27 October 2021 | Binfield, UK [David Neal with Helen Pearson]<\/p>\n
The importance of \u2018Exploring Faith and Community Through Christian-Muslim Dialogue\u2019 was highlighted within three days of this year\u2019s Beach Lecture.<\/p>\n
British MP, Sir David Anthony Andrew Amess, was murdered while holding his constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea \u2013 allegedly by a \u2018British national of Somali heritage.\u2019 A statement from his heartbroken family requested \u201cpeople to set aside their differences and show kindness and love to all\u201d as the \u201conly way forward\u201d, regardless \u201cof one’s race, religious or political beliefs.\u201d The tragic Essex murder was a timely but brutal example of the need for people of all faith communities and none to foster a greater mutual understanding. <\/p>\n
Newbold\u2019s annual Beach lecture was endowed in 1998 by Doctor Bert and Mrs Eliane Beach who were committed to \u2018bridgebuilding\u2019 during their ministry in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. This year\u2019s lecture saw two inter-faith specialists share their stories \u2013 one Christian and one Muslim. <\/p>\n
Doctor Lia Shimada<\/strong>, Senior Researcher for the Susanne Wesley Foundation and Associate Chaplain of Whitelands College, University of Roehampton, has dedicated her mediation work to bringing people to understand \u2018the other\u2019, through peacebuilding within communities. <\/p>\n Shimada began the lecture by providing a framework of questions for effective dialogue between different faith communities. \u201cWhat is our understanding of the presence of God in the world? Can Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities find occasion to come together around the table to marvel at the mystery of God with an attitude of open-minded curiosity? And then perhaps for individual reflection, does our relationship to the sacred text we hold dear and trust implicitly, change and mature over the years?\u201d, Shimada invited the audience to ponder. <\/p>\n As 19.5 million refugees and 272 million migrants (UN figures), move around the world, Shimada wondered what happens as they take their faith and social traditions with them. He believes these figures highlight the critical need to understand \u2018the other\u2019. Shimada suggested that, just as leading religious leaders convene together for formal interfaith dialogue, there is a need for grass-root conversations that will pave the way to better mutual understanding. <\/p>\n The evening\u2019s second speaker, Imam Hassan Rabbani<\/strong>, is the Muslim chaplain at Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh. He is a Scottish Muslim scholar with a deep commitment to inter-faith work.<\/p>\n When \u201cChristian-Muslim dialogue is seen through a lens of animosity, tension, and crusades\u201d, explained Iman Rabbani, \u201cwe fail to see the many more peaceful encounters that have taken place.\u201d Sharing three pre-Middle Ages examples, Rabbani emphasised the extent to which Muslim faith often affirmed Christian values. He believes that UK Muslims need to connect with their country\u2019s Judeo-Christian heritage, particularly as Islam has \u2018preserved\u2019 much \u2018about Christ\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cIs it possible that today\u2019s Muslim leaders and their communities, living both in the East and the West, can find the same kind of freedom as was the experience of some early Muslims?\u201d, Rabbani pondered. \u201cMohamed was generous,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Rabbani recognised that encouraging inter-faith dialogue inevitably leads, both Christians and Muslims, to fear a \u2018dilution of their own faith\u2019 \u2013 a matter raised further in the subsequent Q & A section. \u201cIs my faith so weak that the minute I step into a church, I lose everything I have ever believed?\u201d, he questioned. \u201cFar from it,\u201d responded Shimada. \u201cInter-faith conversation\u2026 has been an amplifying experience\u2026 I would like to see people having the courage to take an initiative.\u201d<\/p>\n
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