Inter Faith Week, 12th-19th November

Inter Faith Week is celebrated every November in the UK. Find out why it strives to bring different faiths together and how your workplace can celebrate it. 

What is Inter Faith Week?  

Inter Faith Week is an opportunity to highlight the many different faiths and beliefs that people have. It creates opportunities to bring different faiths and backgrounds together, to celebrate and learn about each other, and develop new ways to work together. 

According to Inter Faith Week, the three aims of the week are: 

• Strengthening good inter faith relations at all levels 
• Increasing awareness of the different and distinct faith communities in the UK, in particular celebrating and building on the contribution which their members make to their neighbourhoods and to wider society 
• Increasing understanding between people of religious and non-religious beliefs 

Inter Faith Week was launched in 2009 by the Inter Faith Network for the UK. Alongside its members, it works with Northern Ireland Inter-Faith Forum and the Inter-faith Council for Wales in order to celebrate Inter Faith Week in those countries. Inter Faith Week is celebrated in Scotland and organised by Interfaith Scotland.  

“Inter Faith Week is a fantastic opportunity for people of all faiths and beliefs to: mix and learn in neighbourhoods, workplaces, schools and universities and other contexts; visit places of worship of their neighbours and find out why their faith matters to them; get past stereotypes and misunderstandings and increase religious literacy; celebrate; dialogue; and volunteer together to help their local community.” 

The Revd Canon Hilary Barber and Narendra Waghela, Co-Chairs, the Inter Faith Network for the UK 

When is Inter Faith Week?   

Inter Faith Week is celebrated every November and always begins on Remembrance Sunday.  

In 2023, Inter Faith Week is from Sunday 12th – Sunday 19th November. 

Remembrance Sunday was chosen to encourage people to remember how important the contributions of all people are – those of different faiths and no faith – towards creating a fair, peaceful and harmonious world.  

It runs until the following Sunday, and it is intended that communities will make the most of having an additional weekend to celebrate different faiths, and hold events aren’t just linked to Remembrance Sunday.  

From our expert:

“People’s faith is deeply important to them, and often a key part of who they are and how they see the world. Inter faith week gives workplaces the opportunity to raise awareness of different faiths and encourage collaboration and connection.

We can use the week to go further than just awareness: consider what opportunities there are to share the diversity within faith communities, to explore intersectionality, and to connect as humans around the central theme of creating a fair, peaceful and harmonious world.”

Inter Faith Week facts you should know

Here are a few quick Inter Faith Week facts to know:

• Inter Faith Week was started by the Inter Faith Network following a government consultation to encourage more inter faith activity.
• Inter Faith Week is for everyone – community groups, places of education, workplaces, youth groups, places of worship, sports organisations, and more – all people who want to come together to learn and celebrate about different faiths and non-faith
• Inter Faith Week always begins on Remembrance Sunday
• Inter Faith Week ends of Mitzvah Day, a Jewish-led celebration – this is the UK’s largest faith-led day of social action. Mitzvah, a Jewish word, is a word used to mean act of kindness and this is the basis of Mitzvah day celebrations.

How to celebrate Inter Faith Week in the workplace

As well as employees, many organisations have customers and clients of different faiths and beliefs, which makes this week an excellent time to encourage learning and appreciation of them. Ways you can do this include:

• Hold a training day on religion and belief in the workplace.
• Inviting members of local faith communities to provide an opportunity for your employees to ask questions, and to gain insight into the different religions, customs and cultures of their communities.
• Launch, or start planning for, an employee Inter Faith Network.
• Run a webinar or chat with your offices around the country on religion and belief issues and the importance of good relations.
• Hold a ‘Managing religion or belief requests in the workplace’ session for line managers looking at how employers respond to a religion or belief request from an employee. For example, a request for time off work for a religious festival or holiday.
• Organise a food event where members of your organisation can experience dishes from different faith groups and learn about their traditions.
• Find out about your local inter faith group and offer sponsorship or in-kind support to their Inter Faith Week event or another project. For example, advice, employee time, advertising, use of IT or printing facilities, or discounts on products and services.
• Hold a discussion about the ways religious literacy and dialogue might contribute to and strengthen the realisation of your corporate values.
• Make part of your retail premises available for a faith and belief exhibition.

If you’re a member and need more support with celebrating Inter Faith Week, contact your account manager. If you’re not yet a member, get in touch today to see how we can help.