Our Future
Scottish Interfaith Week 2025
Last year I attended (and spoke at) a Scottish Interfaith Week event run by my local Dumfries & Galloway Interfaith Group. You can read about it here.
Since then I have got more involved, and helped organise this year’s event along with the two incredibly hard-working and knowledgeable volunteers that have kept the group running for so long: Liz and Jan.
Interfaith Week in Scotland was earlier this year, running from Sunday 2nd to Sunday 9th November. Our event was on Monday 3rd November, 4pm to 6pm.
Prior to the event we discussed the structure, content, marketing, and divided tasks up. We sought contributions from people of various faiths, and I agreed to introduce the topics and speakers.
The theme for this year’s Scottish Interfaith Week was OUR FUTURE and we had decided that we would look at it from three different levels of zoom. Firstly the broad picture, the future of our planet. Zooming in to be more specific: the future of our region. And finally, down to the individual level. The future we create for ourselves, as well as the future of our group. There would be music, poetry, readings, and light refreshment!
Our Planet
After a thoughtful introduction and reading from Jan to set the tone, I introduced the section on Our Planet. Here’s my short opening speech.
We all exist in this limited space on this beautiful blue and green planet.
There is enough for everyone, if we shared equally. If we lived at peace together, and with all the other wonderful life on this world.
Part of my faith is that as well as acknowledging my small place in the whole, I try and appreciate all that is amazing and special about the world we share. Only when we value something will we work to protect it.
We then welcomed a number of contributions from speakers of different faiths which tied in to the bigger picture of our planet and its future. Poems, sayings, musings: it was all thought-provoking and each piece reinforced the sentiments of the others, showing how much we have in common. I particularly liked the reminder that Positive News exists, and you can subscribe to their newsletter or printed magazine as an antidote to all the doom and gloom! It makes a good companion to Ethical Consumer.
Our Region
This was my introduction to the next section:
A region is really a group of communities.
Communities are just people coming together, and co-operating.
We all have a lot more in common in this room than we have differences. Seeing our similarities is one of the best ways of making connections.
Now we have some contributions that are more at the level of our region: however you interpret it. Dumfries and Galloway? South-west Scotland? Or Scotland as a whole? We are part of all of the above.
There followed further hopeful contributions, readings, poems and thoughts from attendees.
Our Selves
This segment was led by Liz and Jan, and let us examine our future as a group. How can we achieve more? How can we all contribute our skills, time, enthusiasm and ideas so that the work does not fall on the shoulders of just two people? It is much easier to carry something when everyone gives a hand!
There was lots of enthusiasm for the idea of regular meetings and events, tying in to other groups and faiths. We’ll see where we can take this.
Tree And Leaves
At this point attendees were invited to write and share their wishes for the future on paper leaves, which were fastened to the Wish Tree shown in the first image. Then there were welcome refreshments and discussion.
I really enjoyed the event, and experiencing the generosity of people who brought and delivered readings. So many viewpoints and sentiments, yet all chiming together. We’d had everything from First Nations perspectives about the planet and land, to Baháʼí Faith ideas of everyone coming together in peace. From Christian thoughts on charity and giving, to mixed-faith ideas about treading lightly on the Earth. And, of course, my Pagan presence, which felt in tune with all I heard.
In a world where some people claim to represent faiths but ignore central messages of peace or non-violence, or where faiths are co-opted as cover for non-religious political decisions or brutal occupation and colonialism, it is reassuring to hear people with no agenda other than coming together in understanding.
We’ll see what happens in 2026!
Other Posts About My Spiritual Beliefs
You’ll find all my posts tagged as “belief systems” here.
PS I’m also an author. You can buy my books, or subscribe to my newsletter. I would be grateful for either. :-)
Sounds like a good event, sorry to have missed it.