U.K. Forum Brings Muslims, Jews and Christians Together, with U.S. Help

By Jim Fisher-Thompson
Washington File Staff Correspondent

Co-founder Sir Sigmund Sternberg commends U.S. envoy

London -- Noted philanthropist Sir Sigmund Sternberg says he has gotten invaluable help from the U.S. Embassy here in his quest to foster greater mutual understanding and tolerance among Jews, Muslims, and Christians in Great Britain.

A retired businessman, Sternberg was knighted by the queen in 1976 for his charitable work. He is also patron of the International Council of Christians and Jews and a member of the John Templeton Foundation and winner of the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion in 1998.

Sir Sigmund spoke to the Washington File on March 5 in the offices of "The Three Faiths Forum," which he co-founded in January 1997 along with Sheikh M.A. Zaki Badawi, a noted Muslim cleric, and the Reverend Marcus Braybrooke of Britain's Anglican (Protestant) church.

The philanthropist said: "The idea was to promote dialogue between the world's three major religions, which trace their origins to the Patriarch Abraham. Christians and Jews had been engaged in dialogue in this country for 30 years, but I came to realize we must also have dialogue with the Muslims."

Declaring, "We are not a political organization," Sir Sigmund said, "I think the way forward is to talk to each other," a strategy that he also recommended for Israelis and Palestinians in the Middle East, where "instead of shooting at each other they should sit down and talk," he said. "That would be far better than killing each other."

Sidney L. Shipton, the coordinator of the Forum, who runs its day-to-day operations, told the Washington File that the five-year-old inter-faith organization also seeks to:

"promote support for and public recognition of the importance of groups where people of the Muslim, Christian, and Jewish faiths meet and share common interests and experiences;
"encourage respect for religious differences between the three faiths on a basis of equality and exploring and enjoying those differences where appropriate; and
"promote training of ministers of religion of the three faiths in their common roots, while also helping them to understand their differences and encouraging respect for each other on a basis of equality."

Shipton noted that "Jews are Britain's oldest and smallest minority, and the Muslims are the most recent and the largest minority. We say there are about 300,000 Jews in Britain and about two million Muslims. There are other faiths here, of course; we have probably half a million Hindus and half a million Sikhs, but we work with them through the inter-faith network, of which we're affiliated."

The coordinator explained: "Our job is very simple. It is to get people who may mistrust each other to get together and talk to each other. This is the beginning of building up good relations."

According to Sir Sigmund, that job was made a lot easier with the help of the U.S. Embassy in London recently when it hosted a meeting of the Three Faiths Forum advisory board on February 28.

He said Ambassador William S. Farish hosted the "unique" gathering in his residence, Winfield House in Regents Park, and was accompanied by top embassy officials, including Deputy Ambassador Glyn Davies and Minister for Public Affairs Daniel Sreebny. The philanthropist said the discussion revolved around "the work of the Three Faiths Forum at the grassroots level and a proposal by us to match local religious communities with each other."

Sir Sigmund, who presented the ambassador with a replica of the Ashkenazi Haggadah, a Hebrew manuscript of the mid-15th century, said: "The ambassador is a very helpful, very astute person. He had the wisdom to see the opportunity to become a part of our forum and he said he would be happy to provide a member of the embassy staff to liaise with the advisory board and observe our work."

Shipman, who also attended the meeting, said, "What was important about it was that there were five Muslims, five Jews, and five Christians, and we had a full and frank discussion on matters of mutual interest, including the evil events of September 11, which were unanimously condemned by all."

Shortly following the September 11 terrorist attacks on America launched by self-proclaimed Muslim extremists, President Bush visited the Central Mosque of Washington, D.C., where he assured people that America's war was with international terrorism and not Islam.

And at a National Day of Prayer and Remembrance held at Washington's National Cathedral, the president told an inter-faith congregation: "Grief and tragedy and hatred are only for a time. But goodness, remembrance, and love have no end. The Lord of Life holds all who die and all who mourn."

American Imam Musammil H. Siddiqui also spoke at the Washington ceremony, calling on the God of Abraham to "repel the evil with good. Give us comfort. Help us in our distress."