Birmingham Faith Leaders Group

As members of Birmingham Faith Leaders’ Group – comprising of leaders from the city’s six major faith communities, who have met regularly for more than twenty years to mould and develop mutual trust, fellowship and understanding – we share the pain and bewilderment of faith communities in Leicester following violence and unrest in parts of your city. We stand in unity with the communities of Leicester in condemning violence in the name of one’s faith.

It is our desire in Birmingham, as we are sure it is yours in Leicester, that we move forward in harmony, welcoming and rejoicing in the diversity of our faith communities. Together let us relish our unity and respect, and value the various expressions of faith, recognising the wealth of service offered to the wider community through our care and support services as well as our religious practices.

When we speak the language of faith to one another, we help to build understanding, we learn to create opportunities for forgiveness and reconciliation, and we hear and pay attention to the voices of reason and creativity, over and above those of destruction and division.

Violence which sets one community against another is not who we are as cities with thriving, uplifting, inspiring faith communities. All our faith communities preach a similar message of peace, reconciliation, love and mutual respect. As people of faith we have an obligation to work together for the greater good of all in our respective cities.

Our faiths compel us to exercise a religious responsibility to be discerning about the messages we listen to, separating the positive messages of understanding from the negative words of division, setting one religion against another, one community against another.

We call upon all communities, in particular the youngsters in our communities, far and wide, to unite in building peaceful coexistence within our communities and our cities, rather than causing pain and grief to each other.                                                                   

About Birmingham Faith Leaders Group

The Birmingham Faith Leaders’ Group is a network of the principal leaders of Birmingham’s six major faith communities: Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Hinduism, Judaism and Buddhism. Formed in the immediate aftermath of the terror attack on the Twin Towers in New York in September 2001, the coming together was a direct response to attacks on faith communities in Birmingham. The Faith Leaders gathered together to proclaim that the faiths are united in working for peace, justice, care for our planet and protecting the right to live and worship free of harassment and prejudice, in all aspects of the life of the city of Birmingham.