Peter Colwell's Blog (13)

What follows is the text of a presentation given at the National Meeting of the Inter Faith Network for the UK on the 12th July 2012:

 

"Professor Paul Fiddes in one of his books tells the story of an occasion when Archbishop William Temple was listening to a lecture when the person sitting next to him whispered “do you understand what he’s talking about?’ Temple replied ‘well, I understand perfectly what he is saying, but I don’t understand what he’s saying it…

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Inter faith dialogue used to be a suspect activity for many Christians. Those who engaged in dialogue with people of other faiths were suspected of engaging in syncretism, of compromising their beliefs for fear of offending other religions. That attitude has disappeared in recent years with more and more Christians convinced of the importance to build good relations with other faiths.

However the old suspicion has recently started to re-emerge but in a different guise. Global…

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Back in the summer of 2011 the Churches Inter-Religous Network held a consultation on the subject of Jewish-Christian relations. The Jewish-Christian encounter is probably the original inter-faith dialogue, at least from the Christian point of view. It is also the one with its own very distinctive issues, not least a common heritage but also centuries of anti-Semitism.



The Holocaust/Shoah has been one of (possibly THE most) defining issues of Jewish-Christian relations since 1945.… Continue

So, following on from my previous post – what have been the

genuine outcomes of inter faith relations over the past 10 years? In my humble

opinion it has undoubtedly been Christian-Muslim relations. Although there have

been countless attempts to present a contrary image the last 10 years has an

unsung story of Muslims and Christians trying their hardest to avert mistrust

between their different communities.

It did not feel like that at times however!…

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“9/11 was a real God-send to us!” So said an enthusiastic

visitor from the United States to me as he described an inter faith initiative

in his home city. I suppose words got in the way of what he meant! However, he

did have a point even if he didn’t mean to express gratitude for 9/11: the

events in New York 10 years ago this weekend did result in a good deal of

traction for inter faith relations. After 9/11 it was much easier to make the

case and politicians and…

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September 11^th 2001: I was barely 6 months into a Special Category Ministry in the United Reformed Church for Inter Faith relations in West London. As I watched the scenes in New York unfold it was clear that my job was going to change. And so it did. But how so?

 

At the time we were talking about a clash of civilizations, the radicalisation of the young, people living ‘separate lives’ and we feared for our own society. Osama bin Laden and his violent, paranoid…

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Following the killing of Osama bin Laden, the Muslim Council of Britain issued a press release which I thought would be useful to share more widely on CT Connect. Let us remember that this man never spoke or acted for the overwhelming majority of Muslims:

 

Now Let the Healing…

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Those of us working towards the creation of  Christian-Hindu Forum received this Easter Greeting from one of our Hindu Colleagues. I thought this was something worth sharing:

 

"There is a powerful message in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and His subsequent Rising. On Easter morning, ‘on the…

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In recent days I attended a small ecumenical meeting where all the participants were white and male (they might even have been entirely clergy). I was reminded of the scene in the comedy series “Yes Minister” when Sir Humphrey and his fellow Permanent Secretaries (all middle-aged, Oxbridge educated, white, men) declare themselves to be a “real cross section of the nation”!

 

What surprised me however was how uncomfortable I (ordained, white, man) felt in such exclusive company.…

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In today’s news there is the story that Liverpool City Council has told the Government that it will no longer participate in the “Big Society” -…

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“Babi Yar” is a ravine close to the city of Kiev and is one of the most notorious places in the story of Shoah/Holocaust. In a single operation it is thought that 33,771 Jews were slaughtered by the Nazis. In addition Russian prisoners of war, Romani and Ukrainian nationalists also met their…

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As anyone who has spent any amount of time in Christian-Muslim dialogue knows, “unity” is a very important concept in Islam. Muslims will often emphasis the Unity of the House of Islam. A simply internet search of the words “unity” and “Islam” show how important it is for Muslims to affirm…

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“The Week of Prayer for Christian for Christian Unity” brings what has now become an inevitable question. Is Christian unity still to goal of ecumenism? Is not “inter faith” now the new ecumenism?

 

For many, the main purpose of Christian ecumenism was to address the old enmities of the past that led Christian Europe to tear itself apart, to torture and kill, to exclude from the workplace, the school, the public square, people who were not of “my religious tribe”.…

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