READING INTERFAITH GROUP
MINUTES
OF COMMITTEE MEETING
15th
January 2009
7.30
p.m.
Held at
: Friends Meeting House.
Present
: Sarah Griffin; Anthea West; Jim and Dori
Talbot; Chris Knollys; David
McKnight; Paul Kingston, Viv Rimmer; Swami
Ambikananda
Apologies : Zvi Solomons; Mustafa Chaudhary
Welcome
from The Chair:
Sarah Griffin (in the Chair) welcomed everyone present.
Minutes
of previous Meeting : Sarah
confirmed that the two outreach members were Rabbi Zvi Solomons and Mustaffa
Chodhury.
Swami Ambikananda enquired
whether anyone had contacted Ejaz after the last meeting. Chris Knollys agreed to contact him. Concern was expressed about the election
procedure and it was agreed that the matter of elections and how these were
conducted should be on the agenda of the next committee meeting.
Item
1 : It was
agreed that Swamiji would make and send out the Press Releases and the letters
to the members informing them of the event.
Swamiji explained that the members letters would have to be sent 1st
class as the date was too close to rely on 2nd class.
Item
2 : FMH
Lettings. Paul Kingston explained to the committee
that while the Friends were happy to extend hospitality to Reading Interfaith
Group, each time we booked a room and
failed to use it, we prevented Friends from getting revenue from It was agreed that as a courtesy rooms
would be cancelled well in advance and use of other venues would be encouraged.
Item
3 :
Christian Event : Chris
Knollys put forward the subject ‘The Holy Trinity’ for the 21st
May. He reported that while he did not
have a speaker yet he would approach Douai Abbey and report back at the
following Committee Meeting. It was
agreed that this event would be held at the Friends Meeting House unless an
alternative venue could be provided in the immediate future.
Living Library Event
: David explained the event more clearly for
the group and it was agreed that the RIFG would liase with the library about
and event as the library had expressed concern at the idea of putting on such
an event for each individual faith.
Swamijji was asked to liase.
Distribution of Events : Anthea reported that the leaflet
of events was now with the printers, that a thousand copies had been ordered
and that these would be distributed among members as soon as ready and a
quantity given to the Council for distribution.
Item
4 : Next Event
‘Suffering for Faith’. This event to be held on the 19th February, was
discussed by the group. Sarah said we
all had to be sensitive to the current situation in Gaza, especially as this
event was being held at the Synagogue.
Speakers had not yet been identified.
Swami Ambikananda asked if we could open the subject slightly and
perhaps include speakers who had suffered because their human condition was at
odds with their faith. She gave as an
example gays who faced increasing hostility since the Pope’s New Year statement
about homosexuality and perhaps women, who were excluded from leadership positions
by most faiths. The committee felt that
this was a topic for another time as the event was specifically about those who
had suffered for their faith. Swami A
disagreed with this view of faith and suffering. Sarah said she would speak to Rabbi Zvi and Mustafa and seek out
speakers for the event.
Item
5 : Report Back.
Sarah
reported that she had met with Bente of RISC who had assured her that RISC
always attempted to balance its meetings with different points of view but
sometimes their premises were booked by groups and the literature out of their
control. She said that she was aware of
the poster and felt that any imbalance would be redressed by other groups. The question was asked whether they had any rules
regarding who they let their rooms to but no-one knew.
Item
6 : Any
Other Business. Sarah has been invited
to attend a meeting of the editorial board for
‘One World Week’ and will report back.
Sarah reported that she often found herself having
to take buses for various meetings on behalf of the RIFG and would appreciate
bus fare being refunded. This was
agreed.
It was agreed that rather than
draw money from general funds for refreshments at the Committee Meetings,
members would volunteer to bring along something to eat on a rota basis.
The following dates were agreed
for Committee Meetings :
26th February - Viv to bring refreshments
16th April - Swami A ditto
28th May - Anthea ditto
16th July
17th September - Paul ditto
5th November - Chris ditto
The meeting closed with a moments
silence at 9.07 p.m.
