A Faiths Forum for Basildon?..

During the last 9 months or so I have had the pleasure - and occasional frustration - of working alongside a good, small group of people who are starting to think about, and work towards, the creation and establishment of a Faiths Forum for the District of Basildon, here in south Essex.

Basildon District Council have been a great help, as they have acted as birthing-partner to the enterprise, through the good offices of their Equality and Diversity Unit. (The head of that Unit brings considerable expertise and experience to the tasks before her, having been headhunted from Barking and Dagenham Borough Council in London - any of you who know east London at all will know that B&D is a neck of the woods where issues of community cohesion and justice and access for all are very live issues, indeed.)

Having furnished us with meeting rooms at the Council offices (the 'Bas Centre', as it is generally known!) and given Officer support at these early stages, we are just now starting to gain a sense of direction, some key tasks and aims, and a sense of independence. We have joined up our work with some of the emerging threads of the 3-year Community Cohesion Strategy (which will be launched in October 2009, for 2009-12 triennium) and have started to put our own irons in the fire...

Key amongst these initial irons in the fire is our planning for a Faiths Conference. This is intended to be of worth in its own right, and also to suggest to the wider group who come along that they, too, may wish to get on board with the Forum, grow its membership and diversity, and decide that it is a worthwhile thing to switch the TV off and get out a bit for a few times a year!

The theme of the day-long Faiths Conference is to be "A shared faiths' response to the credit crunch". Initial speakers from Christian, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim perspectives will relate the theology or practice of their faith to some of the issues which rise to the surface in our present economic scenario. Each short presentation in the morning session of the conference will be followed up by a workshop in the afternoon, so that delegates all get a chance to discuss matters further with each presenter.

It is hoped that the media - in Basildon, across Essex, and beyond - will cover this important conference and the growth of our Forum. We hope, also, that they will follow with interest the statement which we intend to issue following the conference - this will be for general public consumption, but will also be especially directed to the District and County Councils, for their considered response. In this, we have been rather inspired by a similar effort in London to generate a shared faiths' response to the credit crunch: this has been produced following seminars organised by Faith in London's Economy (FiLE) and has been widely circulated already. The Chair of FiLE, The Revd Jonathon Evens, will be the keynote speaker at our Basildon conference, on the day.

Our Faiths Conference will take place within the scope of the newly-launched Interfaith Week, a national initiative, new from this year. This will, hopefully, serve to better attract peoples' attention in our busy lives and schedules.

England will have its first ever Interfaith Week, 15–21 November 2009. The week will include and highlight activities organised by bodies around the country designed to:

• strengthen good inter faith relations at all levels;
• encourage local faith groups and communities to reach out to each other and build stronger bonds of understanding and cooperation;
• increase awareness of the different and distinct faith communities in the UK, with a particular focus on the contribution which their members make to their neighbourhoods and to wider society;
• to gain positive profile for inter faith initiatives, locally, regionally and nationally as well as for the overall work of building good inter faith relations;
• increase understanding between people of religious and non-religious beliefs;
• encourage the development of new partnerships within local communities and by faith communities with statutory and third sector partners.

We trust that we will play our part in Basildon District!

The other exciting feature of our conference is that we hope to host it in the wonderful new building of the Wat Tyler Centre, within the bounds of the Wat Tyler Country Park, in Pitsea. This is a fabulous new resource centre in the District, and we will be amongst the first to host a big conference there!

So, please watch this space as further details emerge! Precise details of day and time within Interfaith Week, more information on speakers and topics, and other details - all will emerge over the next few weeks!...

...in the meanwhile, you might care to hear me speaking a little about the Forum and the Conference on BBC Essex this weekend. I shall be speaking with presenter Ian Wyatt - and reviewing the Sunday newspapers! - at the next edition of Sunday Supplement, 2 October 2009...tune in just after 8.00am, or catch it later on Listen Again!