features and of their common ground and to promote good relations between persons of different religious faiths'. At the inaugural meeting, this resolution was adopted:

We meet today as children of many traditions, inheritors of shared wisdom and of tragic misunderstandings. We recognise our shared humanity and we respect each other's differences. With the agreed purpose and hope of promoting greater understanding between the members of the different faith communities to which we belong and of encouraging the growth of relationships of respect and trust and mutual enrichment in our life together, we hereby jointly resolve: that the Inter Faith Network for the United Kingdom should now be established' (11).

The Network provides information and advice on inter-faith matters and helps put organizations and individuals in touch with the different faith communities at national and local level. It is increasingly consulted by government departments, other public sector and voluntary bodies, the media and the leaders and members of religious communities. The Inner Cities Religious Council, set up by the Department of the Environment in 1993, for example, included three of the Network's officers in its membership.

The Network has held regular national and regional meetings and has organized seminars on particular issues such as 'The blasphemy laws', 'Women and Religion', 'Religious Education and Collective Worship in Schools' and 'Religion on Radio and Television'. It has produced a 'Statement on Inter-Religious Relations' and in 1993, it issued a short code of conduct on 'Building Good Relations Between People of Different Faiths and Beliefs', as well as a longer document called 'Mission, Dialogue and Inter-Religious Encounter'.

For its first years, the co-chairs of the Network were the Rt Rev Jim Thompson, then Bishop of Stepney and Rabbi Hugo Gryn, Senior Rabbi of the West London Synagogue. They were succeeded by Mr Indarjit Singh, Editor of the Sikh Messenger, and Rt Rev Roy Williamson, Bishop of Southwark. The growth of the Network and the high regard in which it is held is to the credit of the Director, Brian Pearce and the Deputy Director Dr Harrriet Crabtree and the other members of staff. They have patiently gained the trust of the various faith communities involved and helped these communities to trust each other.

In their report for 1994-5, the co-chairs stressed the importance of making multi-faith Britain a place of harmony and understanding between religions. 'In many areas of the world inter religious conflict causes great hardship and misery. We must never slacken in our endeavours to make sure that misunderstandings and prejudice do not take root here with tragic consequences for our society. Our individual faith traditions need not be sources of conflict. Practised with integrity, they can offer rich resources for a shared life together based on mutual respect and deeply held values' (12).

Religious Education.

Education clearly has an important part to play in ensuring that misunderstandings and prejudice do not take root in British society. Much of WCF's work has been in the area of public education, but at times particular attention has been given to the religious education of the young, both in schools and universities.

The 1944 (Butler) Education Act required religious instruction in all local authority schools together with an act of Collective Worship. Although provision was made for Jewish children and opting-out was permitted, both the instruction and worship were almost wholly Christian, even though, as we have seen, R A Butler in his address to the WCF recognized that spiritual values are emphasized in all religions. WCF was one of the first bodies to advocate the teaching of world religions and to express concern about provision for the religious education of children of minority faiths. An article in World Faiths, in March 1961, said there was a need for an 'Advisory Council for Inter-Faith Understanding in Education', 'on which would be representatives of the teachers' bodies, local education authorities, teachers' training colleges, the churches and such organizations as the WCF and the Council of Christians and Jews' (13). On more than one occasion, Lord Sorensen raised the matter in Parliament (14).

In 1965 Bernard Cousins, a Jewish member of the Congress, published a booklet giving examples of his own efforts to introduce world religions into the classroom. 'The study of one faith in isolation', he wrote, 'with scarcely any reference to the greatness of others can produce a narrowness of outlook, an arrogance and exclusiveness which give rise to suspicion, contempt and dislike for the unfamiliar'(15). In the same year, Rev. John Rowland compiled an All Faiths Order of Service for World Childrens' Day, which was distributed through UNICEF (16).

In 1969, the Congress convened an Education Advisory Committee. At that time it was thought that a new Education Act was being prepared, so the Committee's first task was to draw up a statement, issued in July 1970, about the provision of Religious Education in local authority schools 'with particular reference to the teaching of world religions and the needs of all children in a plural society'. The Committee, on which all major religions were represented, argued that religious education should have a place in schools, primarily on educational grounds.

We believe that religious education should have a continuing place in our schools. The primary reason for this is educational. A knowledge of man's religious history is essential to an understanding of our culture and our fellow beings. The spiritual dimension is a part of human experience and pupils should be given the opportunity to understand and assess religious claims. As people of faith we believe that individuals and society need a spiritual basis. Moral values, too, although they may be independent, are often closely related to religious faith.

In calling for the teaching of other religions, besides Christianity, the group said that what was needed was 'the imaginative sympathy that enables a child to appreciate what living by another faith means to its followers' (17). The committee suggested that assemblies might sometimes be interfaith in character. Subsequently the committee discussed assemblies in greater detail (18).

The Education Advisory Commitee of WCF continued for some years, with Catherine Fletcher, a distinguished educationalist, in the chair. For some time members discussed the misunderstandings that religious communities have about each other. A number of conferences for teachers were arranged and an essay competition for young people was organized.

As Education Secretary for the British Council of Churches, John Prickett, a former headmaster, was particularly interested in this area. In July 1972, he arranged through the BCC Education Department a two day residential interfaith conference on education at Leicester University. A couple of similar conferences had already been held, sponsored by the National Society in 1970 and 1971. A follow-up to the Leicester Conference was held at Westhill College, Selly Oak, in 1973, sponsored by the Extra-mural Department of Birmingham University. Participants felt it was important that the work should continue, so a new body was formed called The Standing Conference on Inter-Faith Dialogue in Education (SCIFDE). This fledgling needed a parent, so WCF agreed to be the sponsoring body. John Prickett, who had retired from the BCC, became the very active secretary and Rabbi Hugo Gryn became chairman. A series of conferences have been held, some of which resulted in publications, including, Marriage and the Family, Death and Initiation Rites, all edited by John Prickett. John Prickett was succeeded by Angela Wood.

At the same time, as the WCF Education Advisory Committee agreed a statement on RE, it also produced a simple guide to resources for those wishing to teach world religions. It is a reminder of how few resources were then available that the guide was only four foolscap pages. At much the same time, Peter Woodward of Borough Road College, Iselworth, produced a slightly larger list of resources. This in time grew into a very comprehensive guide. SHAP now produces an annual journal World Religions in Education and the SHAP Calendar, which gives the dates of the major festivals of the main religions. SHAP, which was established after a conference to promote the study of religions, held at Shap in the Lake District in 1969, has arranged regular conferences (20).

To provide a forum where the variety of people concerned for the future of religious education could meet, a Religious Education Council was formed in 1973 (21). This includes representatives of professional organizations of faith communities and of interfaith organizations. WCF has for several years been represented by Dr Owen Cole, a distinguished educationalist. The RE Council has recently been active in trying to ensure that the needs of all faith communities were safeguarded in the 1988 Education Act and in its application.

Members of WCF have been active in all these organizations and some are members of local Standing Advisory Conferences on Religious Education. Others are RE teachers. Yet despite the considerable success of efforts to broaden the scope of religious education and the wide resources now available, the subject is still given a low priority in many schools and WCF should rightly continue to be concerned that children have an opportunity both to grow in their own faith and to learn and appreciate the faiths of others.

The increasing provision of courses on religious studies in British universities, advocated earlier in this century by the Union for the Study of the Great Religions, has been welcomed by WCF. A number of WCF members are active in the British Association for the Study of Religions (22). WCF has tried to encourage seminaries, theological colleges and other centres for training rabbis and imams, to provide teaching about all the great faiths. The increasing availability of good books for students and of translations of religious texts, for example by the Sacred Literature Trust (23), should remove any excuse for ignorance.

Peace and Human Rights.

Too often religious differences have been a cause of bitterness, which is one reason why education about world religions is important. At the same time, in all religions there is a concern for peace, justice and human welfare.

The World Congress of Faiths has therefore worked closely with many other bodies. For example, Dr Edward Carpenter, President of WCF, for many years chaired the United Nations Association's Religious Advisory Committee, on which a number of members of WCF have served. He, together with Bishop Appleton, helped to initiate the Week of Prayer for World Peace, of which for many years the organizer was Canon Gordon Wilson. WCF also supported the 'One Million Minutes for Peace' campaign, organized by members of the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University.

The World Congress of Faiths has worked closely over the years with the World Conference on Religions and Peace (WCRP), both internationally and in Britain. The hope of the WCF has always been that its activities would contribute to understanding between peoples and so to peace. The 1995 conference, for example, was on the subject of 'Religions in War and Peace'. WCF, however, has not been a campaigning body on specific issues. WCRP has been more focussed on questions of disarmament and development.

Recently with growing popular concern about the environment, there has been renewed interest in what the religions have to say on the subject, shown for example at the Worldwide Fund for Nature's programme in Assisi in 1986. WCF has been represented at some meetings of the Global Forum on Human Survival and at the Summit on Religion and Conservation.

Whilst Younghusband himself and the pioneers of WCF hoped that religious people could 'awaken and develop a world loyalty', much of the work of the Congress has been preparatory to that, in that it has been necessary to dispel prejudice and build up friendly relations between members of different faith communities before they could begin to act together. The programme of the Inter Faith Network and WCF's co-operation with a wide range of other bodies concerned for justice, peace, human rights and the protection of the environment, suggests that a new stage in interfaith work is just beginning not only in Britain but across the world.