Scottish Interfaith Week 2021

Scottish Interfaith Week 2021 was a great success. We developed an exciting programme of hybrid events, over 75 in total, and hosted our most successful launch event to date. The media coverage we received this year was exceptional, with over 20 news articles from publications around the world, and features in radio, blogs and film. 

Local interfaith groups, faith communities, local and international organisations, politicians, schools, youth groups, and chaplaincies all notably engaged with this year’s Scottish Interfaith Week.

COP26 Vigil

The COP26 Vigil was held in George Square, Glasgow on Sunday 31st October. We marked the start of COP26 and Scottish Interfaith Week by uniting with people of all faiths and none for Climate Justice.

Senior religious leaders read the Glasgow Multi-Faith Declaration for COP26 and led prayers from a diversity of religious traditions. All participants – whether joining in person or online – were invited to pray or hold in their thoughts the COP26 negotiators.

We partnered with Interfaith Glasgow and the Scottish Religious Leaders Forum for the Vigil.

Talanoa Dialogue

The Talanoa Dialogue organised by the Interfaith Liaison Committee to the UNFCCC was an important event during the week. This gathering aimed to serve as a platform for faith communities attending COP26 to share their initiatives, concerns and hopes in their work for climate justice under a Talanoa Dialogue Framework. The Interfaith Scotland team coordinated the interfaith service.

Read more about the Talanoa Dialogue (Lutheran World Federation)

March for Climate Justice

More than 100,000 people marched through Glasgow on the Global Day of Action for Climate Justice and we joined a large movement of faith members in the march.

This was a powerful testimony from people of all faiths – coming together to have our collective voices heard at COP26.

The Climate Crisis: Beyond Nations

We held a Facebook Live panel discussion about the climate crisis during Scottish Interfaith Week. We were joined by:

• Maja Groff; Esq., International lawyer, The Hague and Convenor of the Climate Governance Commission
• Professor Joe Goldblatt; Chair of Edinburgh Interfaith Association, Emeritus Professor, Author
• Rev Bonnie Evans Hills; Convener Scottish Episcopal Church Interfaith Relations Committee

Watch Climate Crisis: Beyond Nations (Facebook)

Creative workshops for women

We hosted an online creative writing workshop for women and an art workshop in person with women from The Welcoming, a charity supporting refugees and migrants in Edinburgh. Through both events, we explored our journeys of faith and our relationship with the natural world.

Local interfaith groups

Many of our local interfaith groups held events for Scottish Interfaith Week including climate-themed film screenings, talks, scriptural reasoning and lunches.

We even had a new interfaith group established – the Bannockburn Interfaith Group!

Interfaith education

We celebrated interfaith education at an event hosted by the Glasgow Jewish Representative Council where we were joined by speakers from the joint campus of St Clare’s Primary (a Catholic school) and Calderwood Lodge (a Jewish school), and faith representatives. An amazing event to finish Scottish Interfaith Week – a look to the future of interfaith dialogue.

Join us next year!

We were delighted to have so many people from around Scotland, the UK and internationally join us for Scottish Interfaith Week. It was a thrilling – often moving – week filled with action and hope for the future of our planet.

We hope you will join us again next year for Scottish Interfaith Week 2022!