Faith summit seeks stronger community cohesion

The prime minister, Theresa May, sent a message of support on Twitter this week to an interfaith summit in Birmingham, describing it as a “landmark conference”, and saying that the faith community is a “source of vitality and strength in our society”.

The conference was organised to boost community cohesion in one of the most ethnically diverse regions of the UK. The recently elected mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, had made the “faith summit” one of his electoral pledges, saying he is convinced “faith communities and faith-based charities form one of the greatest – and sometimes most underappreciated – sources of strength, vitality and resilience.”

Four hundred people joined the gathering in the Great Hall of Birmingham University to discuss hate crime, the lack of ethnic leadership in civic life, homelessness and the local economy. The Archbishop of Birmingham, Bernard Longley, as well as clergy and parishioners from eight deaneries within the jurisdiction of the West Midlands Combined Authority, were among those attending. Speaking to The Tablet, Mr Street, the former managing director of John Lewis, said: “I was delighted with the attendance and the quality of discussion and debate. The trick will be making sure we harness this enthusiasm and momentum to drive forwards.”

Prior to the conference the mayor established a 17-strong faith steering group to help him shape priorities. Catholic co-chair of the group Francis Davis, professor of communities and public policy at the University of Birmingham, said: “In this region, hundreds of thousands of people attend Mass, mosques and temples every week; in some parts of the West Midlands, there would be over 100 ethnicities at a given Mass.” Describing the mayor as “bothered” about the leadership issue, he said the question the mayor is asking is how to create leadership that is more like the people it serves – in the NHS, politics, public services and the local economy.

Conference delegates heard presentations by the Anglican Bishop of Birmingham, David Urquhart; Jean Templeton, chair of the mayor’s homelessness task force; Anita Bhalla, chair of the mayor’s Leadership Commission and David Jamieson, the West Midlands police and crime commissioner. 

Professor Davis – whose co-chair on the steering group is Amrick Singh Ubhi, director of the Nishkam Centre, a Sikh faith-led organisation – says the mayor wants people who wouldn’t normally meet to come together to talk about shared challenges, and also to be instrumental in decision making. “The Church can sit on the margins; this offers the chance to shape policy and play a part in its implementation,” he said. He says devolution of power from London is part of a “learning curve” for Catholics who are used to church power being centralised.