We cast aside ‘debate’ in favour of ‘dialogue’ and ‘conversation’. We must go much further: ‘appreciation’, ‘connection’, and ‘doing action together’ all came up. In the world of interfaith, ‘tolerant’ is tantamount to an insult. “What right do we have to tolerate other people?”, someone asked, genuinely bewildered. Is interfaith about being ‘respectful’ of others’ faith and beliefs, we asked? Perhaps, but ‘respect’ doesn’t go quite far enough, and ‘faith’ is Christian-centric. Our search led us towards intense linguistic scrutiny. Having met each other via Zoom just minutes before, our group of twelve was soon able to open up a fruitful discussion, remarkably unafraid to challenge each other’s views in search of consensus. What do you get when you put together a bunch of students and graduates and ask them to define ‘interfaith’? Plenty more questions than answers, it turns out. Students at LSE Faith Centre event, 2019 Joe Banfield In this blog post, Joe Banfield and Esohe Uwadiae reflect on the conference, the importance of interfaith, and the value of intergenerational conversation. This resulted in something interfaith tends to lack – a vibrant intergenerational discussion. The second session brought in interfaith experts with decades of experience, representing numerous faith backgrounds. This scenario allowed the young people to creatively articulate interfaith responses reflective of their perspectives. In the first session, groups of young people were tasked with developing a definition of interfaith, identifying leaders within the interfaith sector, and responding to a mock scenario, ranging from the London Bridge Attack to the 2012 Olympics. As part of the Religion and Global Society’s Unit research project “ Strengthening Religious Cooperation in Global London“, we hosted an online intergenerational youth conference.
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