By Josh Cass, René Cassin Trustee
My name is Josh Cass and, as well as being a trustee of René Cassin, I have been working on questions of religion, education, human rights and interfaith for nearly 20 years.
I must admit that when I was invited to speak on this panel at René Cassin’s Communicating Hope: A Resource For Action, I was rather nervous. In part, that was because, although for many years I was a fundraiser at the Faith and Belief Forum, a national interfaith charity, and as I am sure many of us on this call will recognise, so much of fundraising is storytelling and communications, I would not describe myself as a campaigner or a comms person.
But that was only part of it, principally, my worry came from an anxiety within the interfaith community about how it talks about itself. So, for the remainder of my input, I am going to be talking about that question of perception, and how hope-based communications might help.
There is a tension which runs through the perception (and here I stress the word perception) of much of interfaith… specifically, that interfaith is either all kumbaya and bagels and samosas, or, its trapped by a doom narrative that relations between faith communities are at an all-time low, that fear is pervasive and rampant and the mere idea of dialogue impossible. And just to be clear, I will come back to these unhelpful generalisations later.
Speaking personally, as someone who values interfaith activities and the idea that interfaith can contribute to addressing many issues within society, this tension obviously concerns me.
Furthermore, and in relation to the question of hope-based communication, the question of how we talk about interfaith is something which I think about a great deal.
For me, the how is important because at the heart of interfaith work are the relationships which one is trying to build and cultivate. And central to those relationships is the issue of trust. Building relationships between individuals and communities which are robust enough to get to a point where discussion of contentious issues is possible, takes time.
And it is not just about those already taking part in such activities, there is a need and awareness that new people and communities must be drawn into interfaith spaces and activities if the possibilities for such activities are to achieve their full potential.
More than that, new audiences need to feel they can trust the convenors and holders of the spaces into which they are being asked to step into.
So, the context for interfaith is tough: there are on the one hand strong voices who will snipe and say that it is nothing more than bagels and samosas, and on the other voices which say that the now is not the time for interfaith because anti-religious hate is so pervasive and levels so high.
But at the same time, we know that problems relating to how communities live together will not be solved without activities like interfaith.
So where does this leave the role of communications, and specifically, hope-based communications for interfaith relations?
As a non-comms person, I was fascinated to read the Guide produced by René Cassin, there was a great deal that was new to me and things which resonated too. But I did come back to the tension which I described earlier: how to avoid sounding naïve (that bagels will save the world) in the face of a context which is so hostile to the idea of positive interfaith relations.
Given that it is interfaith week, I think that it is particularly important to think about how to craft a message which is engaging, honest, and grounded in a language which could be appealing to people looking for a different narrative to one which says that faith communities must be at loggerheads with each other.
I mentioned earlier that I work on human rights. Specifically, I work on Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which is the Freedom of Religion or Belief. Inevitably, there is overlap between that work and the work that I do in interfaith and dialogue settings. What colleagues and I have found, and this may resonate with the experiences of others on this call, is that there can be a hesitancy and concern from faith communities when it comes to engaging with human rights (universal vs individual vs community).
Indeed, I would go far as to say, certainly as it relates to Freedom of Religion or Belief, that there is a risk that what one might call a classically human rights narrative has the potential to alienate faith communities.
So, what can be done?
When talking to colleagues in Lebanon who have done a lot of work in this area, developing narratives which are rooted in the values of different faith communities as they relate to the issues at the heart of Freedom of Religion or Belief has been an effective way to build shared messages which centre human rights priorities.
Why do I mention all of this?
Well, I would suggest that good communications which is hopeful, proactive, inspires change, is solution oriented, so hope-based communications, and which speaks to
faith communities in authentic and honest ways, acknowledging the context, but not being afraid of it, should also be rooted in the values of those communities.
Now the risk of that approach is that it could appear to be co-opting those values, but this is where the value of good interfaith becomes fundamental, and dare I say it, this is where all those bagels and samosas start to pay off. Because it is about building up relationships over time so that when the time comes for a shared campaign, or new communications strategy, the conditions are in place which – in spite of the reality of unprecedented levels of anti-semitism and the shocking normalization of anti-Muslim hate – the conditions are in place which enable mobilization and engagement across lines of religious difference.
So, this interfaith week, yes to bagels, yes to samosas, yes to the confidence to take part in challenging conversations about the experiences of religious minorities, and yes too to hope based communications to build bridges between communities.
