Imperial comes together for Interfaith Week

Sabbath-style Lunch

Imperial's faith societies joined the Chaplaincy to host a range of events bringing religious and non-religious groups together to explore religion.

Imperial’s second annual Interfaith Week took place at the end of November and saw six events including a poetry evening and ‘Speed Faithing’, a speed dating format event to bring together people to talk about religion.

The week was organised by student volunteers from different faith societies including Ahlul Bayt, Buddhist Society, the Christian Union, Hindu Society, Islamic Society, Jewish Society and the Sikh Society, as well as the Athiest, Secularist and Humanist Society, supported by the College Chaplaincy.

Karuna Priya, Chaplain & Buddhist Faith Advisor, said: “The aim of the week is to promote harmony and understanding between religious groups. It’s a chance for students to explore a range of faiths and spiritualties.

“It was great to see the students organising themselves and working together to make this Interfaith Week the biggest one ever at the College.”

The full programme included:

• Speed Faithing
• Discussion on self-perfection
• Interfaith Sabbath-style Lunch
• Buddhist temple visit 
• Sharing scriptures
• Interfaith poetry reading night

This year’s event built on the success of last year’s activities and brought together even more faiths to share and explore what religion means.

Shehzad Syed, Ahlul Bayt Society and Interfaith Week organiser, said: “I felt there was lots of conflict between faiths around the world. The only way to get past this is to represent your faith and learn from others.

“I think to make change you have to bring faiths together and I really want to see Interfaith Week become a platform to do that.”