STUDENT NEWS

The discussants in the VoteClash debate are introduced.

Campus Faith Hub visits the University of Leicester

Workshop brings students together to discuss faith and global social issues

This month, Campus Faith Hub UK Tour 2009: From Dialogue to Action visited the University of Leicester. The Tony Blair Faith Foundation, the Three Faiths Forum and the Coexistence Trust have launched this tour to mobilise students of faith, and those of none across UK campuses towards shared social action. The three organisations showcased their student programmes at the event.

There was a workshop on political engagement, multi-faith action on global poverty and conflict resolution. “It is vital to offer young adults of different faiths the opportunity to achieve positive social change while receiving personal career benefits.” Said Daniella Shaw Gabay of the Three Faiths Forum.

There was also a VoteClash debate; “Financial crisis: Should we sort ourselves out before saving the world?” interestingly the opinion of the students of Leicester was swung during the debate. Initially the students were in favour of the “Home” side: receiving 53% of the vote but after some very convincing arguments from the Away side including one of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation’s Faiths Act Fellow Michael Tweed who is based at St Philips Centre in Leicester 50% voted for Away, 46% for Home and 4% remained undecided.

Michael stressed how interconnected our world had become: “We live in a global world, with a global community”. For him it is not where people live that is important but what they need. His central question: “Are we more important than those people who are so desperately in need? “ provoked lively debate.

For Further Information please contact

Susie McShane, Communications Manager, The Tony Blair Faith Foundation, 0207 647 7857, Susie.mcshane@tonyblairfaithfoundation.org

Daniella Shaw Gabay, Mentoring Programme Manager, Three Faiths Forum desk phone: 0207 485 1350

Notes to the Editor

Campus Faith Hub UK Tour 2009: From Dialogue to Action is a space to foster positive and communication between faith communities on campus, provide skills and leadership training and offer tools for shared local and global action.

Voteclash Debate Discussants

David Brazier – Chief Executive, STRIDE (Community training project),

Michael Tweed, Tony Blair Faith Foundation, Faiths Act Fellow

Maya Segas – Political Campaigner and Team Leader, Oxfam

Bilal Hassam, Tony Blair Faith Foundation, Faiths Act Fellow

Campus Tour Dates

4th November, Leeds University

5th of November, Nottingham University

9th of November- University of Leicester

10th of November- University of Salford

11th of November- University of Birmingham

Background information

The Tony Blair Faith Foundation was established in 2008 by the former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. The purpose of the Foundation is to promote respect and understanding about and between the world’s major religions, show how faith is a powerful force for good in the modern world and explore the links between faith and globalization. TBFF runs education and social action programs and has an active presence in a total of 42 countries on 6 continents. The Social Action program: Faiths Act, works across faith divides to save lives lost to poverty, disease and conflict, with an initial focus on the Millennium Development Goals and eliminating deaths from malaria. The Education Program currently operates in secondary schools in 12 countries across the world and is building up a global network of world class research universities including the National University of Singapore, Yale and Durham University. To find out more, visit www.tonyblairfaithfoundation.org .

Faiths Act Fellowship

The Faiths Act Fellows are the Tony Blair Faith Foundation’s youth ambassadors who are spearheading the Faiths Act campaign and developing hubs of interfaith activities in cities and universities across the UK

The Coexistence Trust was founded in 2005 by HRH Prince El Hassan Bin Talal of Jordan and Lord Janner of Braunstone QC as a parliamentary network of political leaders to act as a source of international support in helping governments tackle racial and religious intolerance - including Islamophobia and antisemitism - at senior levels. Currently, the Trust has 120 members across 54 countries. Since 2007, The Coexistence Trust has engaged with Muslim and Jewish student communities on university campuses across the United Kingdom, through campus tours and leadership development days, providing a common platform for student leaders to engage in collaborative, open and respectful dialogue. For more information visit www.coexistencetrust.org

Faith Hub Student Summit 2010: Faith, Identity & Community in a Global Age

The Coexistence Trust hope to convene a national student summit ‘Faith Hub 2010’ to take place in London on the key issues facing student leadership in 2010. The aim is to bring students of faith and of no faith together, in new project collaborations around themes of Faith, Identity and Community in a global age. The summit would be inspired by the Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks’ book ‘The Home We Build Together’ (2007) in which he calls for a new approach to national identity after multiculturalism, and by the international movement known as The Hub: an international social enterprise which builds places for ‘meeting, working, learning, innovating and connecting dedicated to inspiring and supporting enterprising and imaginative initiatives’. Students accepted to Faith Hub would work in a creative, dynamic, 24/7 environment, which would promote innovative opportunities for collaboration and interdisciplinary projects between participants in areas from film, art and performance to education, business and new media.

The Three Faiths Forum is one of the UK’s leading interfaith and inter-communal organisations. It is an innovative part of a growing movement of organisations and individuals working towards a just and equal society where religions, cultures and secular society not only coexist, but enrich and learn from each other. The Forum was founded in 1997 by Sir Sigmund Sternberg together with the late Shaikh Dr Zaki Badawi and Revd Dr Marcus Braybrooke as a way to bring Muslims, Christians and Jews closer together.

Undergraduate ParliaMentors® is a pioneering initiative to nurture the next generation of politicians and community leaders, while bringing about social change today. This programme creates a new model for interfaith interaction – working at the grass roots and political levels simultaneously. Trios of politics students are mentored by parliamentarians. Together they create and deliver ‘empowerment projects’ aimed at increasing political participation and social responsibility. Groups benefit from the expertise of leading NGOs and think tanks that support their projects, and take part in leadership training workshops throughout the year. Details of the Forums other extensive mentoring and leadership programmes are available at: www.threefaithsforum.org.uk .