Faith in Politics
The Christian Socialist Movement hosted a conference in Westminster, London Thursday 29 March to launch their new report "Faith in Politics". The contributors to the research project included Sikh, Jewish, Muslim and Hindu organisations as well as the Churches. The Conference also had a multi-faith "feel" to it. The morning session was opened with readings from the Sikh, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Christian scriptures (in this order) followed by a short period of silence to reflect upon these. Graham Dale, Director of the CSM introduced the report and Indarjit Singh, Chairman of the Network of Sikh Organisations offered a response in which he explained that within Sikh philosophy religion and politics go hand in hand.
After a short interlude and talks by young Muslim and Christian speakers involved in faith community projects Bob Geldorf, organizer of Live Aid, spoke about his view of how involvement in politics can make a change for the better. He then introduced the Prime Minister, Rt Hon Tony Blair MP.
The Prime Minister then took some questions. One of the delegates, Kirpal Singh Rai, of the Sikh Missionary Society, asked how can the faith communities be treated equally when there is inequality between the faiths in law?
Newspaper reports about the conference: