Inter Faith Week 2010 will take place in England and Wales from Sunday 21 to Saturday 27 November.

The Week will include and highlight activities organised by bodies around the country designed to:

• strengthen good inter faith relations at all levels in our increasingly diverse society;
• encourage local faith groups and communities to reach out to each other and build stronger bonds of understanding and cooperation;
• increase awareness of the different and distinct faith communities in the UK, with a particular focus on the contribution which their members make to their neighbourhoods and to wider society;
• to gain positive profile for inter faith initiatives, locally, regionally and nationally, as well as for the overall work of building good inter faith relations
• increase understanding between people of religious and non-religious beliefs
• encourage the development of new partnerships within local communities and by faith communities with statutory and third sector partners.

The Week is being led by the Inter Faith Network for the UK, working with its member bodies, in consultation with the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG),  Department for Education, the Local Government Association and the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

In Wales, the Inter Faith Council for Wales is leading on the Week, in consultation with the Welsh Assembly Government.

The Week is not a ‘top down’ Week with a programme of centrally organised or officially ‘badged’ events. It is a week in which faith groups and their places of worship, inter faith bodies, schools and institutions of further and higher education, local authorities and other public agencies, as well as others, were encouraged to hold their own events and to highlight the importance of inter faith understanding and cooperation and greater awareness about the faith communities and their engagement in building community.

An annual Inter Faith Week already takes place in Scotland. In 2010, it is taking place from Sunday 28 November – Sunday 5 December 2010.

Background to the Week