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CAIRS third annual meeting: Convener's Report

January 19, 2006

In our country, the 25th December is a day where rituals are played out. The tradition may be that you open certain presents after Midnight Mass and you have a glass of bubbly.  Christmas Day at 12 noon you go to collect your mother-in-law for Christmas dinner and so on. In many homes there’s the ritual of turning on the television at precisely 3 o’clock – why? It is of course to listen to the Queen’s Christmas Message to Britain and the Commonwealth. Over the years, for me this has been something of an empty ritual – empty because the only reason I do this is as a child, at 3 o’clock every Christmas Day, we would move from the dining room to the sitting room to listen to the Queen. When what lies behind ritual is simply repetition for its own sake, it’s time to stop. However, for this particular piece of meaningless ritual, I’m glad I’ve not stopped. The reason being, that for those of us involved in inter faith dialogue, I would suggest that the Queen is something of a role model. Tune in at 3 pm on Christmas Day and you will witness a person who is skilfully engaged with a pluralist society of which she happens to be head.

You may think the Convener of CAIRS has completely flipped his lid but let me explain. The Queen comes from an extremely conventional, orthodox Christian background. She has Scottish Episcopalian blood running through her veins and has spent her entire life in the Church of England and again during the last 50 years she has been head of it. The Queen is Anglican through and through and is known to be a devout Christian. Her skill is that when she is talking about religious matters as she increasingly does in her Christmas message, never does she show anything other than immense respect for the other major faiths, acknowledging that regarding a common ethic, we have much in common. The Queen is indeed a role model for those of us who engage in inter faith dialogue and I wish more of us would follow her example.

In 2005, CAIRS put on three workshops which I see as all inter-related, put on to help those of us in the Church develop our skills as inter faith practitioners. The first day I’d like to comment on was called “Restoring Confidence in Christianity”, led by John Conway, an Episcopalian priest from Edinburgh. I was delighted to have this on the agenda in 2005 – not before time. This lack of confidence in Christianity is palpable and sadly, not least when it comes to Christians engaging with people of other faiths. Time and time again you hear Christians running their own religion down. That’s certainly not what people of other faiths want to hear and I don’t think it is constructive for one's own spiritual journey. Some of this I think has to do with poor theology – that we are not taught from our pulpits how to theologise and hence often or not we are not tapping into the richness of the Christian tradition. Christianity has such wonderful treasures to help us on our journey into the Godhead and often or not we are ignorant of the depth and subtlety of Christianity. This day was a small contribution on restoring our confidence in our Christian faith.

Michael Ipgrave, known to many of us, travelled from London to spend a few hours with us here at Scottish Churches House, discussing “Hospitality of the Heart.” This short booklet came about in 2004 when members of the Churches Commission on Inter Faith Relations (CCIFR) used some Bible studies and Michael decided there was enough material to make a study booklet looking at four passages, two Old Testament and two New Testament. Michael’s introduction was first class, playing with words giving us insights into the Christian message which we may not have seen before. If John’s day was about opening up the theme of restoring our confidence in Christianity, Michael’s day gave us an opportunity to do some digging beneath the surface of Holy Scripture, to pluck out one or two jewels.

A third CAIRS day in 2005 was “Naming God after Auschwitz”, facilitated by our own Sister Isabel Smyth assisted by Sister Pat Cusick. This day was on the back of Isabel’s trip to Poland and amongst other things provided reflection on that long established debate between Jews and Christians. Although I wasn’t present at this day, it did strike me as another opportunity to address Christian ghosts of the past. With a few exceptions, the Christian track record during World War II is not great. For example, I believe I am right in saying Hitler was never excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church. There was a chilly quiet when it came to defending the plight of Jews across Europe. Our Christian past with Jewish people has at times been shocking and that does need to be acknowledged. Christianity is an ancient tradition and like other ancient traditions there is a history which may bring embarrassment if not deep regret. In that instance we are all in the same boat but it should not detract from the many virtues of Christianity and for the outstanding figures it has produced down through the ages. Before we leave Isabel’s day, as an aside I would like on behalf of CAIRS, to congratulate her on being awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours list. This is an honour for Isabel, richly deserved and also giving recognition to the importance of inter faith work.

Looking through the Minutes of 2005, there has been one dominant feature, the appointment of a CAIRS Inter Faith Education Officer. Not just in 2005 but in previous years, this has been something of a hard slog but I am delighted to say we got there in the end. At the beginning of this academic year we appointed a part time worker. The position went to Andrew Sarle, who as it happens knows a thing or two about Jewish Christian relations, having been brought up in a “mixed home.” Andrew has considerable academic abilities, in a previous life he was a mathematician and now showing an aptitude for theology. He continues with his studies at Edinburgh University, with the possibility of research on inter faith issues in years to come. Andrew is firmly rooted in the Christian tradition, being an Elder and Reader in the Church of Scotland, at present attached to Camelon Parish Church, Falkirk. We are delighted to have Andrew on board and we look forward to seeing how his work develops in 2006. Andrew is willing to respond to requests anywhere in Scotland, so please invite him!

Lastly, I would like to thank the hard work done by the CAIRS committee during 2005. Extra work has been done by Jon as Treasurer and Isabel as Secretary.  Tom as Network Officer, as ever, has been an absolute star. My thanks to you all.

Dominic Ind
Convener