I was reading a social media post on a local Interfaith organisation’s page recently. I had the honour of representing the Interfaith Network on a visit to one of their Interfaith week events a number of years ago and have been following them ever since. Every year they hold an event that involves an interfaith walk, visiting the places of worship in the area and the specific post was sharing some of those visits. That particular post happened to be focusing on visits to some of the minority faith communities, illustrating the wonderful welcome, great hospitality and strong bonds of unity that have been forged over the years. One of the comments on the post challenged the omission of Christian places of worship in the opening post, given that ‘we’re a Christian country’. It was sad to see, and missed the point that there were a series of posts being made that showed different parts of the event, including visits to Christian places of worship. The tone of the comment seemed to be trying to create an impression of division, something we sadly see quite often in politics today. So I was pleased to read the response to that comment from the Interfaith group. It went into some detail outlining the bonds of friendship between all of the faith communities, including the Christian community, and how those bonds of friendship helped all the faith communities to stand united in the face of attempts to divide, that politicians and governments come and go, but the communities they’re intended to serve remain and the faith communities are, for many, an important aspect of the communities being served.
Interfaith work is one of those areas of work where our communities overtly connect with wider society, including where other faith communities intersect with wider society. Through conversation and through shared actions, interfaith work enables those involved to gain insights into one another and to build a shared sense of belonging and collective community.
Many faith communities engage in work that serves and supports wider society, people beyond their own faith community. This became particularly apparent during the Covid pandemic where many faith communities provided both practical support in terms of food, safe spaces and practical information to help members of society manage, and support for mental health in terms of networking and providing access to spiritual guidance online. The strong friendships built between faith communities through interfaith work meant that frequently faith communities would signpost to one another where support they weren’t able to provide could be found.
There is a human incentive to provide support for community, particularly for the vulnerable, and it should come as no surprise that faith communities exhibit that kind of support.
Christian communities can be seen to engage in charity work, action on poverty, street pastors looking out for the vulnerable in the streets and working with the homeless. There’s lots of collaborative work with other Christian denominations and other faiths on civic projects, an historic and ongoing dedication to education, and, of course, Interfaith; Jewish communities engage in charity work, Mitzvah day being an annual day encouraging charity work, there’s the Jewish volunteering network, work with other faiths on collaborative civic projects, work with Education, and Interfaith; Muslim communities engage in charity work (Charity giving is one of the five pillars of Islam), collaboration with others on civic projects, relief work, education and Interfaith; Sikh communities engage in lots of charity work including Langar community kitchens, Khalsa aid humanitarian relief works all over the world including the UK, Sikhs engage in collaborative work with other faiths on civic projects, and are active in Interfaith work and Education. Other faith communities also provide support for community within their capacity to do so.
I often find myself thinking on what might we Pagans bring to wider society in keeping with Pagan worldviews (given the challenges we’ve experienced in being openly part of society through prejudice, misinformation and even past legal status as mentioned in my blog last month)? We’re a very small but widely dispersed community. I’m aware that Pagan events often raise money for good causes- environmental or animal charities, health charities etc. We engage in advocacy, not just for Pagans, but for others experiencing human rights challenges too, plus Interfaith work and education. We also join in collaboration with other faiths on civic projects, supporting food banks, work with the homeless, conservation efforts in the local environment and more. So despite the small size of the Pagan community and the challenges we’ve faced and to a certain extent still face, the Pagan community plays an active part in providing support for community beyond just the Pagan community. I feel that is sometimes not well known, but perhaps that is something we can build upon, particularly through Interfaith. After all, we belong as part of wider society, and we’re all much stronger and more resilient when we’re united.
Mike Stygal
Belief and Education Officer
Contact Mike here