IFN Statement on Aims and Values

This Statement on Aims and Values was agreed by IFN member bodies at a general meeting in May 2016, and all bodies subsequently admitted to membership also agree to it.

Member bodies, Trustees, employees and volunteers of IFN support its charitable aims, which are:

“to advance public knowledge and mutual understanding of the teachings, traditions and practices of the different faith communities in Britain including an awareness both of their distinctive features and their common ground and to promote good relations between persons of different faiths”.

We wish IFN to be able to focus its efforts on its charitable aims and to help enable us to add value to each other’s inter faith activity through linking and sharing good practice and advocating for inter faith understanding and cooperation and make the following statement in support of this.

All member bodies affirm Building Good Relations between People of Different Faiths and Beliefs[1] and the principles that it contains and these are also affirmed by Trustees, employees and volunteers.

The values which we aspire to reflect in our engagement through IFN are:

• Service to others
• Integrity
• Accountability
• Trust
• Consultative and cooperative working
• Valuing diversity
• Inclusiveness
• Listening and openness
• Courtesy
• Mutual respect
• Respecting dissent and people’s right to express this

Together, we seek to work for greater inter faith understanding and cooperation in the UK in ways in keeping with the principles in Building Good Relations and in the light of the values of IFN.

In the words of Building Good Relations with People of Different Faiths and Beliefs, “Living and working together is not always easy. Religion harnesses deep emotions which can sometimes take destructive forms. Where this happens, we must draw on our faith to bring about reconciliation and understanding. The truest fruits of religion are healing and positive. We have a great deal to learn from one another which can enrich us without undermining our own identities. Together, listening and responding with openness and respect, we can move forward to work in ways that acknowledge genuine differences but build on shared hopes and values.”               

16 May 2016