Publication date: 30 April 2008

Extracts from 'Am I Bothered? Spiritual Wisdom in a Complex Age', by Canon Frances Ward

It?s a brilliant catchphrase ? Catherine Tate?s character Lauren Cooper captures the zeitgeist perfectly ? the teenager who covers up her own inadequacies, and wriggles out of awkward situations by posturing apathy: ?am I bovvered?? Look at my face. Is my face bovvered?? Even Tony Blair has been known to ask it. For all his faults, apathy is not one of them: after all, Blair?s just embarking upon a new Faith Foundation. Good luck to Tony.

Britain today owes an immense amount to the positive shaping of the Christian faith. Of course, it?s gone wrong at times ... but health and education, music, literature and art all adds up to a rich cultural heritage which at its best values an open public space, debate, equality, free speech, respect, humour. Today the most valuable role that religion can play is by providing a critical voice; to challenge the powers that be; an ongoing involvement of religion in political and public space: religion which looks at that long tradition of prophecy that stretches back through each of our faiths, through the Prophet, through Jesus, to Isaiah, to Amos; a prophetic faith that is not identified with political power but which holds it to a higher account.

How do we distinguish between what is good about the cultures in which we are embedded, and what needs to be critiqued and changed, so that we grow into a fuller humanity, transcending the limits of our current existence? Religion offers a tremendous amount to this fundamental question, and we need to be talking more, from our different traditions, drawing upon the wisdom of our texts and resources to offer the world something to provoke change for the better. What we mustn?t do is use our faith, to entrench the worst of our cultural identities into a defensive, aggressive stance that closes down engagement with our neighbour and with God.

I don't think it's surprising that policy makers aren't that bothered about religions and faith communities. It seems to me that we're missing a trick, particularly from the so-called Abrahamic faiths - Judaism, Islam, Christianity - who have offered so much historically to the development of society and civilisation. We are more often than not left out of the equation of policy makers. Why? Because many people perceive us to be more trouble than we're worth: that we come with an agenda; that we are all divided; that faith is just a problem.

Are policy makers bothered about faith? On the whole, not. Can you blame them? especially when people of faith retreat from engaged dialogue to shouting their own certainties even louder, or into a sort of pietism that disengages with critical dialogue. We are not perceived as viable conversation partners and so we are not contributing to the creation of innovative intercultural societies. Only when we?ve done some proper work together on developing a common understanding can we begin to speak into the political arena with a voice or a range of voices that can be heard. We need as people of different faiths to be able to offer guidance to the world showing that each of our religions comes with different resources that can inform debate and build a richer and deeper society for all  citizens. To do that, we need first to be talking to each other in a lot more depth, exploring what we have in common, recognising and working with what is different between us.

I'm increasingly convinced that friendship offers the means for us to develop the trust required to be honest and brave about what it means to be human in a complex world. On the basis of growing, altruistic friendships between people of faith, friendship that can face and deal with differences, even disagreements, we can find our common ground in the God who draws us onwards towards a better world. Then we can engage much more credibly and meaningfully in the world of the 21st Century, contributing from the wisdom of our faith traditions real insight and spiritual guidance to a world hungry for people who are bothered.

Read the full text here Frances_Ward.pdf

Extracts from 'Baring the soul, an honest reflection of the primordial light', by Ahtsham Ali

Ahtsham opened up Islam as an inclusive religion focused on what really matters. He quoted a tradition of  Muhammad that 'there are many who pray and gain nothing but tired limbs'. He went on to say that Jesus was sent to put the spirit into religion and that Muhammad warned his followers to have the same outlook as Jesus.

He offered a number of ways in which Islam is open to everybody and has a positive message for everyone, not just for Muslims - 'everything is the creation of God, if you truly love God you will love God's handiwork, the more you love God, the more you love people.' The shared story of human origins in Jewish, Christian and Muslim scriptures tells us that we all come from one source, we are one family. Muhammad said that we are all equal like teeth on a comb and part of his mission was to destroy divisive tribalism.

The religions of the world, though different have been ordained by God, he told us that he couldn't avoid using the 'S-word': 'each group has its own shari'ah (or 'path'). He said that he felt sorry for the Archbishop, 'shari'ah is about the protection of all citizens, basic human rights, if you're against shari'ah you're against Britain!' (said with tongue in cheek). Being a Muslim is about recognising that everyone comes from God, Muslims are asked to be those who strive for peace, those from whom all are safe. The prophets which God has sent to every nation are common threads tying all communities together.

But maybe his most important point was about chilling out, we can get wrapped up in the question of which religion is right, but God says in the Qur'an (paraphrasing) - 'I will tell you who is right'. All God expects of us is to trust in God, chill out, and do our best. And finally, do not be content with the status quo: 'no prophet ever said I'm sorry, I can't do anything with this people, I can't carry out my mission'. And what is our mission: 'we should celebrate each other, serious forces (such as the Far Right) are trying to separate us. The best thing about all countries is that they are multicultural.'

In his closing remarks he referred us to the words of Pastor Niemoller: "In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist; And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist; And then they came for the Jews, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew; And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up."  We have to stand up for each other.

Questions and Answers

Peter Tarleton: 'the building of peace is a process, we have to kiss and make up many times!'
Sajida Holmes: 'what are we doing about intra-faith dialogue?' Ahtsham: 'Let's do the easy one first!', but we can listen to each other doing intra-faith

What do we do next? 'Steps to Christian-Muslim utopia'

• Share good practice models of how to take faith into secular spaces
• work on inter-generational tensions
• develop counselling skills training for imams
• use the environment to get people involved
• think outside the box
• roll-out Inter Cultural and Communication Leadership Schools around the country
• work with the media to celebrate success

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