At a time when religion seems to be fuelling conflict in many parts of the world, it’s good to be able to tell a very different story here in Britain in Interfaith Week.
It began a few years ago with a programme in the Jewish community called mitzvah day. Mitzvah is the word we give to a good deed, especially when the love of God leads us to act lovingly to neighbours and strangers. It’s what we try to do throughout the year.
Then the idea was born of bringing together all our voluntary groups one day a year to extend the hand of friendship beyond the boundaries of faith. Almost immediately this struck a chord with the Hindu community who instituted their own Sewa day along similar lines. Soon other groups were joining in, Christian, Muslim, Sikh and the rest. Until this year it’s become something called A Year of Service, in which all the faith communities in Britain are undertaking projects of social action to help those in need.
It sounds simple but I think it may prove to be one of the more transformative experiments of our time. The reason is this. Throughout history religion has been one of our great sources of altruism, of service to something larger than the self. But it’s often been bounded altruism, limited to the people with whom we share a faith. The track record of religions in relation to people of other faiths or none has been patchy at best, and at worst, unspeakable. It’s led to crusades, holy wars and jihads, until honest believers stopped and said: there must be a better way. But how do you create peace between faiths?
There are two different ways. One is face to face, by doing dialogue, sharing our respective beliefs, but it’s a long, slow process, undertaken by rare and special people, and can easily be undone. The other is what I call side by side, which happens when people of different faiths, instead of talking together, do social action together, recognising that whatever our faith we still need food, shelter, safety and security. Our basic humanity precedes our religious differences.
What Mitzvah Day and Year of Service have shown is that side by side can sometimes reach deeper than face to face. Through simple acts of helping one another, former enemies can become friends. In this time of turmoil in the Middle East might this not be one way in which Jews, Christians and Muslims together might open a new road-map of hope?
This ‘thought for the day’ was immediately recognisable to me as someone who has read the Chief Rabbi’s book ‘The Home We Build Together’ (Continuum). For more thoughts like this, I highly recommend this book. The following is a useful article about said book: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/nov/18/society
Did not hear this morning’s Thought for the day, but had the pleasure of being present at cockfosters and Southgate synagogue last night, where the Chief Rabbi was in conversation with Lord Carey. It was the most enjoyable inspiring evening.
Congratulations on this morning’s Thought for the Day. Having lived in the Middle East, I couldn’t agree more. It was so refreshing to hear you say this so eloquently on air!
Can I draw your attention to a recently released song scored for primary school children call All Weather Friends’ from a 5-song cycle, The Same Flame composed by Thomas Hewitt Jones with outstanding words from poet Matt Harvey. The song gives children the strong message on the value of friendship telling both singer and listener that we are individuals but we are also “holes in the same cheese, bristles from the same brush, drips from the same tap and a whole host of other metaphors. If children learned this song in school, it would be the first and a major step to achieving humanity before religion.
To see a very short Youtube video about this work – the second half of which depicts primary school children all singing their hearts out and enjoying it, please type into Google Youtube The Same Flame Hewitt Jones.
Best wishes,
Jan Murray, Trustee and Administrator, Churchill Music Reg, UK charity No 1121866
It is so true that meeting one another at our basic level of being human first and acknowledging that we all have the same basic needs regardless of that which separate and divide us, is a stable platform for building a bette future for all. The mothers would understand this even better than the fathers because life was carried and formed inside of us for 9 months. Could a mother harm another child?
I read somewhere that there was a Jewish philosopher and/or Rabbi, who once theorized that the messianic age can be brought nearer by the doing of mitzvot. May have been Maimonides but not sure. Interesting theory, whoever said it!
Truly a blessing to hear this dialogue. Pray that hearts are open to serve others in our global community.