Faith matters!

Sheffield University Faiths Forum
Faith became a priority of the Faiths Forum last week as it was National Interfaith week. The Faiths Forum, established in 2008, is a group made up of representatives from each of the faith societies, the multifaith chaplaincy service advisors, and the activities officer. The aim of the forum is to discuss issues surrounding faith on campus, and to give the wider student body the chance to see that faith can play a major part in student life.

After the last faiths forum meeting, the group decided to hold a few events during the week. The first of which was to have a stall in the Union foyer on Wednesday about the faiths forum and the range of faith based student societies so that students could find out about the group and talk to students from a huge range of faiths. We also sold cakes to raise some money for the Hallamshire hospital, for which several members of the forum baked.

The day was great for talking to students interested in faith, and also for students within the forum to meet each other. A huge thank you goes to Jen from the chaplaincy for making her amazing flyers, Jelly for the very creative banner, and especially to everyone who contributed to the stall.

The second event in interfaith week was a visit by the faiths forum to the Mosque in Broomhill which is used by many students and local residents. Here, we had a tour of and the chance to speak to many people about Islam and what it means to them. The next faith forum meeting was hosted here as the mosque very kindly provided us with hospitality and a room. All those who attended really enjoyed this, and I personally found it fascinating and very educational.

Sunday afternoon was a visit to another place of worship - the opening of Hillel house. This house is made of to flats where Jewish students can live, or come together to practice Judaism. It was very kindly donated by an elderly resident who passed away, as he strongly felt that the Jewish students should be given the opportunity to live together. The vice chancellor, Keith Burnett, and representatives from the Jewish Chronicle and Union of Jewish Students joined Jewish students, members of the local community, and members from the Faiths forum for afternoon tea at Hillel house. It was a great opportunity to see the house which is a brilliant facility provided for the Jewish students to meet each other to worship, eat together and socialise. Everyone had a lovely afternoon, made extra worth while by the cheese cake which as promised at a previous faiths forum meeting!

All together, interfaith week has been a thoroughly enjoyable week for myself and I hope the members of the Faiths Forum. We have visited numerous places and learnt more about other faiths, showing great interest, openness and respect to faiths other than our own. I hope that students from across the campus took the opportunity to speak to the members of the Faiths Forum and would be interested in learning more about faith in student life. Once again, a huge thank you to all the students and staff involved this week - I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have!