THE Church Times has joined forces for the first time with the newspaper Jewish News and the TV channel British Muslim TV to encourage young people involved in interfaith collaboration.
This week, the three media organisations, together with Coexist House, an organisation that supports religious dialogue, launched “21 for 21”: a search for 21 young people who are making a significant difference to relationships between the three Abrahamic faiths.
Readers are invited to nominate people aged 35 or under who have made a contribution to interfaith harmony in any field: dialogue, study, social projects, politics, sport, etc. A distinguished panel of judges will select 21 of these — seven Jews, seven Christians, and seven Muslims — who will receive an award at a ceremony in Lambeth Palace in November.
The deadline for nominations is 29 June. Each of the media outlets will profile the selected nominees.
The judges are:
Christian: the President of the Methodist Conference, the Revd Michaela Youngson; the Most Revd Kevin McDonald, Archbishop Emeritus of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark and interfaith lead for the RC Church in England and Wales; and a third judge to be confirmed.
Muslim: the Islamic scholar and imam Sheikh Ibrahim Mogra; the writer and broadcaster Sarah Joseph; the Director-General of the Scottish Ahlul Bayt Society, Imam Sayed Ali Abbas Razawi.
Jewish: Rabbi Dr Harvey Belovski, of the United Synagogue; Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner, Senior Rabbi of the Movement for Reform Judaism; and Rabbi Joseph Dweck, Senior Rabbi, S&P Sephardi Community.
Others: Jonathan Hellewell, special adviser on communities to the Prime Minister; Sir Bernard Rix, chair of trustees, Coexist House; and Michael Wakelin, director of programmes, Coexist House.
The judges will be chaired by Andrew Gilbert.
A spokesperson for the four partner organisations said: “The narrative of faiths in constant conflict is all too dominant today — often perpetuated by the media. Through this unique collaboration, we look forward to shining a light on those demonstrating in their work and their lives how their faith makes them more open, not less, to friendships and social action across cultural boundaries.
“With a combined audience of more than 350,000 across the three communities, we are uniquely placed to highlight the many glowing examples of positive interactions to our readers and viewers, and to spread awareness to wider society.”
For more details and the nomination form, visit: 21421.co.uk.
Our partners:
Jewish News is the biggest-distribution newspaper serving the UK’s 300,000-strong Jewish community. It has an exclusive UK digital partnership with The Times of Israel, and has created a number of initiatives, including Night of Heroes, Jewish Living Expo, and Jewish School Awards.
British Muslim TV is a new TV channel with a range of educational and entertaining content. Broadcasting 24 hours a day, and available to watch free on Sky or stream online, the station’s programming focuses on the British Muslim community.
Coexist House is a global centre for transforming public understanding of the practices and perspectives of the world’s religions. It was created in 2015 in partnership with the City of London Corporation, the University of Cambridge, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Inner Temple, and the Coexist Foundation.
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