We are pleased that CCJ President The Rt Hon and Rt Rev Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, spoke for university students this week in the House of Lords. Peers asked about antisemitism at universities and in particular the need for universities to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism. While the archbishop reiterated that universities are autonomous, he spoke of concerning intimidation on campus which shows “mere exhortation” is not working. You can watch the full speech here.
At CCJ we believe that action is needed to tackle religious prejudice at universities. I am therefore encouraged by our excellent Student Leaders who are taking practical steps to build cohesion on campus. Next week is Interfaith Week when our Student Leaders will be holding their innovative interfaith events at universities around the country. From Speedfaithing to an ‘Interfaith Question Time’ students are finding creative ways to counter stereotypes. You can read about our first Student Leader event ‘Faith and Cake’ below, which took place at Reading University.
Alongside our university events we have a packed programme for Interfaith Week. At the start of the week we are holding our annual Presidents’ Meeting and a student Climate Change Interfaith Workshop for Mitzvah Day. We look forward to welcoming you to our AGM on Tuesday where we will learning more about Christians in the Middle East, and to an event on the refugee crisis with Barbara Winton taking place on Wednesday. More details for the upcoming events can be found further down in the newsletter.
Earlier this week Senior Programme Manager Rob Thompson was the keynote speaker at the annual Holocaust Study Day held in collaboration between Menorah Synagogue and CCJ Manchester. Deputy Director Rev Dr Nathan Eddy joined CCJ South West London and Dittons to speak on Christian diversity and the development of Christian denominations. You can read more about these events below.
Senior Programme Manager speaks at Menorah Synagogue
This week Senior Programme Manager Rob Thompson was the keynote speaker at the annual Holocaust Study Day organised by Menorah Synagogue and the CCJ Manchester Branch. This special event, which has been taking place for many years, saw a large interfaith gathering for Holocaust learning and remembrance. Other speakers included sisters Gisela Feldman and Sonia Sternberg who arrived in Britain as refugees from the SS St Louis and Rabbi Fabian Sborovsky, Rabbi of Menorah Synagogue. Rob spoke on his MA research which explores the stories of Christian army chaplains who were involved in the liberation of Bergen-Belsen. Rob was delighted to see many CCJ friends at the event, including several alumni of CCJ’s annual seminars at Yad Vashem.
Deputy Director presents at CCJ South West London and Dittons Branch
The South West London and Dittons Branch concluded a three-part series on diversity in Judaism, Islam, and Christianity last night with a presentation by CCJ Deputy Director Nathan Eddy. Hosted by branch co-chairs Andrew Williams and James Leek, and kicked off by a welcome from the rector of St Mary’s, Revd Mary Hodgson, the event drew a large crowd to St Mary’s Church Hall, Wimbledon. Nathan spoke on the roots of the idea of Church unity in the Hebrew Bible and diversity of the Church today, gamely covering 2000 years of history. After a break for wine and food, the group discussed issues ranging from Calvin and Luther, to the relationship between the Jewish festival of Shavuot and the Christian festival of Pentecost.
'Faith and Cake' CCJ Student Leader event at Reading University
A recent report called Faith and Belief on Campus by the Christian think tank Theos found that faith societies “are strong sources of ‘bonding social capital’, building bonds among their own members, [but] are less effective at being sources of ‘bridging social capital’ between groups”. The report also noted that faith societies “need better resources and support from universities and students’ unions in order to meet their potential of being key sources of cohesion on campus”. Reading University has decided to address its gap by providing funding for an interfaith intern to address this lack of bridging capital and unmet need for support.
To this end I have been attending the Christian Union’s weekly meeting on a regular basis. I have also begun reaching out to other faith societies by attending several of the Jewish Society’s shabbat meals and meeting members of the Islamic Society during their fresher’s week icebreaker. I have been delighted with the hospitality I have received from other faith societies and with the openness to and enthusiasm for interfaith work that all students have displayed.
The first event that this effort has produced is one run by the Christian Chaplaincy called Faith and Cake, this involved inviting members of all faith groups to the Chaplaincy to share some free cake and to take part in some lightly structured conversation around faith issues. In attendance we had people from Muslim, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, Pentecostal and Wicca traditions. We split into two groups and engaged exchanged in conversation around questions such as “What does it mean to be a ___?”, “What does prayer mean to you?”, and “Something you wish other knew about ___?”.
The result of this discussion was positive. Students were able to clarify misunderstandings about their own faith, learn about each other’s and share some wisdom. More important than this, however, is that they got to know each other. There is a bad habit in our culture of talking as though religion is primarily intellectual assent to various supernatural facts – it is about belief. This is not the case; religion is primarily about belonging. It is a communal and social endeavour before it is an intellectual one. As such interfaith efforts ought to be understood as needing strong relational foundations if they are to succeed. Faith and Cake has therefore provided a good starting point for creating interfaith bonding capital at Reading University.
Sam Drysdale CCJ Student Leader
Holocaust Memorial Day Resources
Holocaust Memorial Day 2020 (27 January) will mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Inspired by this year's theme Stand Together, our annual resource reflects on the complex roles of Christians during the Holocaust. It encourages churches in the UK to mark Holocaust Memorial Day in their services and in their communities and includes suggested prayers and commentaries on the readings set for the Sunday closest to Holocaust Memorial Day. There are notes on how to lead an all-age address, examples of survivor testimony, poetry, and images to encourage reflections. We are deeply grateful to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Chief Rabbi, Presidents of CCJ, for their contributions to the resource. For the first time this year we have also included stories of Christians who have been recognised by Yad Vashem as Righteous among the Nations for their work in saving the lives of Jews during the Holocaust. These stories can be shared with congregations to encourage the sort of solidarity between faiths which the theme of Stand Together powerfully invokes.
At this meeting CCJ Norfolk will be showing a film from the UK Jewish Film Library.
Time: Thursday November 14th 2019 7pm
Location: Norwich Synagogue
To get in touch with the Norfolk branch please click here.
To view more upcoming CCJ branch events please click here
Click on the flyer above to book now!
CCJ North London Meeting
CCJ North London Branch invites you to come to their AGM and Speaker event.
After the brief formal business of the AGM their guest speaker will be Cllr Sheila Peacock, Mayor of Haringey who will be talking about her work in that role.
This will be followed by tea/coffee and biscuits with the opportunity to socialise.
Time: Sunday November 24th 2019, 5.00 PM-7.00 PM Location: St. Ignatius RC Church 27 High Road, South Tottenham London N15. They will be in the Blue Room in the next door suite of meeting rooms.
For any further details or queries you can contact their branch chair Ivor Millman by emailing ivorimillman@outlook.com
To get in touch with the North London branch please click here.
To view more upcoming CCJ branch events please click here
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