Story & photos: Cameron Raphael-Storm
Sunday November 15th 2009 saw the start of England's first Interfaith week.
In Burngreave, the start of Interfaith Week was celebrated by the coming together of representatives from various faith groups and their followers, to meet, discuss their views and sample differences in their styles of worship. In commemoration of the event they planted an Italian Stone Pine tree, also known as the Umbrella Pine and the European Nut Pine, at Ellesmere Green with Community Forester Leonie Kapadia.
As a firm believer in equality and diversity in faith, I was delighted to be welcomed at Burngreave Ashram (the Multifaith Chapel and Library), where I discussed differences in our approaches to faith with several people from various groups with intense interest before we made our way outside to attend the tree-planting.
Blessings were read from the scriptures of the multiple faiths attending and the tree was planted, observed by an impressive turnout from the local community. From here we made our way to lunch at Sorby House. After lunch, the attendees made their way to the Al-Rahman Mosque before also visiting Pitsmoor Methodist Church and finishing with an “Interfaith Pledge” at 4pm.