Sue Stirling (Newcastle, ippr north): On Tuesday we held Faithful Communities: Fostering Cohesion in Sunderland's fantastic Sikh Temple, with speeches from Rt Revd Dr Tom Wright, Bishop of Durham, and Tahir Alam, Assistant Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Britain, addressing an audience of 100 faith group representatives, community workers and practitioners from across the region and beyond.
Highlighting the importance of encouraging acceptance and understanding of diversity within the UK, the Bishop of Durham gave some interesting examples of how faith groups can work together. Working towards the ‘common good' was a theme picked up by both speakers: although a single definition is very difficult to pin down, it certainly involves faith groups working towards a common goal of integrated and respectful communities.
Following the Archbishop of Canterbury's comments on Sharia Law, and the subsequent media storm (much discussed on OurKingdom), there was obviously much talk from delegates around the role the media has to play in building trust and consent between faith groups. Tahir Alam offered the frankly frightening statistic that 85% of media coverage on Muslims is negative, a fact that is bound to have grave consequences on perceptions of Islam throughout society as a whole.
So there is a sense that the media must somehow be challenged to give a fairer representation of the reality of different faith groups within the UK - although the scale of this task shouldn't be underestimated, as stories with little basis can quickly spiral out of control. However, it's important not to tar all media with the same brush - after all, I'm writing in ‘the media' now - and local newspapers can often be closer to the ground and work with faith groups in a more positive manner.
Many of the issues raised by speakers and audience will be in keeping with the ‘Face-to-Face and Side-by-Side' consultation, ending on the 7th of March, which is building a framework for inter faith dialogue and social action. I would encourage all groups with an interest in community cohesion to get involved, and really hope our event played some part in bringing people to this process.
Of course, there is already much good work being done at a local level to encourage multi-faith networks and community participation with our speakers and delegates offering an array of examples and insight into their work. Faith groups make great partners in any attempt to regenerate urban areas, as they are already fully engaged in some of our most deprived communities.
Much of the ground Faithful Communities: Fostering Cohesion covered can be tied into thinking on concepts of active citizenship and empowerment, and ‘social capital', which is intimately related to these aspirations. Our upcoming paper Social Capital in the North East: How do we measure up? explores these notions (and explores the common perception that North Easterners are more friendly and share stronger social bonds) and should make interesting reading in light of what was an encouraging day for those who believe in crossing boundaries and working together.
