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The Bridge
November 2008, Issue No. 36
The Journal of the Churches' Agency for Inter Faith Relations in Scotland
November 20, 2008
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CAIRS Event
Thursday, March, 4, 2009, 10.30am - 4.00pm
Nurturing our Children in Faith
Who should be responsible for nurturing our children in faith? Home? Church or Temple, Mosque or Synagogue? School? Is nurture different from education? Four speakers from the Muslim, Sikh, Jewish, and Christian faiths with experience in this area will lead the day.
An inter-faith event in Scottish Churches' House, Dunblane, as part of Meeting Points, A monthly series of day events at Scottish Churches House seeking to bring together people from different spheres of life and belief to engage on issues which are having significant impact on individuals, churches, other faiths and society at large. Each event will engage participants through informed speakers and inter-active discussion.
Further details in due course.
A Prayer for Scottish Inter Faith Week
This prayer is an adaptation of one that appeared in the September edition of Life and Work. I offer it for inclusion in your prayers during Scottish Inter Faith Week, which runs from Sunday, November 23 to Sunday 30 November 30, 2008.
Millions believe that there is one God,
but find it difficult to respect other peoples' worship traditions.
May there be honest recognition of differences
and openness to each other's voices,
so that dialogue rather than dispute becomes the language of our diversity.
Millions live on one planet,
but find it impossible to share its wealth and power fairly.
May there be compassion for children old before their time
and for women and men without power over their lives.
May there be revelation for those oppressed by affluence
who have accumulated everything and lost so much along the way.
May there be justice and right relationships
that may lead to all being able to live life to the full.
Millions live in families and communities
but experience only betrayal, suspicion and fear.
May those whose story is pain and loss,
and those who love them and feel helpless before their suffering,
find restoration, healing and hope.
As Christians may we find this in the transforming Gospel of Christ.
May we, as disciples of Christ, seek to practise
His message of love of God
and peace between communities.
May we, as Christians, seek to live and work
in harmony with all our brothers and sisters.
However people express their faith in God,
may we trust that God hears the prayers of all.
May we all seek to love each one of our neighbours
without discrimination or prejudice,
as Jesus called all to do.
Amen
Reproduced by kind permission of the editor of Life and Work.
Advent Prayers for Bethlehem
As many Christians around the world prepare to celebrate Advent and Christmas in the security of their homes and communities, they are being invited to pray for justice, peace and security for Palestine and Israel - and to send a prayer or a peace message to Bethlehem.
Once again this year, Christmas celebrations will take place in a difficult climate for people in the Holy Land. However, in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, many individuals and groups refuse to give up hope. They continue to search for non-violent ways to voice their rights and work for a peaceful and just future for both Palestinians and Israelis.
Since December 2000, a new Christmas tradition has been taking shape: sending peace messages to people in Bethlehem. Once again, individuals, communities, churches and congregations, organisations and partners from across the world are invited to e-mail Advent and Christmas wishes and prayers for justice and peace to Bethlehem.
This year, the project is being carried out in collaboration with the World Council of Churches and its Palestine Israel Ecumenical Forum (PIEF). Wishes and prayers will be printed and handed out as personal messages, educational materials (e.g. at schools), and in the context of interfaith prayers (in places of worship) and in the newly established peace house of the Arab Educational Institute opposite the Israeli "separation wall" at Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem. The wishes and prayers could also include ideas for non-violent actions. The action will be launched at the beginning of Advent.
Sending a wish or a prayer by e-mail is an important way of communicating with many people who long to hear a word of hope. People in Bethlehem greatly appreciate receiving wishes and prayers from people outside the region, both as personal and spiritual gestures of comfort and hope on the occasion of Christmas. These messages are one way of breaking through the isolation they live in.
Please e-mail your Christmas messages and prayers for peace before the 25th of December 2008 (Western Christmas) and/or the 7th of January 2009 (Eastern Christmas). While English is the preferred language, non-native English speakers may also send wishes and prayers in their mother tongue. Messages can be e-mailed to the Arab Educational Institute.
Read all messages at the AEI or Pax Christi
WCC News, Nov.18
The Elevenths
David Jackson reflects on monthly prayers for peace in Bradford since September 2002
On the eleventh of each month from September 2002 - the first anniversary of the sad terrorist events in America - people of different faiths in Bradford have gathered from their different traditions to pray for peace and share a meal. The meeting of September 2008 was therefore the 73rd such meeting. This personal reflection arises from the fact that for the last 7 11ths of September up to my 70th birthday on September 11th 2008, I have had the privilege and delight of celebrating my own birthday with this gathering of friends from different faiths.
When I am asked to say something about our 'elevenths of the month' I try and give a flavour of what happens - and invariably fail to convey what they mean for me, not just the one each September which marks my own birthday but all of them. I suspect they mean something like this for all who come along to them.
Archbishop Rowan Williams said something like, "The truest way to understand interfaith relations is to be alongside someone when they pray to their God - to observe the eyes of the one whose gaze is directed towards God." The most significant regular reminder of the innate goodness of people, their ability to change arising out of their religious convictions and their ability to choose the good out of that change, comes to me from the experience of attending the 11ths of the month. If you want an illustration of the way in which religious conviction, far from drawing human beings apart actually draws them together in one of the profoundest ways open to us, then the 11ths provide it. Here we share a deep and heart-felt desire, expressed in words directed out from us to God - conceived in the myriad different ways of individuals interpreting the revelations, calls and invitations of their own religious traditions - words which live and take on meanings not shared by all but arising from our differences in belief - which do share one motive and desire of the heart - that all live in peace. So solitary human beings stand in solidarity and express in their different ways of prayer and reflection, their common human desire and passion that peace may prevail in a world too often scarred by violence and the unimaginable violation of human dignity and goodness. We experience on the 11ths - which are always different in exact theme and tone - the same spirit of human yearning for the peace which means human fulfilment, flowering, beatitude in the fullest sense - for all, everywhere, at all times. This is placed in the context of folk who are supreme realists and who would want not utopia but who, outside the meeting for prayer, often are engaged in the humdrum work of building peace locally and further afield. We say "we do not pray together but we do come together to pray". Prayer occupies subtly different places in each religion. There can be no such thing as a sort of common denominator prayer - a one prayer fits all type of thing. There can be variations and varieties of prayer - each variety true to its rootage in its own tradition - played on a shared theme, that of the desire for peace. It is not as if the different religions play different notes and the notes make up an orchestral composition - though if the score is entitled 'variations on a theme of peace' played on the instruments of the orchestras of the world's religions - you get somewhere near what it is like. I do not argue for the coming together of the world's religions. I do argue for the coming together of the people of the world's religions in the name of the desire for peace to pray for peace. So we listen in silence to and with silence surrounding the prayers from the different religions for peace. The silence is of respect and appreciation not as much for the words (they often cannot bear the weight of the emotion) but for what is not spoken - the yearning which each prayer betokens - for peace to come. So we experience what it means to belong to one family with one yearning desire.
In my own simple way, I think that heaven will consist in all peoples having been created up into being a prayer for thanks and praise for peace realised. There will have come an end to boundaries and barriers and differences of belief, culture and nation. The 11ths of the month are a 'sacrament' (an outward sign and demonstration of the inward unity in love and therefore in God) of our shared humanity. I rejoice that on the 11th of September each year I can enter this totally human and totally unpretentious expression of my own humanity on my birthday and share this with all those others who also share birth and life with me. And this blessing is available on the 11th of every month. It's wonderful!
CTE News, Nov.2008
Other Events
including details for Scottish Inter Faith Week, November 23 to 30, can be found on the Events page
Building Bridges with Judaism
Pope recalls 'sad' memory of Kristallnacht
Pope Benedict XVI has remarked that the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht recalls "those sad events which befell on the night of November 9-10, 1938, when Nazi fury was unleashed against the Jews in Germany. Pope Benedict XVI has remarked that the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht recalls "those sad events which befell on the night of November 9-10, 1938, when Nazi fury was unleashed against the Jews in Germany.
"Shops, offices, houses and synagogues were attacked and destroyed", he added, "and many people were killed, thus beginning that violent and systematic persecution of the German Jews which concluded with the Shoah. Even today I still suffer for what happened in those tragic circumstances, the memory of which must serve to ensure that such horrors never happen again and that, at all levels, we undertake to oppose all forms of anti-Semitism and discrimination, educating, especially the young generations, in respect and mutual acceptance. Moreover, I invite people to pray for the victims of that time and to join me in expressing profound solidarity with the Jewish world".
Religious Intelligence, Nov.11
The Name of God
Rt Revd Arthur Roche, RC Bishop of Leeds, has issued a statement regarding the use of the Name of God. It serves as a reminder to all Christians that far from being inclusive to refer to God as Yahweh, it is deeply offensive to many Jews for anyone to do so. Where the Hebrew Bible refers includes YHWH, Yahweh, or Jehovah, it is more fitting to translate this as LORD. The Bishop's statement reminds us that this is not just a matter for Bible readings, but also for prayer and hymn-writing.
Independent Catholic News, Nov.18
Building Bridges with Islam
Ecumenical Consultation demarcates common ground for dialogue with Islam
Christian communities should improve their knowledge of Islam, be good neighbours to Muslims and bear witness to their faith in an appropriate manner, according to an international group of church leaders and experts on Christian-Muslim dialogue.
These were some of the recommendations put forward at an October consultation aimed at developing an ecumenical Christian theological understanding of dialogue with Islam. Convened by the World Council of Churches (WCC), it gathered some fifty church leaders and experts on Christian-Muslim dialogue outside Geneva.
Participants acknowledged a history of "mixed" relationships between Christians and Muslims, with both positive and negative dimensions. On their part, Christians have seen Muslims both as friend and rival, neighbour and stranger.
However, participants agreed, Christianity teaches to love the neighbour regardless of race, gender or religion. Even more, Christian self-understanding is challenged and deepened through relationships with Muslims, while Christians themselves are renewed by entering into dialogue with them.
WCC News, Oct.22
Pope in call for wider Christian-Muslim dialogue
Developments in Christian-Muslim talks should be shared with the faithful, and not restricted to the experts, Pope Benedict has said.
In his English-language remarks to the First Seminar of the Catholic-Muslim Forum, the Pope noted that the open letter "has received numerous responses, and has given rise to dialogue, specific initiatives and meetings, aimed at helping us to know one another more deeply and to grow in esteem for our shared values. The great interest which the present seminar has awakened is an incentive for us to ensure that the reflections and the positive developments which emerge from Muslim-Christian dialogue are not limited to a small group of experts and scholars, but are passed on as a precious legacy to be placed at the service of all, to bear fruit in the way we live each day".
The Pontiff pointed out that the theme chosen for the meeting, "Love of God, Love of Neighbour: The Dignity of the Human Person and Mutual Respect", highlights "even more clearly the theological and spiritual foundations of a central teaching of our respective religions. ... Our calling and mission is to share freely with others the love which God lavishes upon us without any merit of our own".
Let us unite our efforts, animated by good will, in order to overcome all misunderstanding and disagreements", Pope Benedict concluded. "Let us resolve to overcome past prejudices and to correct the often distorted images of the other which even today can create difficulties in our relations; let us work with one another to educate all people, especially the young, to build a common future".
Religious Intelligence, Nov.7
The full statement, "Called to be Instruments of Love and Harmony" can be read at Zenit, Nov.6
Sharia courts set to bring Muslim law to bear in Scottish cities
Secret talks are under way to bring Islamic sharia law courts to Scotland, The Scotsman has learned. Qamar Bhatti, director of the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal (MAT), which runs the courts, admitted discussions were taking place with lawyers and Muslim community groups in Scotland. The group is believed to be aiming to set up courts in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
The Scotsman, Oct.9
Church of Scotland backs Islamic sharia law courts
The Church of Scotland last night welcomed the possibility of introducing sharia law courts in Scotland. Rev Ian Galloway, convener of the Church and Society Council, said sharia courts had been unfairly portrayed following the Archbishop of Canterbury's comments in February that it "seems unavoidable" that parts of Islamic sharia law would be adopted in the UK. Yesterday, The Scotsman revealed the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal, based in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, was holding secret talks with lawyers and community groups about setting up sharia courts north of the Border.
The Scotsman, Oct.10
Hysteria over 'sharia courts' in Scotland is unjustified
The readers reactions: One's ears prick at the hysterical discord that surrounds the issue of sharia law...
The Scotsman, Oct.13
Sharia rulings 'can go to courts' in England & Wales
Justice Minister Bridget Prentice said judges would scrutinise sharia rulings Decisions made under Islamic sharia law can be accepted by English and Welsh family courts, a minister has confirmed.
Sharia, a set of principles governing the way many Muslims believe they should live, is not legally binding. But rulings passed on separating couples by a sharia council can be "rubber stamped" by the courts, said justice minister Bridget Prentice. She clarified the situation in a written answer to MPs, stressing that English family law would still apply.
BBC News, Oct 25
Relations with people of other faiths
The November issue features information on the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca that is one of the five pillars if Islam.
Church of Scotland Extranet
Muslim leader says youth need more time to integrate
Scotland's first Muslim youth development officer has called for changes to the intensive after-school system of teaching school children about Islam, amid fears that it leaves them with little time to integrate with their non-Muslim peers. Faisal Hussein, 27, last week took up the full-time role with the government-backed Scottish Islamic Foundation (SIF) and his aim is to support and extend the support for young Muslims by working with community groups and mosques. Hussein will launch a study into the provision of Madressahs - the Islamic voluntary-run education system - after conceding the intensive after-school lessons led by imams at mosques and family homes leave young people with too little time for community activities which are a key part of integration.
Sunday Herald, Oct 18
Professor Mona Siddiqui gives Pope Paul VI Lecture
History was made on Friday when Professor Mona Siddiqui, became the first Muslim to give the annual Pope Paul VI lecture, in the Emmanuel Centre, Westminster. She spoke on the subject of charity and the Qur'an.
The Qur'an teaches us that charity is faithful obedience to what God commands turning compassion into action.
The Qur'an knows that charity can too easily bear its own reward, in that the giver is seen and praised as a person of means who is nevertheless bountiful to the poor. The true charity proposed by the Qur'an should be performed as faithful obedience to what God commands. As such, it need be seen by no one but God. Thus, in a passage reminiscent of Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount on giving alms, the Qur'an teaches: "If you give sadaqa (alms) openly, that is good, but if you conceal it and give it [directly] to the poor, that is better for you" (verse 2:271). Giving and praying keep God alive in our hearts.
A fuller summary of the lecture can be found in Independent Catholic News, Nov.17
Indian Muslim leaders resolve to fight terrorism
More than 6,000 Muslim clerics from across India met in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh today and endorsed the fatwa (diktat) against terrorism issued by an Islamic seminary earlier this year, saying there was no place for terrorism in Islam.
A leading Muslim and member of parliament, Moulana Mahmood Madani, said that there was no place for terrorism in Islam, "terrorism can not be spread in the name of Islam nor Quran has permitted it."
Religious Intelligence, Nov.9
Building Bridges with Buddhism
Sri Lanka's Buddhist leaders have mixed views on resolving ethnic conflict
Leaders of Sri Lanka's Buddhist majority expressed divergent views on resolving the ethnic conflict in their country, while speaking to a delegation led by Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, general secretary of the World Council of Churches.
"Our concerns are very much the same as yours," said Dr Ittapana Dhammalankara Anunayaka Maha Thera, chairperson of the Conference of Religions. He made the remark on 20 October when a five member delegation led by Kobia visited the organization's offices at the Buddhist monastery of Narahenpita in Colombo. "
The problem [violence/terrorism] is unresolved because people do not listen to or obey the teachings of religion. We will continue to work with those religious leaders who are open to non-violent methods of achieving social change, and who are willing to seek political rather than military solutions." the WCC delegation was told.
WCC News, Oct.24
Building Bridges with Hinduism
"Christians and Hindus: Together in favour of Non-violence"
In his message issued to recognise the Hindu (and Sikh) festival of Diwali, Cardinal Tauran, President of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue, encourages joint reflection on non-violence. He writes, "I would like to propose then considering together how we can live harmoniously in today's society, witnessing to the truth, light and hope that Diwali celebrates. While religions are often blamed for society's ills, we know that it is rather the manipulation of religion, contrary to its fundamental beliefs, that is used to carry out so many forms of violence."
Vatican, Oct.28
Archbishop sends message of reconciliation to Hindus for Diwali
Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams has sent an annual message to Hindu communities in Britain for Diwali, the 'festival of lights', which is also marked by Sikhs and celebrates the victory of good over evil and hope over despair.
In his message Dr Williams expresses his hope for 'reconciliation where there has been division and hurt', for 'peace and the rejection of all resort to violence' and the appreciation and enjoyment of each other's festivals 'as a common sign to the world of our commitment to mutual goodwill and faith in each other.
Ekklesia, Nov.2
Building Bridges Together
Interfaith unity urged on campus
A cross-party group of Jewish and Muslim MPs are beginning a tour of English universities to promote better interfaith relations between students. It aims to highlight similarities in the histories of the two communities and encourage unity in the face of the prejudice that both have suffered. The tour will visit London, Birmingham, Leeds, Oxford and Cambridge.
BBC News, Nov 3
The Faiths Act Fellowship will empower thirty religiously diverse and exceptional young leaders from the US, UK and Canada to serve as inter-religious ambassadors for the Millennium Development Goals and the fight to eradicate deaths due to malaria. In August, 2009 these young leaders will embark together on a 10 month journey of interfaith service. Training begins with a 2 month intensive initiative that includes training in London and Chicago and fieldwork with primary health care partners in Africa. Fellows will return to their home countries for 8 months to mobilize young people of faith to raise awareness and resources to promote the Millennium Development Goals with a particular focus on fighting deaths due to malaria. This programme is a partnership initiative between Interfaith Youth Core and the Tony Blair Faith Foundation. It should be an incredible opportunity and equip these young people with a wide portfolio of skills and experience to go forward and achieve whatever they would like to in the future. They are now seeking applications from potential Fellows and potential host organizations in the US, UK and Canada.
The closing date for applications is mid January.
Further details from Susie McShane, or the foundation website.
The Interfaith Manual
At a Religious Diversity Day seminar at the University of California at Irvine, "The Interfaith Manual" was selected as the book of choice by the professors from the various UC campuses teaching Interfaith and Comparative Religion. The author, Rev Dr Stephen L Albert, is seeking expand the awareness of the manual being available to other colleges, universities and interfaith groups.
Explore what 12 faiths believe about 40 different areas of life. Written by a New Thought Minister and edited by Clergy from all 12 faiths. Pre-Publisher Run Now Available for a LIMITED TIME ONLY!
Full details.
Obstructions to Bridge Building
Aid worker beheaded for converting to Christianity
Among at least 24 aid workers killed in Somalia this year was one who was beheaded last month specifically for converting from Islam to Christianity, among other charges, according to an eyewitness. According to Compass News, Muslim extremists from the al Shabab group fighting the transitional government on Sept 23 sliced the head off of Mansuur Mohammed, 25, a World Food Program (WFP) worker, before horrified onlookers of Manyafulka village, 10 kilometers (six miles) from Baidoa.
Reports say that the militants had intercepted Mohammed and a WFP driver, who managed to escape, earlier in the morning. Sources close to Mohammed's family said he converted from Islam to Christianity in 2005. The eyewitness, who requested anonymity for security reasons, said the militants that afternoon gathered the villagers of Manyafulka, telling them that they would prepare a feast for them.
Five masked men emerged, carrying guns, wielding Somali swords and dragging the handcuffed Mohammed. One recited the Quran as he proclaimed that Mohammed was a "murtid," an Arabic term for one who converts from Islam to Christianity. Mohammed remained calm with an expressionless face, never uttering a word, said the eyewitness.
Religious Intelligence, Oct.29
Move to ban Christmas backfires
Jewish and Muslim leaders in Oxford, England, have criticized a Council decision to rename Christmas celebrations as their ''Winter Light Festival' in a bid to be inclusive. But the effort has backfired as Muslim leaders have described the decision as 'ludicrous'.
Sabir Hussain Mirza, chairman of the Muslim Council of Oxford, said: "This is the one occasion which everyone looks forward to in the year.
Christians, Muslims and other religions all look forward to Christmas. I'm angry and very, very disappointed. Christmas is special and we shouldn't ignore it. Christian people should be offended and 99 per cent of people will be against this. Christmas is part of being British."
Rabbi Eli Bracknell, who teaches at the Jewish Educational Centre, said: "It's important to maintain a traditional British Christmas. Anything that waters down traditional culture and Christianity in the UK is not positive for the British identity."
But the move was defended by the charity Oxford Inspires, which was behind the move. Their spokesperson Tei Williams said: "In Oxfordshire we have Winter Light which is a whole festival spanning two months. Within that will be Christmas carol services."
Religious Intelligence, Nov.3
Muslim convert criticizes cardinal, says terrorism is 'mature fruit of Islam'
Magdi Allam, the Muslim journalist who converted to Catholicism and was baptized by Pope Benedict during the Easter Vigil, has issued an open letter to the pontiff in which he criticizes recent comments about Islam made by Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. Cardinal Tauran said in August that Muslims who engage in violence have 'betrayed their faith.'
Allam, the vice editor of Italy's leading national newspaper, replies that 'Islamic extremism and terrorism are the mature fruit' of 'the sayings of the Quran and the thought and action of Mohammed.' In his open letter, Mr. Allam asks Pope Benedict to rule definitively on whether Islam is a valid religion, saying that a papal statement on the question is 'vital for the common good of the Catholic Church, the general interest of Christianity and of Western civilization itself.'
Catholic Culture, Oct.30
Other News
One in four children bullied because of religion
One in four young people from across all religions are being bullied because of their religious beliefs.
The findings, in a report from Beatbullying, will contribute to concerns that faith schools are fuelling serration on the basis of faith. The report also addressed the bullying of atheists.
"There is little or no support, few outlets and limited provision provided for young people to talk about their faith. Almost half of young people do not talk about religious or faith issues at all" the report says.
Beatbullying runs Interfaith bullying prevention programmes, funded by the Government, to divert the behaviour of those using faith as a reason to bully their peers.
Beatbullying Interfaith report, (pdf, 511Kb)
Ekklesia, Nov.17
Blasphemy law is dropped in Netherlands
Blasphemy will no longer be a crime in the Netherlands, the Dutch government announced last week. On Nov 1 Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin said the country's coalition government would repeal a 1930s blasphemy law in favour of strengthening the current anti-discrimination legislation.
The push to reform the blasphemy laws comes in response to heightened tensions with the Netherland's Muslim minority. Criticism of Islamists and Islam by comedians, cartoonists, filmmakers and politicians has led to threats of prosecution for offending Muslim sensibilities.
Religious Intelligence, Nov.9
Preachers of Pluralism
For all the state rhetoric, the path of politicised British Muslims is rarely extremist, but progressive
Jacqui Smith's announcement of tougher measures to exclude "preachers of hate" is the latest in a series of initiatives to prevent young British Muslims turning to violent extremism. A mushrooming array of guidelines for schools, colleges and councils emphasises the need to challenge the narrative al-Qaida uses to attract recruits.
These guidelines do nothing to challenge the dominant narrative by which violent extremism is commonly explained, a narrative that sees even peaceful groups as transmission belts on which insecure Muslims are shuffled towards violence. However, there is a very different narrative of British Islam, which the government is less keen to talk about. There is a reason for that. The dominant story is of a second generation who grew up in the Paki-bashing 80s and suffered a profound identity crisis on reaching adulthood. Torn between the culturally based Islam of their families and the pressures of contemporary society, these Muslims proved easy prey for radicalisation by exiled clerics from hardline groups, who presented a narrative of historical oppression going back to the Crusades.
David Edgar writing in The Guardian Comment is Free, Oct 29
Muslim group bids to build East Lothian's first mosque
A bid is being launched to build the first mosque in East Lothian. Asian community leaders are set to meet council officials to discuss finding a suitable site or building that could be converted. More than 100 Muslim families from across the county currently have to travel to Edinburgh for prayers at least once a week. There are seven mosques in the city, and three in West Lothian, but none in East or Midlothian.
Jalal Chaudry, the East Lothian Ethnic Minority Forum's vice president, said members planned to meet local councillors and officials to discuss the idea. He said: "Almost every council area has its own mosque, but we don't have any. We're supposed to pray five times a day, preferably in a mosque. Even if that's not possible, we should at least go for Friday prayers. The problem is, people in East Lothian have to close their shop or leave work for two or three hours and travel to Edinburgh. There are also quite a few people who live in Edinburgh, but work in East Lothian. We also need to teach our children their religious education. Usually children go after school, or on a Saturday, but at the moment they have quite a long journey."
Evening News, Oct.18
_______________________________________________________________________
The next issue of The Bridge will be published on December 16, 2008.
Items for inclusion should reach me by December 15.
Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of CAIRS unless otherwise specifically stated. Most news items are links to other news sources, for which CAIRS accepts no liability for accuracy.
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Andrew Sarle
CAIRS Inter Faith Education Officer
andrew@cairs.org.uk
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