Speaker for 4th April 2017
Coleraine Probus, living in a diverse society
The members of Coleraine Probus were set a challenging topic at the recent club meeting, when Dr. Chris Hewer talked about his career working in a multi-faith community.
Dr. Hewer comes from a background in Christian theology, education, Islamic studies and inter-faith studies. He has worked in the field of Muslims in Britain and Christian-Muslim relations since 1986, first at the Centre for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations at the world famous Selly Oak 'Faith' colleges in Birmingham. From 1999 to 2005, Chris worked as the Adviser on Inter-Faith Relations to the Bishop of Birmingham. And then from 2006-2010, he was the St Ethelburga Fellow in Christian-Muslim Relations in London, with a brief to deliver adult popular education courses, study days and talks around Greater London.
Chris has for his current work, to teach study days and residential courses, and to develop written and electronic resources. He has delivered a forty-six part series of half-hour TV talks, broadcast on an international Muslim satellite channel to give a general introduction to 'Understanding Islam', all of which can be seen, together with accompanying articles, on his website: www.chrishewer.org (This link will open in a new window).
The website has various other articles and books available to download free-of-charge, including resources for teaching about Islam as a second religion for the UK GCSE Religious Studies syllabus.
During his talk Chris discussed the challenges, the highlights and down side of working in the city of Birmingham - a city with a population not much smaller than the total population of Northern Ireland, where about one third follow a Christian belief, around one quarter follow Islam and the remaining (approx) 40% follow many diverse faiths including Hindu, Sikh, Buddhism and many more, or have no religious faith at all!
For Chris, the driving force behind his 30 plus years working in a multi-faith society was his strong Christian foundation, coupled with his belief that it is vital that we seek to understand where our fellow citizens 'are coming from'. There can be no harmony in a society if barriers of ignorance are set-up between different communities, because one side doesn't even bother to try to find out what the other side believes.
Although the talk Chris gave was about his lifelong work, and much of it in Birmingham, the parallels with our own community in the rapidly changing and modern Northern Ireland, were clear to club members.
