Breaking the mould
New styles of interfaith work by and with young people

Three Faiths Forum programme director, Rachel Heilbron, recently spoke at the Inter Faith Network’s national meeting. This is an abbreviated version of that speech.

It is now the fourth year of the Three Faiths Forum’s range of programmes dedicated to increasing young people’s inter-faith skills, which have already reached about 3,500 young people since September 2009.

The three-fold programmes incorporate Education, which facilitates understanding, Engagement which supports dialogue and Action, which initiates shared projects.

Three education officers work with about 60 volunteers in secondary schools. For example, the ‘Shared Futures’ programme aims to foster links between faith schools and develop guidance on cohesion issues.

Other programmes include interactive learning about religious texts and practising communication skills. One youth programme involved young adults from Somali-Muslim, Jewish and Christian backgrounds, who met up over a year. One participant said: “We looked at what our scriptures tell us about forgiveness and it became clear that the three Abrahamic faiths have a great deal in common.”

Another participant said: “Some of us wanted to learn more about our own religious traditions and others wanted to see what we had in common with others and what was different.  Some of us just enjoyed meeting new friends.”

A group wrote a song, These Hands of Mine:
                           “I can choose to use these hands of mine
                             To break down another wall
                             Or I can choose to use these hands of mine
                             To do nothing at all
                             I have been given the freedom to decide
                             How to use these hands of mine”

[Click here to listen to the song.]

Our Undergraduate Parliamentors programme began two years ago, in which MPs mentor trios of Muslim, Jewish and Christian students to work on a year-long project, to enrich knowledge and understanding. In 2009 27 students undertook projects including, ID cards, child labour, human rights, first aid and research into the British educational system. Our sister project, ‘Documentors,’ works with filmmakers and we hope to have Business Management Mentors sometime this year.

We are a non-religious organisation, but with a focus on Islam, Christianity and Judaism. 

We see our work as trying to create a movement of young people who are confident communicators, think critically about the world and have a vision of what they want their world to be like and have a passion and impatience to be the catalyst to make the necessary changes happen.

After a stimulating and thought-provoking talk, two members of the audience spoke about how the aspirations of the Three Faiths Forum were being echoed in diverse interfaith opportunities for young people in their towns including an inter-faith poster competition in Watford and inter-faith pantomime in Loughborough.
These and similar activities reflect the work of the Three Faiths Forum as expressed by Rachel: “We feel we need to provide more opportunities for young people to tell us what they want, in order for us to act on what they want. 
We don’t see them as the future, but as the present.”

Do you want to help fight prejudice and make a real difference?

As a TFF presenter you play a central part in our programmes by going into schools together with our Education Officers and talking to young people about your faith. Our Encountering Faiths programme depends entirely on volunteers giving some of their time to educate students about their religious tradition. We need your help. Click below to get involved.

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