Abrahamic faiths guide launched this week

A pocket guide to Jewish, Christian and Muslim beliefs has been launched on Leeside with hopes it will teach people, particularly younger people, about each faith.

The Pocket Facts Guide for Jewish, Christian and Muslim People 2020 was launched on Tuesday by Cork’s Three Faiths Forum, which brings together members of the three Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

The group create a space where people of faith can talk openly and respectfully, come to a better understanding of each other’s faith, and work together to enhance tolerance, cooperation and friendship in society.

Reverend Canon Elaine Murray told the Cork Independent that the Three Faiths Forum, for the past three years, has produced a calendar of feast days with dates marking the start of Ramadan, Easter and Passover as well as other important feast days. These calendars are then distributed to many schools, which Canon Murray said fosters an understanding between the faiths.

The pocket guide came to be, she said, after she saw a similar guide in St Philip’s Centre in Leicester last year.

“I got the idea that it would be a useful thing for us to have in the Three Faiths Forum to deliver a message to young people in particular. I noticed on the booklets that they had received a grant from Westhill Foundation and I got in touch them and asked them if they would like to give us a grant to produce this pocket guide as Three Faiths Forum doesn’t have any money, we’re purely volunteers. The Foundation gave us a grant to produce the pocket guide.”

Canon Murray said there’s plenty of information in the pocket guide like the differences between the faiths, information on food and scriptures, what to do in chapels, churches and synagogues and other places or worships.

The Three Faiths Forum said: “This pocket guide initiative is a small step in helping us understand our neighbour a little better. Jews, Christians and Muslims are as diverse as the trees in the world so don’t expect all the answers in this small guide.

“We hope that this guide will begin a conversation between us and hopefully move us to reach out to each other, socially distant at this time, as we embrace the challenges that modern society poses to us all.”

For a copy of Pocket Facts Guide for Jewish, Christian and Muslim People 2020, email Revered Canon Elaine Murray at emitincork@gmail.com.