Churchinterfaitb

Dear Friends,


This is my first blog on this site. I will try to keep it brief. I have felt a calling inside me from a young age to fight injustice. I had a Muslim friend at school who was constantly being picked on because of the colour of his skin and his faith and the shop his parents owned was often vandalised. I also had a Catholic friend who attended the Cathloic High School. In Scotland there are generally two schools, one non-demoninational and the other Roman Catholic. When i was younger this was often a source of tension as kids rarely mixed from the two schools and occassionally would fight one another. Both these instances added to a terrific teacher who taught me about Martin Luther King and his fight against injustice and for equal rights and the teachings of Gandhi made me think, 'why if there is so much more that unites than divides us is there so much tension between faiths?'

The more i studied the more i realised that the root of all faiths is love and compassion and that it is only ignorance and wicked people who choose to manipulate sacred texts for there own selfish ends that leads to conflict in the name of religion. As a Christian i believe that Jesus called on us to love our neighbour and that means getting to know our neighbur and building relationships based on trust and respect. I believe that people of all faiths have a duty to fight injustice and to create harmnonious societies based on love and trust. I belive that religions communities are a big part of the soloution to the problems facing the world today. There values are the foundation of possible cures.

JONATHAN SWIFT said:
"We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another." I think this is true. There is much false information and ignorance that surrounds other faiths that this can become a barrier, ignorance often leads to discrimination. People of faith should seek to learn from one another. As secularism increases the voice of all faiths needs to unite against this and other challenges.


"A religious awakening which does not awaken the sleeper to love has roused him in vain. "The Quaker Reader, 1962

I love this quote to truly be a committed follower of a faith we need to learn to love others. I am fortunate that in Scotland my post allows me to work with inspirational people of all faiths helping to build and bridge relatioships between them.

I look foward to learning from people more experienced in these areas on this site and perhaps blessed with greater gifts than me in this are.

Warm Regards


Iain Stewart

(Church of Scotland Inter-Faith Worker)