Submitted by Iona C. Hine on Tue, 20/02/2024 - 15:02
The Cambridge Interfaith Programme is proud to be a member of the Inter Faith Network for the UK and profoundly disappointed that the Government has withdrawn its funding offer.
Below are extracts from two letters addressed to the Minister for Faith and Communities and the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities:
From June 2023: a valuable and valued ally
“[T]he UK Inter Faith Network has been and is an intensely valuable and valued ally. The Network provides a critically important mechanism for sustaining and broadening the reach of our work, while keeping us informed of others’ activity in this domain. It brings together practitioners, faith groups, educational associations, and a diverse array of inter-faith bodies, alongside institutions of academic inquiry like our own. This meeting point provides unparalleled opportunities for impactful knowledge exchange, allowing us and organisations like us to listen and respond to present needs and partner effectively with new and established actors in the field.
“The involvement of representative bodies from different faith communities also gives the Network excellent potential to advance inquiry in the domain of intra-faith understanding (a domain in which our researchers are already very much active). In de-funding the nation’s inter-faith infrastructure at speed, the government risks losing expertise pertinent to intra-faith work. Dialogues within faith communities are no less tense, no less in need of knowledge-led and belief-sensitive diplomacy, or the support of partners who have ‘gone there first’.”
From February 2024: with deep dismay
“It is with deep dismay that we write to protest the Government’s latest decision concerning the Inter Faith Network for the UK (IFN), i.e., the reneguing on the nine months’ funding promised in July 2023 to support IFN’s work in the period to March 2024. This is unreasonable, unfair, and—if not revisited—undoubtedly detrimental for inter-religious relations in the UK.
“The IFN’s Trustees have already given a thorough and clear explanation of how things stand concerning the specific matter raised by your department last month, viz. the election of a representative from the Muslim Council of Britain as Trustee (cf. their letter of 22 January). Their actions in this regard seem to us beyond reproach, according fully with the IFN’s charitable constitution.
“Similarly, in the face of hostile allegations, the IFN Officers and Trustees have taken care to explain the longstanding policy of not commenting on international events. Such a position enables the IFN to continue their important function as a convenor, without expending limited resources on matters outside their remit.
[...]
“In addition to restoring funding to IFN as soon as possible, we also request that you engage in constructive dialogue with IFN and its members to address any outstanding issues or concerns. We stand in solidarity with the Trustees and Officers of IFN, who have our full support and appreciation for their work.”