he Cordoba Foundation along with Forward Thinking and Global Peace and Unity organised a one day conference entitled ‘Moving Beyond the Rhetoric: Increasing Trust between Faiths, Beliefs, Cultures and Communities’ which brought together academics, faith leaders, practitioners and activists to share their experiences, knowledge and expertise on building bridges between communities in the context of promoting understanding and dialogue.
The aim of the conference was to:
* highlight problems cause by fear and mistrust of different faiths, beliefs, cultures and communities
* encourage and highlight advantages of increasing trust, respect and understanding
* promote best practice between stakeholders
* provide a space for contentious issues to be discussed
Panel discussions were divided into the following geographical regions:
* UK
* USA and Europe
* Africa
* Asia
*The Middle East
Panellists included:
* Pastor Bob Roberts (USA)
* Mustapha bargouti (Palestine)
* Daniel Levy (USA / Israel)
* Dr Ram Puniyani (India)
* Shams Deen (NIgeria)
* Dr Salauddin Atbani (Sudan0
* Prof Tariq Ramadan (UK)
* Anas Altikriti (UK)
* Ebrahim Rasool (RSA)
* John Ging
The conclusions of the conference included sharing ideas of best practice and emphasising the need for local grassroots initiatives to be supported and encouraged in order to ensure trust between communities is built.
