The Movement for Reform Judaism

The seminar began with a panel discussion featuring Dr Amineh Hoti, Rabbi Dr Michael Shire and Reverend Dr Mark Wakelin – with Rabbi Charles Middleburgh in the Chair – to discuss the role of Faithful People in a Faithless Society. This was followed by workshops on issues including social justice, preaching, faith schools and sexuality, where participants shared their views on the interplay between their faith and the wider British society.

The second half of the seminar focussed on practical aspects of religious and community leadership, giving participants space to explore topics such as prayer, holy books, spirituality and the role of lay and clergy leaders.

In a practical display of joint working, participants created a ceremony using extracts of texts from each of the three faiths. Mamadou Bocoum, an Imam and lecturer at the Muslim College said of the ceremony:

"I’ll never forget the moment when all the participants were under a 'Tree of Peace', constructed of everyone’s prayers for peace. While under the 'tree' I came to the realisation that God, Allah or religion cannot and should not be served at the expense of human suffering, but only for peace."

This was the third seminar in the Clergy United series. Throughout them all, participants have built lasting contacts and the Leo Baeck College hopes to be able to take this work further in the future. The seminars were made possible due to a grant from the Faith Communities Capacity Building Fund.        

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