BBC RADIO LEICESTER, THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: BAHÁ'Í COMMENT ON ZERO HOURS CONTRACTS

I pop into BBC Radio Leicester this afternoon to record a Thought for the Day with Producer, Rebecca Bryers. This one's for broadcast on Jonathan Lampon's breakfast show, Wednesday 7 August - and here's how it sounded on the day:

JL: It's time for Thought for the Day, which comes today from George Ballentyne, a local Bahá'í.

GMB: Good morning

This week we learned that over a million UK workers are on zero hours contracts, a figure four times higher than previously thought.

If this way of working fits in with your way of living, it can be a perfectly good way of staying in gainful employment. But for some other workers, they are always on standby, without guarantee of any pay for any work in any period. They must turn up at their place of work if and when required, often at very short notice, with barely time to make arrangements for dependants.

For some, this can make it difficult to access the kind of financial services (credit, loans, mortgages and so on) on which our daily dealings depend.

In the words of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, one of the central figures of the Bahá'í Faith, "arts, sciences and all crafts are (counted as) worship. The man who makes a piece of notepaper to the best of his ability, conscientiously, concentrating all his forces on perfecting it, is giving praise to God. Briefly, all effort and exhertion put forth by man from the fulness of his heart is worship, if it is prompted by the highest motives and the will to do service to humanity. This is worship: to serve mankind and to minister to the needs of the people. Service is prayer."

As a Bahá'í, it's my hope that our society does not forget the dignity and nobility of good, productive work - and the dignity of the worker - even in these difficult times.

JL: Thought for the Day there, which came from George Ballentyne, a local Bahá'í.

I send the text to Becca a couple of hours before I go in to record it. She feels obliged to ask me to tone it down a bit - twice. I feel righteously indignant about this issue and have used a quotation from The Promise of World Peace to illustrate that, but it was all a little too hard-hitting as a Thought for the Day. I rewrite the piece on the hoof - literally - on the half hour walk from Christians Aware in Saxby Street down to St Nicholas Place (Well, not all that literally, since I don’t have hooves and even if I did, it would probably be quite hard to use them to type on an iPhone). Becca talks me down off my high horse and helps me deliver something more suited to the format and time slot.

SANDFIELD CLOSE PRIMARY PUPILS VISIT SWAMINARAYAN MANDIR

This morning I'm at the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Gipsy Lane, helping out with a visit of Year 5 pupils from Sandfield Close Primary. I arrive here hotfoot from BBC Radio Leicester, where I was recording a Thought for the Day earlier this morning (a Bahá'í comment on the upcoming G8 Summit in Northern Ireland).

This is the third of four visits in two days to local places of worship, arranged in association with The Mighty Creatives (a charity based in Leicester's LCB Depot, working across the East Midlands to champion young people's creativity and innovation).

The group is kitted out with cameras of different kinds (for stills and video), digital voice recorders and good old fashioned paper, pens, pencils and crayons. Artwork that the children produce as an outcome of their visits will be on display under the title, "Faith in Neighbours" in the Mezzanine at Curve as part of An Indian Summer later this month.

Our host today, Dipak Kalyan, wastes no time in getting us started on the guided tour. Photography and video recording is not permitted anywhere inside the mandir, so the children get the chance to do more drawing and sketching here than at the other venues.

One interesting topic that comes to the surface this morning is the symbolism of colours. Orange robes on statues of spiritual enlightened figures signify the fire that burns away worldly attachment, for example. We relate this to the bright red jumpers of the children's school uniform. Why is their top red, when other schools have other colours? How does it make Sandfield Close stand out? Does it make them different from other schools which have other colours? Does it make them better than other schools to be red?

A little correspondence that strikes a chord is when Dipak mentions about there being 108 beads on the rosary that devotees use, representing 108 names of God. There's a show on Cartoon Network called Hero 108 that might be said to draw on some themes of spirituality, oneness and the conflict between humankind and nature, which are not out of place with the kind of things we learn in the mandir today.

One of the children asks why we should remove our shoes in the mandir. Dipak starts with the standard answer, about not bringing (literal and metaphorical) dirt from the outside world into a sacred place. then he says that it's also because shoes are normally made of leather, which comes from a dead animal and we shouldn't bring that before the deities. Now, goodness knows how many times I've come into a place of worship and removed my shoes without thinking beyond the first of these reasons, the most obvious (most superficial?) one. It comes as a bit of a shock to realise that I usually wear a leather jacket and have never thought that I should remove it. Nor has anyone ever asked me to remove it in a place of worship either, I should point out. It's an uncomfortable moment of self realisation and as I speak about this, sharing my thoughts and feelings with the group, Bipin leans over and tugs at the shoulder strap of my leather messenger bag. Now that I know, it would be hard to carry on regardless. Later, someone asks about leather belts. I've never seen anyone remove their trouser belt in a place of worship. This reason for removing your shoes (and possibly other leather or suede items) won't apply in every place of worship of course, but still - food for thought I'm sure you'll agree, faithful reader.

This afternoon the group moves on to the Islam Information Centre, Highfield Street. Yesterday morning we were at the Jain Centre, Oxford Street; yesterday afternoon, Leicester Cathedral.

Our friends at BAPS Shri Swaminarayn Mandir were able to squeeze our group in this morning due to a last minute cancellation. Thanks to Narendra and Dipak for doing that.

BBC RADIO LEICESTER, THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: BAHÁ'Í COMMENT ON G8 SUMMIT

 

Early this morning (on the way out to the BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir on Gipsy Lane to meet up with the Year 5 pupils from Sandfield Close Primary) I pop into BBC Radio Leicester to record a Thought for the Day with John Florance.

 

When we met at Cathedral AM last Wednesday, John asked if I would do one of these 90-second spots this week. He told me then that he could trust me to pick my own subject. I asked him which hat he wanted me to wear for this: speaking as a local Bahá'í or as an employee of Leicester Council of Faiths. He said that I'd have been on for the Council of Faiths often recently (which is true) so he asked me to make it on from a Bahá'í perspective. So here it is:

Good morning

Shortly, the G8 summit takes place in Northern Ireland. Leaders of the world’s wealthiest nations will meet to discuss ways to restore strong and sustainable growth to the world economy and mull over how to address the most pressing issues of the day.

The summit takes place under the presidency of the UK. But is it right that we should be concerned with social and economic problems in other countries when there is so much to be fixed here at home?

Bahá'ís would say that it is not only right, but necessary. Indeed it’s a moral and political obligation of the strongest nations to lend a hand to those struggling even more than we are right now.

These increasingly common and frequent summits and conferences represent unsteady, faltering steps toward the realisation of a truth stated by Bahá'u'lláh, founder of the Bahá'í Faith, more than a hundred and fifty years ago. Bahá'u'lláh said then that, “The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens.” This memorable phrase is the foundation of what Bahá'ís believe and the inspiration behind how we work for positive change around the world.

If this Bahá'í could offer a word of advice to the great and the good gathered at the G8 summit next weekend, it would be this quotation from the writings of Bahá'u'lláh: “Let your vision be world-embracing, rather than confined to your own self.” If such an attitude informed their discussions, then we might see effective action that brings about genuine change for everyone in our world.

It sounds a bit flat on the first take, so John asks me to read it again, just to vary the tone and put a bit of bounce in it. I don't feel much bounce in myself this morning (probably because I was still up writing this in the wee small hours), but give it another go; it comes out much better the second time.

I arrived at Radio Leicester this morning at the same time as Martin Gage from Christian Aid, who is leading the regional arm of the Enough Food for Everyone IF campaign. He's here to record his own Thought for the Day, for broadcast later this week, about the Hunger Summit that precedes the meeting of the G8. Martin is sitting in the small studio with John and me while we record my piece. He offers a helpful comment that would certainly improve it, so I rerecord a couple of sentences, incorporating Martin's suggestion.

After I've done and John is showing me out of the building, I suggest that my son Harry come in and record a Thought for the Day, to be broadcast toward the end of next week, just before the release of Man of Steel. John is a fellow comics fan, so I don't have to work too hard to persuade him.

SACRE AT QUAKER MEETING HOUSE, MAY 2013

Leicester SACRE (Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education) meets this afternoon at Quaker Meeting House, Queens Road.

One of the main purposes of Leicester SACRE is to receive requests for "Determinations" from city schools. If the head teacher of a school feels that the provision of collective worship within the broadest interpretation of the law is not suitable for that particular school, then the head teacher should consider whether it might be appropriate to ask the SACRE to grant a "determination" in accordance with the law. A determination is the decision of the SACRE as to whether it is appropriate to lift the requirement for wholly or mainly broadly Christian collective worship to be provided for the school, or any class or description of pupils at the school, having regard to any circumstances relating to the family background of the pupils for which the determination is requested. The SACRE must review the determination if the school so requests and, in any event, within five years of the date when the determination was made or last reviewed. Members of SACRE discuss such requests in fixed blocks, reflecting their own interests and associations before voting on whether or not to grant the determination. Leicester Council of Faiths doesn't have voting rights at SACRE. We're involved as an invited observer; we have the right to speak and query, and can get involved in all sorts of activities and projects, but we don't vote on determinations or any other processes. Today we hear an application for a Determination from Abbey Community Primary and application for renewal of a Determination from Judgemeadow Community College.

A regular agenda item at SACRE meetings has one of the members make a presentation on their religion or belief. Today Stephanie Maude (immediate past Chair of Leicester SACRE) gives the presentation on the Bahá'í Faith. She does a great job, focusing on appropriate and relevant themes and topics (including the distinctive contribution that the Bahá'í Faith can make to Religious Education) with some nice supporting illustrations. Think of her offering a perfectly ade cake - to which I feel compelled to add a few sprinkles. I always like people to know that, before there was even one gurdwara, mosque or mandir in Leicester, there was a local Bahá'í Centre. This was in the house owned by John and Vera Long in New Walk, between 1957 and 1963, part of which was dedicated to meeting and worship. I also mention that 'Abdu'l-Bahá's visits to the west, during which he warned about the oncoming First World War, would be featured in Leicester's "fringe" commemoration of the Centenary of the Great War. (After today's meeting, I chat with Allan Hayes about the possibility of an unholy alliance between Leicester Council of Faiths, Christians Aware / Faith Awareness and Leicester Secular Society to create and promote this fringe.)

Under AOB I mention next week's meeting of the Christian-Muslim Dialogue Group week ("Learning for Life: How Islam is taught to children in a multi-faith society"), which has been arranged specially for members of Leicester SACRE. I'm surprised no one else has mentioned this; indeed, I expected to see it on today's agenda. To my further surprise, virtually no one here has heard of this and no invitation to the meeting has been received by SACRE. I'm able to call up the flier on my iPhone and pass it to Anne Fishenden, who is chairing the meeting, just to show I'm not making things up. Before leaving Quaker Meeting House this evening, I forward the flier with details of the meeting at Madani to SACRE's officers. It sounds like an interesting event and I hope that despite the glaring omission of inviting the very people for whom the meeting has been arranged, that it gets decent support come Wednesday.

A TRIBUTE TO THE POWER OF SHARED VALUES

Riaz Ravat's First Person column appears in today's Leicester Mercury (but not on the website):

A tribute to the power of shared values

Riaz Ravat looks back over an eventful year that has brought faith communities closer together

This year will surely go down as one of the most remarkable in the history of the UK. On a spring day in March , Leicester paid a colourful and vibrant tribute to the Queen on the first stop of her Diamond Jubilee tour. The royal party was treated to a show that will live long in the memory.

The Church of England is interwoven into the fabric of this country and the leadership shown by the Diocese of Leicester, with Leicester Cathedral as the centrepiece, enabled a mosaic of faith communities to join in the celebrations to show they too are firmly rooted in the identity of this country.

2012 as also marked as the Year of Service. Launched in January, the initiative encouraged faith communities to work collectively to deliver charity efforts to needy causes.

"Confirm us in service to the world of humanity so that we may become the servants of Thy servants, that we may love all they creatures and become compassionate to all thy people."

These words of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, the eldest son and successor of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, were delivered in 1912 and it was fitting the Bahá'í community was instrumental in launching a year of service.

One of the many points to note from the release of the 2011 Census is how the definition of "minority" is being redrawn locally.

The presence of smaller groups, such as the Bahá'í and Jewish communities, poses challenges to larger communities and defines the true meaning of a decent and progressive society. The challenge is how we enable these minorities to express their confidence and to contribute their fullest, to the life of the city, county and country.

Throughout the year, we witnessed Bahá'ís, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jains, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs and those of no professed religions belief coming together for the selfless service of others.

Whether this motivation is inspired by God, political doctrine or human concern, we must begin to address what wee mean by  shared values, purposes and the nature of "good", not only for today's world, but for tomorrow's.

As we reflect on service, let us not forget the dedication and decency of the outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams.

The impact of the General Synod voting against female Bishops is not restricted to the Church of England. Far from observing these developments, those from other persuasions must now take stock and ask, how much longer will we accept the gap between the principle and practice of equality?

The spiritual richness of service and compassion which faith communities possess, undergirded by their respective "golden rules", is all too often tainted by humanity's thirst for selective salvation.

Riaz Ravat is deputy director at St Philip's Centre, Leicester

PLANET LEICESTER: WEAVERS CLOSE PRIMARY

This morning I'm at Weavers Close Church of England Primary, Earl Shilton, taking part in the school's community cohesion programme. "Planet Leicester" is a week-long series of activities organised by the Leicestershire Education Business Company (LEBC).

I was invited at short notice (Monday lunchtime) to take part in Planet Leicester. I was supposed to be with these children on Tuesday morning at Belgrave Neighbourhood Centre, but I had to cry off as Grace was too poorly to go to school and I was obliged to stay home with her.

Jon from LEBC picks me up (along with a Chinese chap called Li) at Leicester University and drives the half hour or so to Earl Shilton. We're joined at the school by James, from Leicestershire County Council.

Mrs Herbert's Year 3 class is split into four groups of seven or eight. We have 25 minutes with each group in turn. To the children, Scotland seems just as distant and exotic as China! Each pupil has a workbook, with one page to complete for each person whom they see. Each of us answers the same set of questions and we have to do one distinctive thing with our groups, that they can show at a display on Friday morning.

• What's your name? George
• Which country do you come from? Scotland
• Which continent do you come from? Europe
• Why did you come to Leicester? Someone offered me a job here
• How did you get to Leicester? Train
• How do you say "hello" in your country? Hello
• What's your national dish? Irn Bru (yes, I know it's not a "dish", but I wasn't going to let anyone say deep fried Mars bar - or haggis for that matter. And the pupils know what it is - many of them have had it and like it!)
• What's your religion? Bahá'í (I have to make it clear that  Bahá'í is not the national religion of Scotland though!)

As for the distinctive part we do with each of our groups: Li is showing them how to write their names in Chinese characters. James is helping them make friends with a potato (he should be wrting his own blog!). I teach my groups some useful Scots phrases, such as:

"Keep the heid an ah'll buy ye a bunnet"

"Dinnae day yer dinger!"

"Many a mickle maks a muckle"

"Gie it laldy hen"

I give each group one of these phrases each. I write them on the board, one word at a time, getting the pupils to pronounce them together as we go along. I explain what each phrase means and ask them to think of circumstances in which they could use their phrase. I also coach them how to say their phrase in the style of an old man at a bus stop on a rainy Saturday night. I tell the children that when it comes to the display on Friday morning, they can say the phrase together as a group or they can choose one from amongst them to say it on behalf of the group.

When we all get together for 20 minutes at the end of the group sessions, Mrs Herbert asks me to say a bit more about being a Bahá'í, since the name is new to her and to her pupils. Nice to be given that opportunity.

Nice to be given the opportunity to take part in this event as a whole. I look forward to something similar comes my way again.

CHRISTIANS AWARE: NEW COURSE ON COURSE

At lunchtime today there's a meeting at the offices of Christians Aware in Saxby Street, to progress plans for “Going on Beyond: Meditation and Mysticism in the World Faiths”, the Faith Awareness course to be held at Christchurch, Clarendon Park, January to March 2013.

We agree a draft timetable for the ten meetings, which will include an introductory session led by Ian Grayling and Kevin Commons; a session on "Mysticism Across the Centuries", led by Beate Dehnen; perspectives on the topic from, respectively, a Cistercian Monk; a Bahá'í (me, speaking about 'Abdu'l-Bahá); a Hindu (speaking about Ramakrishna); a Sikh; A Buddhist; a Jew; and a Pagan. The closing session will take an overview of the whole course and will invite attendees to participate in the interfaith meditation meetings hosted by the Buddhist group at Leicester University.

It's my responsibility to secure the involvement of the Pagan and Sikh speakers before we have our next planning meeting in September.

SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND

I'm on BBC Radio Leicester with Tony Wadsworth this morning, doing Something for the Weekend. This is a feature where local people are invited into the studio for a live interview about what they usually do on the weekend, what they're doing this weekend and to pick a song that sums up the weekend for them.

I've been on Radio Leicester many times, but always in connection with my post at Leicester Council of Faiths. Tony asks me about my work today and I get to speak about it at some length (especially as I'm doing two things later today related to it: the Building Shared Heritages open day at the University of Leicester and An Indian Summer in the city's Cultural Quarter). But I also get to talk about shared parenting, about being an older dad (and about my kids), about how I became a Bahá'í in 1979 (and why I've stuck with it for 33 years since) - and how bus drivers and cake shop assistants still don't seem to understand my accent, despite the fact I've lived in Leicester half my life! I also give a shoutout to the people who loom largest in my life.

And I get to choose a song to be played on air, something that sums up the weekend for me. There was never any other candidate but XTC's Life Begins at the Hop (1979). Watch one of the worst pop videos ever made for one of the best three-minute pop songs ever made on YouTube. I never met any women like those in the video, in 1979 or since. I can't imagine XTC did either!

LEICESTER BAHÁ'ÍS CELEBRATE FIRST DAY OF RIDVÁN

At Quaker Meeting House, Queens Road, this afternoon, where local Bahá'ís are gathering to celebrate the First Day of Ridván.

Ridván is designated the most sacred period in the Bahá'í year (21 April to 2 May inclusive). The first, ninth and twelfth days are Holy Days on which work and study should be suspended. Bahá'í communities usually hold events to celebrate one or more of these days.

We hear a brief account of the life of Bahá'u'lláh (1817-92), founder of the Bahá'í Faith, concentrating on the twelve days he spent in the Najibiyyih Garden on the banks of the Tigris, before he left Baghdad after ten years in that city, moving on to Constantinople, the next stage in his 40-year exile. This is the period that is commemorated in the Festival of Ridván. It is particularly significant for Bahá'ís as it was during this time that Bahá'u'lláh revealed to his closest family and friends his station as the Manifestation of God in our time. The site of this declaration is known among Bahá'ís as the Garden of Ridván (Paradise).

We share devotional readings from the writings of Bahá'u'lláh, many on the significance of his historic declaration and of the importance of this period in the Bahá'í year. In these writings, Bahá'u'lláh often refers to himself symbolically as a nightingale, his stream of revelation compared to the bird's song. During this devotional section, a recording of the nightingale's song is played in the background. Strange that no one has thought to have done that at any Bahá'í devotional gathering I've attended over more than 30 years!

At the same time, the Leicester Lodge of the Theosophical Society is holding its regular monthly meeting in the Library of the Quaker Meeting House. There's a friendly historical association between Bahá'ís and the Theosophical Society. When 'Abdu'l-Bahá (1844-1921) visited western countries a hundred years ago, the Theosophical Society hosted many of his public talks and published them in its journals. The motto of the Theosophical Society - "There is no religion higher than truth" - is of obvious appeal to Bahá'ís. Our two groups mix in the kitchen that we're both using this afternoon. I chat with a few of their members and give one of them my card so that I can be kept informed of future activities.

As evidence of how the Bahá'í Faith embraces the many cultures from which its followers are drawn, after the devotional part of the meeting we have a go at some Scottish country dancing! Rarely have the Military Two-Step and the Gay Gordons been subjected to such indignities! But we have a good laugh trying - or at least, trying not to injure oursleves and each other!

One of the friends reminds me that Vera Long, the first person in Leicester to accept the Bahá'í Faith, passed away during this Ridván period 20 years ago. I knew Vera and her husband John during the time I lived in Oakham, from 1987. They moved to Oakham from Leicester in 1963, to become the first Bahá'ís there. John outlived Vera by a year. They both did an enormous amont for the Bahá'í Faith throughout the world and it's fitting that they be remembered here.

We're pleased to welcome Cllr Manjula Sood, former Lord Mayor of Leicester, current Asssistant City Mayor and chair of Leicester Council of Faiths as our special guest in this meeting. Manjula is in the photo above, with a few of the friends who came today (the rest were in the tranquil garden of the Quaker Meeting House, enjoying tea and sunshine).

NEW SPIN ON THE "LOTUS TEMPLE"

The inaugural Grand Prix of India has been heavily promoted with images of the Bahá'í House of Worship in New Delhi - popularly known as the Lotus Temple.

God moves in mysterious ways alright - though not half as mysteriously as Felipe Massa in that collision with Lewis Hamilton during the race! (Oh and do you see what I did with the title there?)

FAITHS FILM FESTIVAL FINAL FIVE

This morning the schedule for the film festival at Phoenix Square during Inter Faith Week is made public. Phoenix Square’s November brochure is published online (printed version to follow in two days). I've been particularly keen to see the finalised programme, so that I can get the details into the flyer that we’re having printed this week, listing our main activities during Inter Faith Week.

So, how does the final programme for Leicester's first Faiths Film Festival shape up against what I've been hoping for? At first sight, the result could be thought disappointing. But it ain't necessarily so.

When I first enquired about the possibility of Phoenix Square screening a short season of faith-related films at the same time last year, it was just a wish - and rather formless, as wishes tend to be. A couple of months ago, when making a more formal approach to Phoenix Square, I would have considered it a triumph to get five films on. At one point, I as discussing with Andy Jones (Programme Manager at Phoenix Square) the viability of showing as many as 14 titles: two per day throughout the week. As is the way with Leicester Council of Faiths, we were trying to represent each of our member communities equally. But as you can imagine, faithful reader, it's harder to find movies about, by or from some of those communities than others. I put out an APB, by email, social media and word of mouth, seeking recommendations for titles. Some of the suggestions were innovative, inventive, inspired – although some left me wondering if the respondents had ever been to the movies themselves or even knew what a feature film was. Sifting through a considerable amount of dross, there were a few nuggets of gold.

The ideal situation (from our point of view) would have seen two movies screened per day (half of them in Screen 2, which seats 120 and half in the Screen Room, which seats 30; half of them in English and half in another language with English sub-titles; half of them commercially proven and the other half more of a risk). Phoenix Square has whittled this down to a final five, as listed in the brochure.

I've learned a lot about how a cinema like Phoenix Square goes about its business. It's certainly not a matter of simply presenting a wishlist and expecting to get everything you want. The eventual choice was based on several factors, e.g.

• availability in suitable format for projection;
• having been passed by the British Board of Film Classification and granted an age certificate;
• ownership of current screening rights in the UK by a trading distributor (some of the proposed films have never been licensed for public screening in the UK, while screening rights for others have long lapsed).

So after all that, here's the final selection of films:

Sun 20: Little Buddha (Buddhist - obviously) 

Mon 21: A Serious Man (Jewish) 

Thu 24: Life in a Day (illustrating the Bahá'í principle of world unity) 

Fri 25: My Name is Khan (Muslim - with Hindu connections too) 

Sat 26: Lourdes (Christian)

I should stress here that the final choice was made by Phoenix Square – and in the end, they’ve gone with those films most likely to get patrons out of their homes on a cold dark November evening and parting with £7 for their ticket. Three of the five have been shown at Phoenix Square and deserve another go-round there.

I saw two of these films during their theatrical release (A Serious Man and Lourdes). I've already blogged about the latter.

We’ve been asked to write copy for the A4 cribsheets that are available free at the time of screening. On these we can say something about the relevance of the film to the respective faith communities, something about Inter Faith Week and something about the Council of Faiths. We were also offered, initially, the opportunity for an introductory talk about each film, of no more than three minutes in length. I haven't pursued this - so far.

I would like to find out if we can get a slide shown before each of the films, saying something like:

This film is being screened as part of Phoenix Square's Faiths Film Festival, presented in association with Leicester Council of Faiths, during Inter Faith Week.

A few too many "Faiths" in there? I'll work on it.

Phoenix Square's online brochure has a page devoted to the Faiths Film Festival. This web page has a slide show of still from four of the  movies, each with Leicester Council of Faiths logo added in the bottom right hand corner. That looks very nice. And there’s a paragraph of copy, written by me, linking the Faiths Film Festival with the Council of Faiths 25^th anniversary:

The third national Inter Faith Week is being celebrated from Sunday 20 to Saturday 26 November. Leicester has a positive and widespread reputation for the diverse and cohesive nature of its faith and cultural communities, so when Leicester Council of Faiths asked if Phoenix Square would host the first Faiths Film Festival – of course we said yes! This varied selection of movies showcasing faith, religion and belief also marks the 25th anniversary of Leicester Council of Faiths – which has been working to promote trust, understanding and cooperation among the city’s communities since 1986.

I hope that this is a success and that we get to do it again next year. Now it’s up to you, faithful reader. If you’re within the catchment area of Phoenix Square, then come along to one or more of these screenings during Inter Faith Week, show your support and enjoy a good film with our blessing!

FAITH TRAIL LINKS PLACES OF WORSHIP

From today's Leicester Mercury:

Faith Trail links places of worship

A walking route linking places of worship will be launched on Friday.

The Faith and Place Trail was compiled by archaeology students from the University of Leicester.

It is accompanied by a map that includes all places of worship in the city.

The trail was devised by second year students, with the help of the city's faith groups.

It takes in a selection of the places of faith which can be visited in the course of a few hours.

They include centres of worship for Bahá'í, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism and Sikhism, plus the Secular Hall and world arts gallery at New Walk Museum.

A university spokesman said: "The trail highlights how much there is to discover about Leicester."

University vice-chancellor, Professor Sir Robert Burgess, will be at the launch of the trail at New Walk Museum on Friday.

For details and the map, see: www.le.ac.uk/faithtrail

Pupils get an insight into beliefs at faith festival

Here's a positive article about faiths and young people on the local scene, from today's Leicester Mercury. This would appear to be a new initiative on the part of St Philip's Centre for Study and Engagement in a Multi-Faith Society. I'd not heard of it before, at least. Good on them for providing such a service.

Pupils get an insight into beliefs at faith festival 

Pupils had a chance to learn about seven religions in one day when their school held a faith festival.

Faith workers went into Mount Grace High School, Hinckley, to give the youngsters insights into the beliefs and customs of Bahá'í, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism.

The Religion and Belief Roadshow, organised by St Philip's Centre, in Leicester, gave youngsters the chance to try foods and henna and finger painting and try on clothing associated with the different faiths.

There were also stqalls showing relvant items, and opportunities to ask questions.

Assistant Head Teacher Tom Dunne said: "The whole school had been excited about this day for a long time.

"We want our children to have the broadest range of knowledge and understanding to become the active citizens of tomorrow."

Riaz Ravat, of St Philip's Centre, a multi-faith organisation run by the Anglican Diocese of Leicester, said: "Our main purpose is to generate fun on a subject which is often all too serious.

"We want to communicate the shared values of respect, acceptance and charity, which faith communities possess.

"This is a two-way process, however, so we have much to learn from the children."

BELIEF: OMID DJALILI ON BBC RADIO 3

There aren't enough hours in the day to keep up with good media coverage of topics and themes that deserve a place in this blog - and that would better equip me to do the job I get paid for! Never mind that I have to sift through a lot of stuff that turns out to be useless, irrelevant nonsense masquerading as genuine news reporting or informed comment. But I should know that I can trust Radio 3 and Joan Bakewell to deliver the goods. Belief - the 15-minute programme she presents on BBC Radio 3 - is into its seventh series in three years and has featured such notable figures as Bonnie Greer, Satish Kumar, Lord Patten, David Starkey and Ann Widdecombe. The Radio Review in the G2 section of today's Guardian about yesterday's edition of Belief catches my eye (which is painful, just a few weeks after a cataract operation):

What a fine fellow Omid Djalili sounded on Belief (Radio 3). Articulate and engaging as he spoke about being a member of the Bahá'í faith, he also seemed delighted to encounter host Joan Bakewell. "I just wanted to meet you," he told her. "I think you're wonderful." Explaining a central tenet of his faith, he used her as an example: "The Joan Bakewell we see here is going to continue in some form, just in a different essence." This is excellent news.

His life story was fascinating. While growing up in London, his parents opened their house to many Iranian visitors, which meant Djalili kipping on the sofa. "I never had a bedroom until I was 14," he explained. There was a funny frankness about his memories of this time, living in a house full of fleeting strangers, "some of them charming, some of them absolutely awful".

On the issue of comedy, and his standup routine, which Bakewell noted can be "riskily offensive", Djalili explained that it's deeply connected to his belief. "It's all about making people conscious, starting with myself," he told her. Life, and religion, is one long process of improving yourself, he insisted, and improving your core self. Bakewell asked him to describe his core. "I'm a fat, needy man, pleading for attention," he quipped. (Elisabeth Mahoney)

I stayed at Omid's parents' apartment a couple of times when working at the London International Book Fair in Olympia, back in the late 1980s. Though that was long Omid himself had moved out, so I can't say which of the two categories of visitor he'd hve put me in (and maybe those who weren't Iranian were placed in a different sort of classification system).