History

How do you make sense of different religions living cheek by jowl? Especially if some of them explicitly contradict one another? And sometimes conflict results? These are questions which people come gradually to live with – as often as not avoiding the awkward bits and living alongside one another as best they can, as in a number of the parts of the world which have been `religiously plural` for centuries. But having many religions in one place is a recent development in Britain – which was formerly Christian, with a small Jewish minority – and overall becoming ever more secular. Thus when, in the second half of the twentieth century, this was altered by population change, the resulting new religious plurality, coinciding with post colonial theological reflection, posed sharp questions. What sense do you make of being in a traditionally exclusivist missionary religion in a now many and non faith world? How does an established church – with a duty of care and engagement with those of all faiths and none, minister in a manifestly mixed faith context?

In London a report for the Diocese of London in 1984 began a process of reflection and action for the diocese on this. In the east part of the diocese the Bishop of Stepney (now Bishop of London) appointed an inter faith adviser – John Webber – in 1990, and then in 1995 in the west part of the diocese the Bishop of Willesden (now Bishop of Carlisle) appointed an inter faith adviser – Fergus Capie. John and Fergus then recommended that each Area of the Diocese should have an adviser on these issues – with a member of the Diocesan Senior Staff as a reference point – currently the Archdeacon of Northolt, The Ven Rachel Treweek. Fergus then suggested that a local ecumenical rebuild could include an inter faith component, and the rest as they say is history.

London Inter Faith Centre was opened in 1998 when the notion of inter faith was still new-ish within mainstream Christian life and Fergus pays tribute to the frontier work of others – such as Westminster Inter Faith. Heads of terms were established, defining inter faith as `faiths in encounter and the issues raised thereby`, with a working motto of `true to self and open to others`. Fergus headed up the work as Director and then the URC church in 2001 appointed The Revd Peter Colwell, who was Deputy Director until going to be Secretary for Inter Faith Relations for Churches Together in Britain and Ireland in 2006.

The Centre began its work in the late 90`s with a focus on the interface between action and reflection, to be found in daily lived local church life in active interaction with others of different faiths or of no religious faith. Since LIFC began – and post 911 and 7/7 – the huge proliferation of interfaith initiatives (see the list of those supported by LIFC) affirms the use and need of places of general mixed faith meeting (and the now ubiquitous `dialogue`) while also prompting any one initiative towards a particular focus. For LIFC this main focus remains the action-reflection meeting point of local mixed faith living, while it includes some other types of work and it fully supports those with another focus (such as a reflective focus, as with World Congress of Faiths, or peace-reconciliation work, as with World Conference of Religions for Peace and St Ethelburga`s, or the environment as in A Rocha, or prayer across the faiths, as in Week of Prayer for World Peace, and so on).
And while the inter faith momentum in the UK arose out of addressing issues to do with the major religions – there is a growing recognition of the significance of many further ideological strands and layers, including…

  • mixed faith identity (Muslim mother,Christian father,both practising their religion ,etc)
  • New Age influences
  • indigenous and reconstructionist traditions (indigenous Sami of northern Scandinavia or reconstructionist paganism of rural England)
  • various forms of secularism
  • implicit religion and its significance for individual and corporate identity

Fergus Capie is inclined to say that “In this country we have gone from `The Death of God` to `The Twilight of Atheism` in a remarkably short space of time”. Religion is fully back on the agenda – in private practice and in public policy. What sense can we make of that? Can we make sense of it together? Can we highlight what we have in common without underestimating the significance of what we do not? Can we live together in a single society rather than in a series of competing communities? Those and others are the sorts of questions LIFC is here to ask – and to ask them together with those of different faiths and of no apparent religious faith.