
in my experience voluntary organisations which focus on justice issues, many of which originated as Christian charities, wish to widen their membership and involvement to include people of different faiths. They go to faith communities to invite them to get involved but ...... the agenda often belongs to the organisation and is not necessarily a priority for the religions that are being invited to get involved; and often it is the same people who are being approached so that faith communities, which on the whole are small, are overstretched. If an organisation or project is to be genuinely multifaith then the agenda has to emerge from the common concern of people of different faiths. Because we live in a multifaith world many institutions, public, private and voluntary are multifaith because people of different faiths work in them and as colleagues develop friendships. So multifaith involvement is in a way integral to society and does not need a special group or committee to do this.
Face to face is less popular and less understood. Why just talk( which includes listening)? Often it is the talk about important issues that concern us all, that focuses on our common values, on what it means to live a good life, on the place of religion in society that allows religious people to play their part in the public square. It is talk that helps us explore one another's faith, that helps us understand what it is like to stand in one another's shoes, that shows us how limited and subjective is our own perspective, that challenges our own faith. It is our talk which develops the kind of relationship that helps us have the difficult conversations about areas of difference and sometimes even of conflict. Without the talk these difficult conversations cannot take place. And yet these conversations are necessary if the world is to become a safer place.