Quakers share expertise to help heal social divisions
In the wake of far-right racist riots and growing divisions, Quakers have offered their expertise in building community cohesion.
In their submission to the Women and Equalities Parliamentary Committee's inquiry into community cohesion, Quakers said they are deeply worried about growing divisions in society.
The government must fund and implement social cohesion work on a national and local level as well as reinstating the interfaith network if it is to rebuild communities, Quakers in Britain said.
They said the far right had taken advantage of people's loss of trust in democracy, austerity and rising economic insecurity to spread harmful ideas that divide people by nationality, culture or ethnicity.
In this challenging context, faith groups and wider civil society have vital experience of best practice in building communities.
Through their Peacebuilding in Britain, Interfaith and Peace Education teams, Quakers in Britain have longstanding knowledge and insight into healing social divisions.
In their submission they pointed to examples including the Brighton Quaker Sanctuary group's cooking club which has brought together a diverse of people to prepare food and sit down together.
Quakers, who believe everyone has that of the Light within them, view peace and cohesion as more than just avoiding war and violence.
“It is a comprehensive approach to living in the world, which includes living in ways which strengthen community resilience and handling conflict in nonviolent ways," their submission said.
They made several key recommendations:
- A national plan for building cohesion that avoids overemphasis on assimilation at the cost of downplaying the importance of uprooting far right and racist narratives
- Re-establishing a national body to promote interfaith relations
- Creating a national fund to support conflict resolution work
- Giving councils a new duty, with proper funding, to lead and coordinate efforts to bring communities together.
They highlighted the importance of schools in this effort, saying they can play a key role by helping children develop healthy relationships and emotional resilience.
These approaches are part of Quaker peace education across the country, described in their report, cited in their submission, Peace at the Heart: a relational approach to education in British schools.
Fostering global and local connections, building anti-racist school communities and peace education through the curriculum were also important, Quakers said.