York Interfaith Group (YIG)
Newsletter – January 2017
· Editor’s Note
Happy New Year to everyone!
The Dalai Llama can always be relied upon to produce an incisive quote. How about this one(?)…
“People were created to be loved. Things were created to be used. The reason why the world is in chaos is because things are being loved and people are being used”.
There are certain, grounding truths and principles that we can all apply, which deepen an appreciation for those around us. And they are spoken similarly from many faith perspectives.
The following quote from LDS President Thomas S. Monson says something sublimely similar to the Dalai Llama:
“Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved”.
What does it mean to us that someone from another faith expresses truth in the same way as a Prophet, Guru or other faith leader that we already recognise?
Universal expressions of faith, wisdom, insight and goodness strengthen our appreciation of the profound reality that we are all members of one human family and that how we treat one another really does matter.
The interfaith setting should be one of fostering such opportunities. I’m looking forward to a 2017 where a true spirit of interfaith eventually prevails.
· January - Annual General Meeting (AGM)
7.30pm on Tuesday 10th Jan 2017 at York Medical Society Rooms, 23 Stonegate, YO1 8AW
The AGM will afford us the opportunity to reflect on and celebrate the achievements of the Group over the past year. Annual Reports and Accounts for 2016will also be presented.
Items on the Agenda include:
Annual subscription/ re-subscription forms
Liaison with the City of York
York City of Sanctuary
York Human Rights City Network
The AGM will also provide an opportunity to consult together about the future structure and direction of the Group.
The Members will electCommittee Members/Officers. (In accordance with the Constitution, elected Committee Members/Officers step down at each AGM, and any Committee Member/Officer doing so, may offer themselves for re-election should they wish to).
The current Committee is:
Dr Avijit Datta (Chair), Abid Salik (Vice Chair), Mark Cosens (Publicity and Communications), *Michelle Wagstaff (Treasurer), *Sue Maskill (Secretary)
*The Treasurer and Secretary have resigned but are willing to help ‘transition’ the Committee
Nominations for the 2017 Committee received to date are:
Daryoush Mazloum (nominated for Chair by Dee Boyle)
Abid Salik (nominated for Joint Vice Chair by Michael Chester)
Dee Boyle (nominated for Joint Vice Chair by Dr Avtar Matharu)
SisterPatricia (nominated as Secretary by Sister Agatha)
Mark Cosens (nominatedforPublicity and Communications Officer by Maurice Vassie)
Michael Chester (nominated to lead the 2018 Planning Subcommittee by Mark Cosens)
Martin Nathanael (nominatedfor the 2018 Planning Subcommittee byJerry Karlin)
Jan Jauncey (nominated for Website Management by Sue Maskill)
Anthony Glaister is also willing to stand as a committee or sub-committee member.
Please note that there are a couple of members who are potentially willing to step forward to take up the role of Treasurer should we be left with no candidate (but no members wishing to be publicly nominated at this stage).
Please consider these nominations to come prepared to vote at the AGM.
If you are unable to attend the AGM but would still like to have your vote, then please complete the Proxy Voting form attached and email it to
And it is important that anyone voting by Proxy please also send the form by CC to and
Strong, active, genuineInterfaith activity isneeded where there is so much prejudice, misunderstanding, religious illiteracy, hatred and violence.
As people of faith and goodwill we are called to seek and stand for truth, and to expound universal respect, freedom of conscience, virtue, understanding and common values.
As a Member of York Interfaith Group (a great group) please come to participate and vote at the AGM, which will be followed by a Shared Vegetarian meal.
· Prince Charles warns against religious persecution
BBC News - December 22nd 2016
Prince Charles has spoken out about the danger of religious persecution, warning against a repeat of "the horrors of the past".
Delivering BBC Radio 4's Thought for the Day, the Prince of Wales said the rise of populist groups "aggressive" to minority faiths had "deeply disturbing echoes of the dark days" of the 1930s.
In a Christmas message, he urged respect for those of different faiths.
Life and death
The prince said he had recently met a Jesuit priest from Syria who described the plight of Christians he was forced to leave behind in the country. He said: "He told me of mass kidnappings in parts of Syria and Iraq and how he feared that Christians will be driven en masse out of lands described in the Bible. "He thought it quite possible there will be no Christians in Iraq within five years. "Clearly, for such people, religious freedom is a daily, stark choice between life and death."
The prince said the scale of religious persecution around the world was "not widely appreciated" and was not limited to Christians, but included many other minority faiths.
'Beyond all belief'
He told listeners he was was born just after the end of World War Two in which his parents' generation had fought against an attempt to "exterminate the Jewish population of Europe." He went on: "That, nearly seventy years later, we should still be seeing such evil persecution is, to me, beyond all belief. "We owe it to those who suffered and died so horribly not to repeat the horrors of the past."
Prince Charles urged people to remember the story of the Nativity this Christmas, which was about "the fleeing of a holy family to escape violent persecution".
He asked listeners to remember that the Prophet Mohammed migrated from Mecca to Medina because he was "seeking the freedom for himself and his followers to worship".
The Prince said: "Whichever religious path we follow, the destination is the same - to value and respect the other person, accepting their right to live out their peaceful response to the love of God."
The Ebor Committee are pleased to announce three new lectures for the 2017 Ebor Lecture series.The 11th series of the Ebor lectures, ‘Journeys: changing places, minds and beliefs’, aims to explore humanity’s endeavours of journeying. Topics in this series include: religious radicalisation in contemporary politics, debates over the situation of refugees in Europe; pilgrimage and spiritual journeys; socio-cultural diversity; equal and just society; the changing nature of contemporary media; and the reformation of faiths (to mark the 500-year anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation in 1517). As the ancient Chinese philosopher Laozi says, 千里之行，始於足下 (a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step). It is hoped that this series will provide a step further in the understanding and practice of our journeys.
Dr Timothy Winter
Shaykh Lecturer in Islamic Studies at the University of Cambridge
29th March 2017
Dr Casey Strine
Lecturer in Eastern History and Literature at theUniversity of Sheffield
24th May 2017
The Ebor Lectures are developed in partnership with York Minster, York St John University, the Order of Carmelites , the York and Hull District of the Methodist Church and the C & JB Morrell Trust.
The lectures focus on issues relating to religion and public life (such as politics; economics; contemporary culture; religion and spirituality; society and globalisation; local and global Christianity, etc.), with prominent scholars, politicians, public figures, church leaders and religious leaders in the field speaking. The lectures are held in York Minster and at York St John University.
For more details and to book tickets please visit https://www.yorksj.ac.uk/events-calendar/events/ebor-lecture-series/
· Religious festivals for January 2017
5 January - Birth of Guru Gobind Singh
Guru Gobind Singh was the last of the 10 human Gurus of the Sikh faith. He was born in 1666. Guru Gobind Singh is known for creating the Khalsa, historically a community of committed Sikhs who wore visible symbols of their faith and trained as warriors. Today the Khalsa refers to the community of baptised Sikhs who've undergone the Amrit initiation ceremony, said to have been introduced by Guru Gobind Singh. He's also known for naming the Sikh holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib, as his successor Guru for all time.
6 January - Epiphany
The Epiphany falls on the 12th day after Christmas and signals the end of the Christmas season for Western Christians. The word Epiphany means 'revelation' and it's the day when Christians celebrate the coming of God in human form through his son, Jesus Christ. It's also said to be the day when the Magi (wise men) visited the child Jesus, bringing their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
7 January - Orthodox Christmas Day
Russian Orthodox Christmas service at Kazan Cathedral, St Petersburg
The majority of Orthodox Christian churches celebrate Christmas on 7 January.
This is because they continue to use the Julian calendar, while Western churches use the Gregorian calendar.
· IFN - The National Body As members of the National Inter Faith Network (IFN) for the UK,
York Interfaith Group sets out to bring its aims to the local level. For more information please see…. www.interfaith.org.uk Plus, readers may wish to remain abreast of events and developments on the national level. To do so, please see: http://www.interfaith.org.uk/publications/ifn-e-bulletin which links to the latest IfN e-bulletin.
· The Website A big thank you, to Jan Jauncey for looking after the York Interfaith Group
website. Please see the website for an introduction to the group’s activities and for ongoing events and updates… www.yorkinterfaith.org
· Subscriptions The group welcomes new members and Michelle Wagstaff, York Interfaith
Group Treasurer, welcomes any subscriptions (£15 Standard Fee, Minimum £6 for Concessions, Free for full time students)
"How we disagree is a real measure of who we are… It is appropriate to disagree sometimes, but it is not appropriate to be disagreeable"
Quentin L. Cook (Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
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