On 17th January, a group of students and teachers from SI Madressa, Stanmore attended a talk by the former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Rowan Williams entitled: The City, Trust and Spirituality organised by the Patchwork Foundation.
Here is a recount of the evening by Kumail Jaffer of SI Madressa:
Lord Williams, inspired many that were present in St James’ Church on 17th January. SI Madressa was fortunate enough to attend and take part in the event; an engaging speech on spirituality and trust, before interacting with the audience. Lord Williams took numerous questions which ranged from whether London’s multicultural diversity helps to promote spirituality between different communities, to whether the Church needs to ‘feminise’ itself.
The speech itself was directed at a primarily Muslim and Christian audience. Lord Williams displayed “a vision of dignity” and outlined the necessity in a diverse society such as ours to see past racial and cultural differences. As Londoners, perhaps as illustrated on the Tube, we seem to be apprehensive approaching strangers of our own culture, never mind somebody with a completely different background, set of beliefs and lifestyle. Here, Lord Williams stressed the importance of looking at a stranger and contemplating “I am not going to be fully human without that stranger”. The idea of spirituality, perhaps the more religious aspect of the talk, was quickly redefined; he joked “Spirituality is a modern word… it seems to say that religious belief is a bit difficult and not all that attractive, but we quite like the warm feelings,”., before outlining that spirituality itself was a means of achieving the vision of a unified society.
Meanwhile, the Q and A session consisted of many different queries from people of all different backgrounds (quite appropriate to the event). Questions ranged from whether the Church needs to move away from the patriarchal time in which it was formed, to sincere questions such as asking what individuals should do to catalyse the process of spirituality and harmony. It also outlined the modern outlook of Lord Williams, as he talked about the dangers of social media; this didn’t stop him from accepting to take a ‘selfie’ with a Madressa volunteer though.
On a personal level, I felt that this was not only a refreshing education about spirituality and trust, which are vital in forming interfaith relationships, but to actually be presented with an opportunity to do so; where else would you see the SI Madressa sitting on a pew right next to Westminster School? After the event, viewing the mesmerising discussions between people of different faiths actively conversing on issues that occur in their communities and the wider world was fascinating; in itself, this seemed to epitomise the effect that Lord Williams’ speech had.
In the future, I hope to see more of these events take place, in order to spread this message of interfaith harmony to all of society. (Desmond Tutu “My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.”)
