About

This is a blog where people with and without religious commitments can engage in discussion and debate about matters of concern to anyone with interests in interfaith dialogue, enhancing community relations, righting wrongs and promoting equality, diversity, justice and/or human rights.

Due largely to the encouragement of a good Sikh friend of mine, Sohan Singh of Washington in Tyne and Wear, the United Kingdom, I have decided to experiment with “Faith and Belief Forum”, a blog which is a marked departure from the blogs I have already set up. My hope is that, in the fullness of time, contributions inspired by the blog’s posts will derive from other people. With luck, such contributions will prove enlightening and even entertaining. But all the posts that I draft, and the contributions that derive from others, must conform with a few simple ground rules. My posts and the contributions from others must:

• conform with the aims and aspirations of interfaith dialogue as outlined in the blog’s first post, and/or
• conform with what a fair-minded person would recognise to be correct, right or proper, given the evidence presented, and/or
• engage with topical, controversial and/or sensitive matters with due regard for the facts as they are currently understood.

It is necessary to establish such ground rules to ensure that the blog does not become a vehicle for people of ill-will to share with others their most inaccurate, ill-informed, prejudiced and/or racist views.

If seeking merely to comment on a post, all comments will be examined, as they always are when a blog exists, and uploaded or not depending on their suitability for public consumption. On the other hand, if someone wishes to have text uploaded as a post under their own name, send it to me at phil.andre@ntlworld.com and, provided the text conforms with the ground rules above, it will appear on the blog once any editorial matters have been addressed. I do NOT expect posts from other people to conform with MY prejudices, opinions, knowledge or understanding of the world of religion and belief. I seek merely to ensure that what appears on the blog relates to what would broadly be understood to be true or real or accurate or in all likelihood the case.