Multi-faith perspectives in Further and Higher Education
- an urgent imperative, and desirable challenge

I begin with two recent experiences.  On Monday, I made my first ever visit to 10 Downing Street, where I was one of 75 persons from all faiths invited by Tony and Cherie Blair, to a lecture given by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, on faith and religious education.  The lecture itself was fascinating, and centred on what he saw as the questionability of the challenge to include the study of atheism in such education.  But what was also fascinating was Tony Blair's introduction where he affirmed his conviction that religion had more importance globally than at any time in his lifetime at least, and the imperative of religious communities to work together, through dialogue and common service, for the very future of the world and of the Britain of which he is Prime Minister.  He said this as a strongly practicing Anglican, married to a strongly practicing Roman Catholic.  But his observation echoes that of the chief Rabbi, Jonathon Sacks, in his recent book the Dignity of Difference, that 'if religion is not part of a solution, it will be part of the problem.'  He goes on, 'When religion is invoked as a justification for conflict, religious voices must be raised in protest.'  And the challenge to us all, 'Do we speak to and within the narrow loyalties of our faith, or does our faith itself give rise to a generosity of spirit capable of recognising the integrity- yes, even the sanctity- of worlds outside our faith?'  The evening in Downing Street was an actual recognition of this, and also was symbolic of the two historical parts of the establishment, Westminster and Canterbury coming together without apology and with mutual respect, to say that we are in this venture together, and that we are determined to be part of a solution, not a problem. 

The 75 leaders in the reception were there because they had fought long and hard for the recognition of this path, within their faith communities, localities, and across faiths, and this task has only just begun.  Many were there because of the historical story that had led their country to be part of the British empire, and as a consequence, had brought to these islands, not just the Jews of Europe, but the Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus of the Asian subcontinent.  I met an Indian consultant doctor on a train in South India last summer- when he found that I was a Christian priest from Britain, he said that I lived in the most important country in the world- because if the multi religious, multi cultural society could not work in Britain, it could not work anywhere in the world, and he challenged me to work at it.   The recent controversies about the Hijab in France, Germany and increasingly other places in mainland Europe, shows the different world in which we are fortunate to live here.

This is not a reason for complacency, but for urgent response to the challenge from the Indian doctor.  We cannot remain where we are - we need to move forward, or slip back.  The City of Leicester, where I come from, has become a symbol of inter religious harmony, with its 36% of faiths other than Christian and rising yearly, and 49% in our schools, and a variety of different faiths, with a Hindu community even larger than the Muslim one, and with the BNP getting less than 1000 votes in the about 10 places they stood in last year's elections.   I visited Burnley recently, and I could see there a different world.  But I am also aware that things can change rapidly, not least if there were to be an economic downturn.  Hard work by faith leaders and sustained commitment from congregations of all faiths is needed, if progress is to be continued.  

The second incident indicates that not all think as the Prime Minister, the Archbishop and the Chief Rabbi.  The BBC broadcast a debate from Leicester, in the World Tonight programme.  The theme was 'Leicester - still a British city?'  An absurd title, unless we assume British equals white European.  But they called six questions for the panel, which included the Bishop of Leicester, a Hindu and a young Muslim.   In the brief sent to potential questioners, all that was mentioned were issues of race and culture and tradition.  Nothing about religion.  I put in a question about the religious dimensions of the city, and their effects, for good or ill.   I was told as I arrived, that they had too many questions for this to be put.  For 45 minutes, even with his verbal dexterity, the Bishop only once was able to speak briefly about the work done in the religious field, which is considerable.  Even that part of his answer was edited out in the live broadcast two hours later!   I was reminded of Alistair Campbell's famous instruction to reporters, 'We don't do religion.'  The BBC was certainly not doing religion that evening.  This seemed absurd as I arrived home, in a parish which is now 82% of faiths other than Christian, and where, as every evening, people were pouring into the local mosque for prayers, and where more prayers are said today than probably at any time in the history of East Leicester.  The BBC that evening, was ignoring a critical dimension of this city, and of most of our large cities.  It was also ignoring the challenge, very obvious since 9.11, but there for decades, as to how religions can work together and how this can enrich and not just threaten each other.

Living and working together can be seen as a necessity, but one not to be welcomed, but minimised.  This can be seen as living alongside each other, but not with each other.  It can be seen as temporary phenomenon, until things get back to the old days, or until we can move to our own area, a white flight, or as we are finding in several places, a Hindu/Sikh flight, from Muslim areas.  Or a remaining close to the mosque, and so being able to recreate a Pakistan or Bangladesh in a part taken over within our cities and towns, where school, doctor, shops, neighbours and projects, are all of 'our faith' and 'our community'.  Such polarisation is a recipe for suspicion, fear, indifference and outright hostility.  The BNP has seen how they can exploit such dynamics, with its blatant ant-Islamic propaganda, after suborning  Sikh and Hindu voices onto its tapes or literature.  It is of local pride that it was all groups together, through the Council of Faiths, amongst others, that called successfully for the banning of two BNP marches in Leicester in the last three years.  The challenge of the Indian consultant is to work for something different from this, and the FE/HE sector is a vital one in doing that.

Why is it vital?

• Its size.  Government policy in at least the last fifteen years has been radically to increase the size of the HE sector.  When I was at University in the 60's, 5% went to higher education, the policy remains to reach 50%, and this is nearer to achievement than many government targets.  The FE sector is also enormous, with the delinking of sixth forms from schools, and the creation of a separate sector.  Leicester College is by far the largest education provider in Leicester, with about 35,000 students.   So also with staff numbers.  FE/HE competes with the National Health Service to be the largest employer in a city like Leicester, and such would apply in most cities.
• Its legal position as a major employer.  The new European regulations against discrimination in the work place, specify 'Religion or Belief' as a dimension to be addressed.  A booklet provides advice on how this can be applied to HE.  It includes a statement of intent- this institution celebrates and values the diversity brought to its workforce by individual member of staff and aims to create an environment where the cultural, religious and non-religious beliefs of all are respected.'  It then gives very specific recommendations about how this can be done.  It is urgent that this leads to the recruitment of more staff from across faiths.  A leading Muslim student in Leicester University told me that the number of Muslim academic staff remains minimal, and they are largely on the administrative area.
• Its growing ethnic and religious diversity.  Institutions vary, but FE is an area where Muslims are over represented in proportion to the population.  The proportion of Hindus going to higher education is greater than that of the white community.  Numbers vary.  Leicester University has about 900 Muslim students amongst its 15,000 students, and the numbers are much higher in a new university such as De Montfort.  Numbers are rising fast.  In addition, there is a great drive to get overseas students, many of whom are from Muslim and other backgrounds.
• The growing profile of people of these faiths within the institutions, mirroring the growing profile in society.  Muslims are no longer willing to be taken for granted, they want to be recognised as such.  Other faiths want to show that they are not willing to be ignored, just because they appear, as they say, 'to cause less trouble than Muslims.'
• The fact that institutions such as these are a window of opportunity in people's lives.  They are a period when they are less under the control of their families, or their local communities. Of course, the proportion of students attending local institutions of higher education is high, from these groups, and FE is by its nature local.  This limits the amount of freedom possible for most.  Indeed, the motivation for white parents to send their children to local universities is usually financial, while Asian parents hope thereby to keep control, particularly of girls, for a little longer - illustration from our neighbour.  Nevertheless, within these constraints, it is a time when opinions are consolidated, formed, or progressed, and where experiments in lifestyle, thought, and horizons, can be extended.  It is also an impressionable age, when leadership from one direction or another can be over influential, and where peer group pressure is very high.  This time is also one which is likely to be foundational, not just for a person's career and aims in live, but also for their religious or non-religious outlook  Soon after leaving universities, the students of Asian background at least are likely to get married.  Many will be employed within their own sector, and barriers may return.
• It is a place where, at least in Higher Education, religious practice tends to be higher than the average, but often where it is prey to excess zeal and sometimes extremism.  It is a place too when religious groups of various kinds may try to take advantage of the vulnerability of young minds, their displacement from the home environment, their uncertainty about the future in a very competitive world, their growing enslavement to debt, crises about personal relationships, issues of alcohol and drugs.  They see a field ripe for the winning of converts, and most inter religious conversion takes place between the ages of 18 and 30, which is no surprise.  Of course, there can be legitimate and genuine conversions, but there can also ones, which create resentment and a possible backlash, which goes much wider than just the family of the convert.
• It is one of the places where issues of secularism and faith are most likely to fought over.  I was at one of the two ancient universities, where the position of the Church of England is enshrined, and it was only in the 19^th century that even other Christian denominations could find a place.  Chaplains and chapels abound.  Yet even here, in Oxford, they are building at this moment a major centre for Islamic studies, and already there are Hindu and Jewish institutes.  This mirrors what is also happening in Cambridge.  Universities like Leicester became aggressively secular in the 70's and 80's, the theology faculty was abolished, and the chaplaincy placed deliberately outside the campus.  There are also no religions faculties in De Montfort or Loughborough, our other two local universities, very strange in view of the population around us.  Religion has begun to fight back, and there is a clear regret that things have gone so far the other way.  But there is far to go at an academic level.  On the positive level, three of our FE colleges now have paid chaplains, all half time, and such was the impact of an experiment in this direction at Leicester College, that when the chaplain recently left, there was no hesitation on the part of the management in financing a replacement.  There are increasing demands for chaplains from other faiths, raising a number of questions to be addressed later.   But, from the institution's point of view, to have a positive approach to all faiths, can be seen, at the least, as a useful recruiting too, particularly for revenue bearing overseas students, but also within local areas.  In India, 'secularism' means, giving equal opportunities to all faiths, and not having bias; this is maybe the form of secularism we should encourage, not that which outlaws all forms of religious language, and public expression of faith, privatising it in the way the French use of secularism leads us.
• Universities are a laboratory for experiment, and for pushing out the boundaries of thought.  They are a place where, above all, we should be learning from each other.  This should happen in the religious and spiritual sphere as well as elsewhere.  They should be places to learn how historically we have treated each other as religions, and how we can work together for a better world.  Agendas of social cohesion, the common good, international understanding, conflict resolution should be part of the agenda, as well as those of theology, scriptures and spirituality.  Religion can be dimension within several major faculties, and not kept within its own ghetto.   Universities can also be a key place for inter faith dialogue, if the atmosphere and the leadership is right.  We run five dialogue groups in Leicester, involving Christians, Muslims, Jews and Hindus.  My disappointment is that so far we have not made any breakthrough into involving significant numbers of people, either staff or students, from the university or college sectors.
• The university is increasingly seen as a functional place, where research, output, and career development, numbers of students, are the important ends, which are felt to be measurable.   The religions together can offer something counter cultural, that suggest that the dimension of life they represent is not an optional concern for a few, but can provide a critique, and an alternative world view which at least needs a hearing.  This can increasingly be better done, and with more integrity and strength, if done together, rather than in competition.

What then are some of the practical challenges we face together?

• Speaking as an Anglican, how to use the established place of the Anglican Chaplains?  They are recognised by the universities, though usually financed by the church, and such posts are always vulnerable, as parishes lose their clergy, and sector posts are an easy place to bring cuts.  They need reaffirming for the breadth of their role.  This includes providing a place and opportunities for usually part time chaplains from other denominations, and a share in the chaplaincy facilities. And in our local universities, there has been a sharing of costs issues here.  But increasingly the role should include the perhaps interim tasks of providing a gateway for other faiths to come through.  This has happened quite obviously, and increasingly fast, in the hospital and prison sectors, though there is a long way to catch up.  In FE and HE it appears to have hardly started.  To be encouraging developments in this direction will of ten make the chaplain unpopular amongst some Christian staff, and many students, and also the kind of churches the majority attend.  The chaplain is there to minister to the Christian students, and, where possible, seek for opportunities to engage in evangelism, implicit or explicit. But this is not the way forward being suggested in this paper, and is likely to lead to the kind of parallel lives scenario in this sector, which mirrors that outlined before.  It may also be off putting for students like my own children, who could not bear the kind of mutual exclusivism found in the religious groups they met, and these years had a negative effect on their faith journey.  At its most extreme, I had the experience of being part of the Archbishop's initiative, Listening to Muslims, in 5 British cities.  When we came to Leicester, the chaplain arranged an excellent meeting with the Islamic Society at De Montfort.  The Christian Union refused to meet us. The Chaplains should be willing to act as gatekeepers, and to open the gate.  After some time, there will hopefully no need for there to be a gate, for them, or anyone else, to open.
• The concept of chaplain needs to be explored, and made inclusive, and training to be offered.  It is not a word found in the vocabulary of people of faiths other than Christian.  I am one of the Advisors, and a Resource Person for a Muslim Chaplaincy course established at the Islamic Foundation in Markfield, just outside Leicester.   I was approached as a Christian to offer this support, and now there are 5 Christians on the Advisory group from different sectors.  The intention had been to offer this for the hospital and prison sectors.  I suggested that the educational sector could be added, and so it is there. In the first year of this part time course, 15 graduated, two for the educational sector.  Thirty have just enrolled for the second group.  Hopefully, more will be this sector, though the lack of paid posts is a deterrent.  People come from all over the country for training, including Manchester, and it would be good if this could include the colleges represented here this evening.  The Muslim leadership recognises that the concept of chaplain is one from which they wish to learn. The traditional Imam is clearly a teacher and a leader of prayer.  The pastoral role becomes a key one in chaplaincy.  But also we are exploring how far the Muslim chaplain can play a full part in a team, and be available to more than their own people, in the way that has happened traditionally for Anglican chaplains.  There has been considerable progress here.  But one of the subjects for all, is living within a multi religious community, and the implications for their work, and how this can be seen as a positive context for learning as well as teaching.
• The provision of prayer rooms, halal or kosher meat, alternative entertainments to the usual diet of bars and night club style parties, needs to be addressed.  So also the recognition of religious holidays beyond the Christian ones   Perhaps some progress has been made here, but it may mean Christians giving up space, to provide for others.  It is important also that faiths other than Muslim are remembered, and how that can be best addressed in each place is important.  Multi religious advisory groups and committees are clearly very important, and also multi religious teams of chaplains.  The very sign of working together can indicate possibilities within the university and beyond.  The staff also need to be encouraged to take part in such programmes.  A Muslim student said to me that it is difficult that all initiatives seem to be down up- rather than a shared commitment, or even, sometimes, top down.
• Intentional programmes can be offered.  These can include dialogues, events, debates which include all faiths.  Or they can be specifically between two faiths, or two religious societies.  The latter is likely to reach more depth.  One faith can provide an awareness week, and that can include people of another faith.  Next week, I am going to have a discussion with an Imam colleague - already a close friend - in front of students, and we will invite questions.  Hopefully, people other than Muslims will come.  Festivals can clearly be opened up to others, and awareness building days such as a common fast in Ramadan, which can include fund raising.  Chaplaincy lectures can be on themes and have speakers, which will attract a varied audience.  Fund raising events can be done together, or work with such groups as asylum seekers, or the homeless.  Empathy for each other's problems, and a willingness to combine together for particular causes- such, as for example, demonstrations related to the Iraq war, can also build up confidence.
• There are four well known principles of dialogue - dialogue begins when people meet people, it involves removing misunderstanding and building up trust, it leads to common service in the community, and it leads to authentic witness.  These four can guide any programme, including that within Higher Education.  And witness remains important.  We are called to share our faith, but not to manipulate people.  We witness by our words, our life style, and our openness to our neighbour, of whatever faith or none.
• There are extremist groups in all faiths - Muslim, yes, but also Christian, Hindu and others.  The Muslim groups tend to emphasis political causes, Christians a conversion agenda.  They can give the impression that they are larger than they actually are, but small groups can have a disproportionate effect, just as used to happen with extreme Marxist groups infiltrating organisations.  The Muslim groups have come to the public eye because of the terrorism issue.  They have particular institutions where they are stronger, though not necessarily strong in numbers.   I am told that these are in London, and in some universities in cities where there are not so many mosques and other Islamic institutions.  In Leicester they are weak, and not welcome in any of the 23 local mosques.  But we need to be watchful, since recruitment now can lead to a lifetime of commitment to causes, which are a danger to the world, as well as inter religious harmony.  The best way to oppose them is to strengthen the Islamic societies and other representative organisations.  It is to provide the kind of support suggested throughout this paper.  It has been well said that it is the responsibility of leaders of each faith to face down their own extremists.  This means also Christians standing against inappropriate methods of evangelism, or closed fundamentalist attitudes.
• The issue of Islamophobia needs to be named and addressed.  The university cannot be isolated from the rest of society, of course, but many Muslim students can testify to how they have suffered even more since 9.11 than before.  There needs to be clear policy that the institution officially will have no truck with such things, and that it will work to an ethos which will increase the confidence of Muslim students that this is a safe place to be.  Chaplains can play a key role in enabling such issue to be examined.   But there can also be a kind of religious people phobia, which makes it difficult, for example, to admit one is a Christian.  Probably, the more open practice of faith by other faiths, can help the Christian here, to 'come out'.  This is certainly a difficult area for the Christian in the vast FE sector, where my wife teaches, and where she is only aware of the faith of the majority who are not Christian.
• We do not need to reinvent the wheel.  In Loughborough they are considering a multi faith chaplaincy centre, and the chaplain ahs supplied me with the research he has done, which has included examples of such places from Derby, Lancaster, Sheffield Hallam, Essex, South Bank, Hertfordshire, St Andrew's.  I could add Surrey, where I was called to give advice.   The very act of working together can create the trust that can help with the next stages of chaplaincy.
• The kind of cross faith development worker appointment that you are envisaging is an important way forward, where all put their trust in a worker of whatever faith.   In Leicester, we have a Muslim employed partly by the church, and partly by the Council of Faiths, and Voluntary Action Leicester, as Faiths Regeneration Officer.  This has worked excellently because of the quality of the young man appointed, and his absolute clarity that he is not working for the interests of any community, neither the Christian one, though his office is in Church House, nor his own Muslim community, though he lives in the heart of it.  He has a management group across faiths, chaired by an Archdeacon, and it is working!

I end by returning to Rowan Williams.  In his lecture, highlighted in the Guardian, he emphasised that religious education should not be about including atheism, but about religions being purified by atheism.  It should be a time for exploring alternative religious beliefs, and by the critique of an atheist such as Philip Pullman, or Bertram Russell, examine the validity of any religious belief, or spirituality, or of the God whom we believe in.  He added that if you believe in a mortal God who can win or lose power, your religion will be saturated with anxiety - and so with violence.  The wrong kind of God is dangerous, and Rowan quotes the Zen Buddhist saying, 'If you meet the Buddha, slay him.'   The university can be a place where false and dangerous Gods can be cleansed, not just by atheist critique, but the critique of other faiths than our own.  And that in itself is an imperative for inter faith dialogue, so that faiths can each believe deeply in their own truths, acknowledging their differences, but also be proud of how those differences are dealt with.  And the Chaplains can be key instruments in such an outcome.

Andrew Wingate, Inter Faith Adviser, and Canon Theologian, Leicester

andangwingate@ntlworld.com