Young Londoners address religion and diversity in the city.

‘Believing in London’ brought together 100 young Londoners from a wide range of different faiths and backgrounds. It asked them to share their experiences of religion and diversity in London. Participants came in school groups, with youth or faith groups or as individuals.

The event was attended by young people from all of the major faiths and we particularly targeted smaller faith groups as part of the recruitment drive. Most of the participants were Muslim, Christian or secular. Smaller numbers of participants also represented each of the major faiths. A majority of participants were female, but a targeted recruitment drive ensured that there was a reasonable gender balance.

The young participants took part in a day of activities and discussion. This involved workshops in different creative mediums and discussion sessions covering a range of contemporary and controversial issues. We also held a central Q & A session that gave participants the opportunity to put questions to young representatives from the major faiths.

The aim of the day was to bring young people together to engage in dialogues and discussions about issues of religion, diversity and identity. It provided a valuable opportunity for them to hear a variety of perspectives and to learn from each other’s experiences.

Participants were given a choice of activities and they signed up for sessions on the day. They took two different workshops and one discussion session; as well all attending the central Q & A session.

All of the discussion sessions were recorded and the participants’ opinions will be edited into an educational resource that can be used to stimulate discussions as part of Religious Education. This will be launched along side the British Library’s new exhibition, Sacred, which opens on 27 April 2007. This groundbreaking exhibition brings together some of the world’s most important and beautiful religious texts for the first time. Rare examples of Jewish, Christian and Muslim sacred texts from the Library’s collections will be presented alongside treasures on loan from other institutions. Sacred marks the first time that sacred texts from these three faiths will have been displayed and explored together, side by side, in a major UK exhibition.

Workshops

(Contact details for all workshop facilitators at bottom of page)

Drama (Lottie Bailey)

A participatory forum theatre workshop where participants identified examples of prejudice, then expressed opinions, improvised, socialised and analysed.
(www.eastside.org.uk) Email Lottie Bailey

Spoken Word Poetry (Mr Gee)

Led by performance poet, “Mr Gee” this creative workshop challenged participants to express themselves in spoken word poetry.
(www.mister-gee.com) Email Mr Gee

Media Journalism (Simon Cohen)

Different communities are not always well represented in the press. This workshop examined religion in the media and taught the participants practical journalistic skills.
(www.globaltolerance.com) Email Simon Cohen

Visual Arts – Art as protest! (Ayesha Ghanchi)

This hands-on workshop took art out of the galleries and on to the street as participants learnt how to put their identity and voice into their art.
Email Ayesha Ghanchi

Photo Media (Gabrielle Lobb)

Participants explored representation and identity through photographic media; answering questions such as: ‘Do photos just generate stereotypes?’ and ‘Can they change the way we think?’
(www.dasharts.org.uk) Email Gabrielle Lobb

‘Explore the World’s Knowledge’ (British Library)

An opportunity for all those who had never really explored what the British Library has to offer. Participants took a journey through the galleries and public spaces and were able to ask questions about knowledge, information and libraries.

Discussion Sessions

Right to Offend

his heated debate encouraged participants to discuss freedom of speech and its role in a democratic, multi-faith society. Participants were able to engage in informed and educated debate with the help of a guest a speaker from Article 19.

Faith and the Developing World

With speakers from Christian Aid, Islamic Relief and World Jewish Relief, this session explored the role of faith-based charities in the developing world; as well as sharing ideas on global citizenship.

Living in a Multi-faith Society

Participants discussed the causes of tension in multi-faith London and were encouraged to share their experiences and put solutions forward for community cohesion.

Faith, Family and Identity

This session looked at the influence that faith and culture has on ideas of family. Participants were shown contemporary film clips, and then discussed their own reactions and experiences.

The Sanctity of Life

This controversial session covered a number of hot topics such as euthanasia, stem cell research, suicide and capital punishment. Along with a guest speaker, the students exchanged opinions and looked at the role religion played in forming views on these issues.

Question and answer session

The Q & A Session was chaired by Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti, alongside a panel of young representatives from the major faiths: Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Bahá’í and Judaism. All of the young representatives were asked to speak from their own experiences and perceptions rather than acting as strict authorities on each of their religions.

The session covered the three themes of ‘personal beliefs’, ‘living in multi-faith London’ and ‘the representation of religions’. This was a hugely successful feature of the day: not only did it allow the audience ask questions, but also enabled them to actively get involved in the discussions.
Evaluation

‘Believing in London’ was a great success and feedback from the day was consistently very positive. When asked to describe the event most commonly participants used words such as ‘informative’, ‘interesting’, ‘fun’, ‘inspiring’, ‘educational’ and ‘exciting’.

The workshops were undoubtedly the highlight of the day for vast majority of the participants. The Drama and Spoken Word Poetry workshops were exceptionally well received with almost every participant awarding the highest rating. Media Journalism, Photo Media and Visual Arts were also well received, all of which averaged a rating of ‘2’ (1 denoting ‘really interesting’ and 5 denoting ‘not that great’).

The discussion sessions were on the whole received well by the participants. The discussion sessions of ‘Faith, family and identity’ and ‘faith in the developing world’ were slower in attracting participants in terms of signing up, however, these two sessions received the most positive feedback. The ‘Right to Offend’ and ‘Sanctity of Life’ discussions were very popular choices on the day.

Many of the participants enjoyed the Q & A session, with the majority responding with the word ‘definitely’. Many participants said they enjoyed it ‘because everyone got to give their point of view’ and it was a chance to ‘hear the views of so many people from different religions’. Others enjoyed it because it was ‘young people talking’ and a ‘heated debate’.

The ‘diary room’ was very well-used with participants queuing up to express their opinions to camera. The participants were generally very confident and eager to ask questions. Of all the participants, 90% had never been to the British Library before. 100% of all respondents said ‘yes’ the British Library should run more events for young people.

Participants’ Comments

When asked to describe the event:

“Fantastic, Exciting, Interesting…everyone got to give their point of view”

“It brought to my attention some issues which made me query my current views on life and gave me loads of things to think about that I had never considered before.

“Insightful, interactive, great!”

“Fun, feisty, enthusiastic…heated debate”

“Gave everyone a chance to speak and express diversity.”

“Motivated me to gain more insight and aim to dig deeper into looking into such religions sooner rather than later”

“It was interesting to hear the view of others – and similarities between the views of different religions”When asked what new things they learnt:

“Different religions can work together or be together”

“People’s opinions outside my community”

“More religions; to trust others”

“It is not right to blame a whole religion or race for problems that a small group caused.”