Swansea Council and the city’s Interfaith Forum are joining up to help celebrate Interfaith Week this week.
The annual event normally sees hundreds of people from many different faiths and beliefs getting together in each other’s meeting places to build relationships and stage discussions and events.
Due to the pandemic this year’s occasion is rather different with most events taking place online. But there’s still a whole range of opportunities to get involved in, ranging from photo competitions and cooking events to quizzes and lectures.
Cllr Alyson Pugh, Swansea Council’s Cabinet member for better communities, said:
“We’re proud to be working with our faith communities and supporting the various activities planned by the Swansea Faith forum which will be delivered throughout the week.
“Our partnership with the Interfaith Forum will strengthen our community fabric and will provide the opportunity to people from different backgrounds, faiths and non-faith to work together towards a strong Swansea. I am grateful to all those who made this happen.”
Mandy Williams, Chair of Swansea Interfaith Forum, is also and Faith and Community manager at Swansea University. She said: “Interfaith week provides us with a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the significant contribution our faith communities in Swansea make in both good and challenging times such as Covid-19.
“This week we are able to bring all our communities together to increase interfaith dialogue and to better connect with our communities of faith and belief in the broadest sense.”
Riaz Hassan, Swansea Council’s Community Cohesion Coordinator, said: “The example of our society is like a human body. Each organ has a specific role and contribution when one of them gets weak or do not perform to its full potential, it has an impact on the whole body. The same way each section of our society have a role to play, the diversity of our communities when used to its full potential play a significant role towards a more inclusive, prosperous, healthier and happier community.”
Swansea Interfaith Forum is an informal group and is made up of people who come from many different faiths and cultures. The forum works together for the following purposes:
- To share and build knowledge of each other’s faiths and beliefs
- To arrange events to celebrate and promote inter-faith dialogue
The purpose of Inter Faith Week is to build good relationships and working partnerships between people of different faiths and beliefs and to welcome of no particular faith who want to find out more. A group of committed and enthusiastic members of different faiths and beliefs in Swansea have joined to offer the following activities during this week:
- Interfaith photo competition
- Simple cook-along
- Interfaith stories
- Morning prayer & meditation
- Lecture and discussion with Alexander John
- LGBT+ faith gathering
- Remembrance service
- Kahoot Social quiz; and
- Friday prayer from Swansea Central mosque.
- A full calendar of activities is available with relevant online links and available on request.
This year part of the Interfaith Week, we are encouraging community members to take part in an ‘Interfaith Photo Competition and win a £25-pound voucher. People need to show us where they feel most connected to their faith. We are asking people to:
- Take a picture of a place where you feel most connected with your faith
- Write a short caption explaining why you chose this spot
- Submit your work until 5:00 pm on Thursday 12th Nov 2020 via
- @campuslife
- community.safety@swansea.gov.uk
- M@saferswanseapartnership
- 07814104816
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