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The Bridge
March 2007, Issue No. 18
The Journal of the Churches' Agency for Inter Faith Relations in Scotland
March 13, 2007
Welcome to the new-look monthly journal. CAIRS seeks to enable Christians to build bridges into understanding people of other faiths. A bridge is a construction to provide a link between people, and this journal provides news of bridge-building that is already happening, and of opportunities for engaging in dialogue and in preparing oneself for better encounters with people of other faiths.
If you wish to be removed from the distribution list or to receive The Bridge in a different format in future, please let CAIRS know by e-mail.
The next issue of The Bridge will be published on April 19, 2007. Items for inclusion should reach me by April 17.
CAIRS Events:
In dialogue with Sikhism - April 24, 2007
Details, programme and registration arrangements for the next Christianity and Scotland's Other Faiths study day at Scottish Churches House can be downloaded as pdf files, or obtained from the Inter Faith Education Officer.
A report of the visit to Glasgow Reform Synagogue, written by one of the participants, Geoff Sage, can be found here.
Inter Faith News:
From Ecumenism to Interfaith? Revd Dr David Spriggs, Bible and Church Consultant with the Bible Society who is currently re-viewing the ecumenical journey of the past ten years for the Enabling Group of CTE, reflects on the relation between the ecumenical and inter-faith journeys. This article appeared in the Churches Together in England News for February 2007, and can be downloaded from their website in either word or pdf format
The address given by the Roman Catholic Primate of Ireland and Archbishop of Dublin, Most Rev Diarmuid Martin, at the Greenhills Ecumenical Conference, on January 22, 2007 contained the following:
A vision of inter-religious dialogue based on the human and spiritual unity of our origins and our destiny will obviously be focused on our contribution as believers to the quest for fundamental values. Believers from all religions in Ireland today are called in a special way to bring credible witness to the question about the meaning and purpose of life, for each individual, for Irish society and for humanity as a whole. A dialogue between all believers should aim to work together, so as to help society to open itself to the transcendent. We need dialogue on the academic and intellectual level where mutual knowledge of each other's teachings is explored and debated. We need to share our experts and form a generation of theologians who are acquainted with the views of different religions in their integrity. One lesson that has been learnt from the practice of inter-religious dialogue elsewhere is that there is a need to be rooted in one's faith. The sincerity of inter-religious dialogue requires that each enters into it with the integrity of his or her own faith. Those who have insufficient formation in their own faith are not the people best suited to expose themselves to inter-religious dialogue. The full text of Archbishop Martin's address can be read here.
EMBRACE Launch 'once we were strangers' CD Rom and 'Intercultural insights' booklet
The CD Rom consists of a collection of nine first-hand accounts of the experience of arriving and settling in Ireland. In addition there are Bible studies, reflections, discussion starters and group activities, which provide opportunities to consider the issues and how to best respond in welcome.
Alongside the CD, Dr Scott Boldt has written a booklet entitled 'Intercultural Insights - Christian reflections on racism, hospitality and identity from the island of Ireland'. This consists of 16 short pieces on the theme, suitable for personal reflection or use in sermons and talks, published under the aegis of the All-Ireland Churches' Consultative Meeting on Racism, part of the Irish Inter-Church Meeting.
Copies of both resources are available from the EMBRACE, 12 - 24 University Avenue, Belfast BT7 1GY, or phone Scott at 028 90 686933. Further information on EMBRACE can be found here.
In the latest issue of "coracle" , the Iona Community's magazine:
Sam Randall writes "from the holy city - living in the between" My Holy City is Bradford where I'm employed by the Anglican Diocese as:'The Bishop's Officer for Church in the World'. My responsibilities are:'to bring the external face of the Church into contact with events and issues in the community and the wider world'. The work is about partnerships and collaboration, and encouraging a Faith that is essentially participative, compassionate and dialogical. I am conscious of how ridiculous and even impossible my title is - but it's also wonderful. What shapes the work I do is of course this city, whose former Mill-town pre-eminence has long since gone. This city experiences many of the challenges and difficulties of any comparative urban community, but these are often complicated by its particular cultural, religious and social context.
Bungie and Helen Wass-O'Donnell write of their recent visit to the Middle East in "Lebanon at first Hand and Bikes of Hope"
There is also a tribute to William Montgomery Watt written by Richard Holloway. The issue can all be downloaded in pdf format from the Iona Community website.
Britain's new cultural divide is not between Christian and Muslim, Hindu and Jew. It is between those who have faith and those who do not. Stuart Jeffries reports on the vicious and uncompromising battle between believers and non-believers. You can read the article by Stuart Jeffries at
The Guardian, February 26, 2007.
Wearing of religious dress and symbols.
There has been renewed debate about the wearing in public of items of religious dress and religious symbols in Britain's religiously diverse society. A wide variety of views and concerned have been expressed, which have, at times, shown a lack of appreciation of the significance of the dress or symbols being worn. The Inter Faith Network has produced a set of notes in response to the debate, which will be placed on their website in due course.
Don't mistake healthy criticism of religion for racism.
Writing in The New Statesman, Agnès Poirier argues that we have to stop mistaking healthy criticism of religion for racism, and must not let discussion of immigration and security elbow out the more important debate on secularism and citizenship. Full article at
New Statesman, February 19, 2007.
YOU are the new superpower
Nancy Adams has passed on the following: "I urge you to watch this short video (link here) about perceptions of the clash between Islam and Western civilizations and decide if you are able to support this world wide campaign... and if so, please pass it on."
African inter-faith call to back vital Sudan peace process
After a visit to Sudan which included discussions with political and religious leaders in Khartoum and Juba, an African interfaith delegation has called on the international community to honour its political and financial pledges to sustain Sudan's peace process. The full article by Klaus Rieth, from the Evangelical Church in Wurttemberg, Germany, can be found at
Ekklesia, February 16, 2007.
US and Iranian religious leaders seek peaceful conflict resolution
Religious leaders from the US and Iran met yesterday in Tehran to discuss the importance of faith groups finding common ground in peacemaking, particularly in light of the growing political tensions between Wtstern countries and Iran over nuclear power and Middle East politics.
Ekklesia, February 21, 2007.
The latest Scottish Inter Faith Council Newsletter was published last month.
In this you will find reports of many of the events held during the 2006 Inter Faith Week. Copies can be obtained on request from the SIFC, 523 Shields Road, Glasgow G41 2RF, tel. 0141 420 6982, or e-mail.
The Commission of the European Union invites bids for funding projects that seek to promote the Prevention of Violent Radicalisation.
Projects involving Muslim-Christian dialogue could qualify for up to 85% support.
The deadline for the submission of proposals is April 16, 2007. Full details can be found here.
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