News

A community iftar event, organised by the Oldham Interfaith Forum in collaboration with the Fatima Women's Association and Bame Connect, marked a significant gathering where women from diverse faith backgrounds congregated. The event provided a platform for participants to share insights into the religious observances occurring in the month of March, encompassing Ramadan, Lent, and Holi.

Attended by a total of 75 women, the event fostered an atmosphere of unity and mutual understanding, where individuals from different faith traditions came together to celebrate their respective religious festivals. The occasion served as a testament to the power of interfaith dialogue and cooperation in promoting inclusivity and harmony within our community.

Molana Akmal joined Father Philip Sumner at St. Patrick’s Church this Sunday, demonstrating a powerful act of solidarity and unity between our faith communities. This gathering reflects our shared commitment to fostering mutual respect and understanding, reinforcing the bonds that connect us all.

Father Philip Sumner recently attended a local mosque in Oldham as part of our ongoing efforts to foster unity among faith communities. Together, we are actively working to challenge and address any instances of racism, which have been causing significant fear within our local communities.

This collaboration highlights our shared commitment to promoting peace, understanding, and solidarity across all faiths.

As part of our ongoing engagement, we collaborated with Year 9 students at The Radclyffe School to organise a presentation evening for families. During this event, the students shared their work from throughout the year, focusing on the similarities between various faiths.
The Interfaith Forum had the opportunity to highlight these similarities and further enrich the evening by featuring a Nasheed artist, who used poetry to discuss religious themes. The event was well-attended, with 120 people participating.

Representatives of the Muslim, Christian, and Hindu faiths to offer an overview of their beliefs and practices and discuss the human and ethical values they share. The response to the panel was overwhelmingly positive:
"The interfaith forum organised for a panel of religious representatives to come and speak at our school as part of the Faith in Oldham project. Students choose topics they are interested in, pose relevant questions to the panel, and then use this information to create presentations. The students gained so much from experiencing these panels. The panel members were able to answer their questions in detail, and were able to see interfaith in practice in the way in which panel members support one another and show an interest and appreciation for each other's faiths. Many students arrived thinking that there are only differences and left understanding that there are so many things which unite these faiths.
Students attending said -

"I enjoyed the interfaith panel because they spoke about how different religions came together and united in Oldham to keep the peace." - Zianna
"I enjoyed hearing the amount of knowledge they had about different religions." - Imtiaz
"A very enjoyable time. It was very informative and eye-opening." - Ayaaz
"I really liked this experience because it was very different as it showed how different religions can come together to share their similarities and differences." - Kayaan
"This was my first panel so I really enjoyed it because of the cooperation I saw between the members." - Zainab
"It was very educational and inclusive." - Lucy
"The experience was fun and interesting." - Che
"It was good as we got to see different perspectives." - Isabella

In recent months, the steering group planned a summer event titled "Together Not Divided." This event facilitated interactions and connections among women through six rounds of questions. During these rounds, participants moved to different tables to engage with individuals they did not previously know. Women Growing Together provided prompts for discussion, including:

• Introduce yourselves (e.g., work, families, hobbies, and your faith).
• How has your faith changed you over the years and influenced your understanding?
• What does your faith mean to you?
• What do you like most about your faith?
• What similarities do you share with the person you are talking to?

This event proved to be a wonderful opportunity for women to get to know one another and build meaningful connections. 80 women participated in this event.

The purpose of the multi-faith event was to facilitate meaningful encounters among people of differing religious outlooks. The gathering enabled us to discover our rich commonalities and appreciate new aspects of our own and others’ traditions, and widen the circle of involvement and friendship in our diverse society.

Oldham Interfaith Forum had the privilege of participating in a special service held at Oldham Parish Church to welcome the newly elected Mayor of Oldham, Zahid Chauhan.

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Suraj Agravat and Imam Attiq Hussain Qadrii for their inspiring and beautiful readings from Islam and Hindu scriptures. Your contributions added a profound sense of unity and spirituality to the occasion and highlighted our diverse community.