The Faculty of Divinity has published an interview with Dr Iona Hine, CIP’s Programme Manager, discussing the Faith & Belief Policy Collective and its significance.
The interview begins with reference to the Policy Collective’s Open Letter published in June. The conversation also touches on more recent developments, and highlights the contemporary significance of older CIP research.
Here are a couple of extracts:
Is there a risk that such activity is seen as politicking?
“Research in the domain of inter-religious relations lends itself to thinking about identity, belonging, and how core values affect lived experience. It can be healthy to think and talk openly about what faith and religion means for our common life. And the Collective’s conversations are not limited to those who define as religious.
“Politics and belief are intrinsically linked, so it would be naive to think this kind of activity is not in some sense political. But it would also be naive to imagine that society does not benefit from dialogue or from information based on careful research. So it matters to engage thoughtfully.
“The letter was published with the title “Diverse identities, shared values”. Shared values are concretely embedded in the vision of the Cambridge Interfaith Programme—our academic director (Prof Esra Ozyurek) holds the Sultan Qaboos Chair in Abrahamic Faiths and Shared Values. That’s a helpful reminder that CIP seeks to connect academic expertise with societal concerns—and indeed, that’s been the case right from its inception.”
[...]
And has there been any specific relevance from a CIP perspective?
“. . . recent discussions [prompted by the riots and threats occurring subsequent to the murder of three young girls in Southport] led me to reexamine a 2011 CIP-sponsored project on community policing:
“Observing two different London boroughs, researchers saw a disconnect between what often motivated police to engage with faith groups (a positive commitment to neighbourhood policing) and the perception that policing of (some) religious communities was mainly motivated by a counter-terrorism agenda. Anecdotally, that perception—or perhaps we should call it a misgiving—persists.
“The researchers also noted that the primacy of race within the diversity agenda (and as an issue within policing) meant religion was often categorised as an ethnic matter. That finding speaks to current discussions and work within the CIP team, as we think about the relevance of our research and tools within diversity work.
“Participating in the Collective’s discussions is stimulating and important. As might be expected, it involves plenty of listening and respectful disagreement too.”
Further reading
Read the full interview on the Faculty of Divinity website (divinity.cam.ac.uk).
The Effective Community Policing project is described in more detail in CIP’s past research pages.