LEARNING FOR LIFE: HOW ISLAM IS TAUGHT TO CHILDREN IN A MULTI-FAITH SOCIETY

 

At Madani High School and Community Centre, Evington Valley Road, this evening, for a meeting of the Christian-Muslim Dialogue Group. The topic is "Learning for Life: How Islam is taught to children in a multi-faith society".

 

There are 11 attendees. Fliers were produced six weeks ago which said that it was intended that at this meeting, "Members of Leicester's SACRE (Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education") join us for a discussion on the theme". However, when SACRE met last week at Quaker Meeting House, it turned out that no invitation to this meeting had been received. I forwarded the flier with details of the meeting at Madani to SACRE's officers, and it was circulated to members on Friday morning.

 

Allan Hayes and I are here, both Co-opted Members of SACRE without voting rights (there's no place in the structure of SACRE for full representatives of Secular Humanism or any inter faith organisation). Later on, Stephen Thompson (Methodist representative on SACRE) joins us. We three found out about this meeting through independent channels, not at the SACRE meeting last week or through the last-minute mailing by SACRE. I'm sure that we can report to the next SACRE meeting, say what a good opportunity this evening presented for addressing such an important topic and that if the chance arises to cover this topic again, it would be hoped that SACRE members would support in numbers. I should say that the non-communication about this meeting was not the fault of anyone here this evening or any member of the Dialogue Group.

Revd Pete Hobson (Joint Co-ordinator of the Christian-Muslim Dialogue Group), Sheikh Shafi Chowdhury, Daud Sameja (Joint Co-ordinator of the Christian-Muslim Dialogue Group)

Apparently this is the first meeting of this group outside St Philip's Centre (although the April meeting, co-hosted with Leicester Council of Faiths, at which Bruce Kent spoke, took place in St Philip's Church Hall - though that would be splitting hairs). There was a short discussion about whether this evening's venue might have put off potential attendees, but I hope that's not true. This is the middle of Christian Aid Week, which might have drawn away some interested people, compounding the problems of lack of promotion.

The speaker this evening is Sheikh Shafi Chowdhury. He is an Imam, a qualified and experienced teacher, currently working in a multi-faith prison chaplaincy. He speaks for 20 minutes or so with compassion, humility, humour, knowledge and reflection. His talk is peppered with authoritative references to the Qur’án, Hadith and incidents from the life of the Prophet, his companions and early followers of Islam. He mixes personal experience with a historical overview of the meaning and role of education for the Muslim community (worldwide, in England and in Leicester), set within the broad sweep of the historical development of Islam in general.

Key to an understanding of this topic is the inescapable fact that Islam does not differentiate between the "sacred" and the "profane", nor does it categorise experience or phenomena as "spiritual" and "material" in terms of being complementary or oppositional. Such differentiation could be said to be central to the western idea of humanist, liberal, secular education. In classical terms, this meant that those figures whom we might identify as religious scholars in the Muslim world were also scholars of "natural philosophy", leading to innovation in the arts, humanities and sciences alongside insights in matters of faith, belief and religious practice. Of course there are many examples of the same thing happening within other faith communities, but it could be said that this was such a distinctive quality of Islam that when it became the exception rather than the rule, some 300 years ago, it exemplified  a radical change in the expansive and inclusive nature of Islam that had driven its success up till then.

Our speaker says many things that are worth mulling over beyond this meeting. Here are just two of them (quoted here with his permission):

"The curse of superficiality of faith is to be challenged by everything and to be frightened of everything. We cannot be fully Muslim unless we reach out and engage with our neighbours."

"Today all our communities are brought up with a heightened awareness of difference, of consciousness of the Other."

This is the first time I've attended a meeting of the Christian-Muslim Dialogue Group proper. I'm sure it won't be the last. I found it a stimulating, thought-provoking occasion in which a variety of view were welcome. With better promotion, I'm sure more people would enjoy these meetings and contribute to this important ongoing conversation.

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.

MEET WILL BALDET, PREVENT COORDINATOR

At St Philip's Centre for Study and Engagement in a Multi-Faith Society this morning for a meeting with Will Baldet, Prevent Coordinator for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

I first met Will last month, at a Knowledge Exchange Seminar in the Multifaith Centre at the University of Derby on the topic of Islam and Higher Education. We've been looking for the chance to get together for this conversation since then.

I'm grateful to Will for clearing a couple of hours so close to the international conference that he's organising at De Montfort University this Saturday. "Virtual Voices, Real Lives" will consider the realities of radicalisation and the role of social media in Islamophobia, extremism and social change. As you can imagine, faithful reader, I'm excited at the prospect of social media being taken seriously in this context and am looking forward to taking part in the conference myself.

Will was appointed Prevent Coordinator for Leicester in October last year. He talks me through how Prevent has changed, what it means now and how it relates to the distinctive circumstances of our city. I, in turn, walk him through the structure, function and relevance of Leicester Council of Faiths. We map out areas of overlap between Prevent and the Council of Faiths, complementary aspects of his work and mine, particularly regarding social cohesion. It would make sense for him to meet the Board of Leicester Council of Faiths to brief them on Prevent. I hope we can make that happen soon. I also offer to help him make contact with other appropriate organisations and agencies, such as Network for Change and Leicester SACRE.

The appointment of a Prevent Coordinator at S Philip's Centre was funded by the Home Office and is designed to co-ordinate the preventative strand of the Government's counter-terrorism strategy CONTEST in Leicester. The aim of Prevent is to help communities develop the resilience to counter the national threat in all its forms, and to empower the community itself with the support of partner agencies to address these difficult challenges.

As we're wrapping up our two-hour meeting, we discover a shared interest in comics. Will favours Marvel (particularly Daredevil, the Man Without Fear), while I'm more firmly DC. Those who get such things may see what that might tell us about Will - and about how he and I could work together.

Follow Will's Twitter feed, @Leics_SafeSPACE: challenging religious and political extremism and providing the space for Leicester's communities to debate the issues online.

Follow Leicester SafeSpace on Facebook: An online forum to discuss and debate issues of political or religious extremism, share ideas on making our communities more resilient to extremist voices and publicise local and national events of interest.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD SACRE MEMBER?

Going through the papers for the last SACRE meeting (at Uplands Primary, Tuesday 27 September), I come upon this set of questions fort a workshop activity. I thought it would be interesting to post it on the blog in its own right, rather than risk it being buried in a report on the last SACRE meeting . Those attending that meeting were asked to rank our top five from the list. None of us got anywhere near that in the time allowed.

What makes a good SACRE member?

In your pairs or groups consider how you would rate each of these characteristics of a good SACRE member and agree on a ranking for them, the most important first and the least significant last, discarding any that you think are inappropriate.

Our group got no farther than attempting to take out those points that would work for being a good member of just about anything - and trying to find what would be distinctive to SACRE. I wonder how you'd fare if you did the same, faithful reader - or if you'd have your own effective approach to the task.

1. A good SACRE member is open to all views and ideas
2. A good SACRE member seeks to understand the views of other members, rather than simply promoting his / her own agenda
3. A good SACRE member is willing to contribute to discussions
4. A good SACRE member has a clear understanding of his or her SACRE role
5. A good SACRE member is committed to SCRE meetings
6. A good SACRE member is well informed
7. A good SACRE member can work harmoniously with other members
8. A good SACRE member has time to spend in school
9. A good SACRE member listens more than he or she speaks
10. A good SACRE member is keen and able to communicate with teachers and pupils
11. A good SACRE member takes an active participative approach, following lines of enquiry of personal interest
12. A good SACRE member supports and encourages local schools to aspire to high standards in RE and collective worship
13. A good SACRE member is someone who has faith in her or himself
14. A good SACRE member shows dedication to pupils’ learning
15. A good SACRE member is confident about everything to do with RE and Collective Worship in schools
16. A good SACRE member takes an active part in the meeting
17. A good SACRE member is able to offer relevant experiences
18. A good SACRE member understands the positive value of RE and Collective Worship in schools
19. A good SACRE member has a sound knowledge of the relevant law
20. A good SACRE member is aware of local faith communities
21. A good SACRE member has the ability and confidence to question perceived wisdom (I think that should be “received wisdom”)
22. A good SACRE member is aware of the key RE and Collective Worship issues facing schools
23. A good SACRE member is a bridge between SACRE and local school