Festival of Dialogue

On 21st February the Festival of Dialogue culminated in a successful interfaith conference held at St Mary’s Church in Slough. More than 150 people of different faiths and none shared their experiences, and put questions to a multi-faith panel. The evening ended with food and entertainment.  The Festival of Dialogue leads on from our Faith Junction project, during which ordinary people from the Christian, Hindu, Muslim and Sikh faiths in Slough interviewed each other about belief, teachings and understanding.

Previously in the Festival, a series of six Round Table discussions were held on subjects that emerged during Faith Junction as particularly important to members of our faith communities. The subjects we focused on were gender, spirituality, age, responsibility, compassion and religion in a secular world. The discussions took place Slough Grammar School in Slough.

We also held Borrow-a-Person events at Slough Library during February. The idea of ‘Living Libraries’ was introduced in 2000 by the Danish Youth organisation ‘Stop the Violence’. It has been developed in a number of countries and has been gaining popularity in English libraries. This is the first time that sessions have been offered in Slough. The ‘living books’ to be borrowed were ordinary members of local faith communities, who were happy to discuss their religion and traditions, faith and spirituality, beliefs and experiences and many other subject besides.

The Festival of Dialogue is supported with funding from the Quality and Human Rights Commission.

Read a report of the conference and view pictures

Download the Round Table discussion notes and view pictures

Read more about Borrow a Person