Welcome to PCFCD - Plymouth Centre for Faiths and Cultural Diversity

Different beliefs - Different cultures - Shared values

We are a charitable trust based in the St Judes area of Plymouth, supported by Plymouth City Council.

Our main objective is to promote education of world religion and cultural diversity based on the values of respect and tolerance.

The Centre aims to achieve this by creating opportunities for interfaith and multicultural awareness, dialogue, understanding and celebration 

Please note the Centre will be closed all day on Tuesday 3rd August for Staff Training
We are sorry for any inconvience this may cause.

Jonathan Marshall's Blog
CENTRE DIRECTOR

9th May 2010

Although difficult to generalise it seems that religion, at the deepest level, is about the process of transformation.  Religion in all its various guises and forms enshrines the vision, teaching and insight of founders and later disciples.

Walking in the footsteps of those founders and disciples, who have the deepest human and spiritual experiences and insights to share, I wonder if it matters, initially, whether we believe them to be divine or human? In following the path beliefs will no doubt change for ‘believers’ and ‘unbelievers’ alike as they both grow in that deeper kind of direct experience and ‘knowing’.  Beliefs may also have something of a provisional quality about them too.  They point the way and provide structure and direction but they can never quite capture the whole experience which is not conceptual or intellectual but deeply experiential.  The difficulty is often that we get stuck in the beliefs and can move no further - beliefs can sometimes impede growth.  There is certainly a danger today that we may place far too much importance on beliefs – having the “right” ones; whilst fighting against the “wrong” ones.  The trouble is that beliefs, like opinions, will often divide us and we can end up wasting a great deal of time trying to settle the issues before moving on into practice which is, after all, what all religions are actually about.  So let us not get carried away by beliefs, rather … let us practise more!

Religion is about waking up to what is going on – realising what it means to be fully human – recognising that the journey is about the transformation from the self-centred to the self-less  -  from the self-absorbed, and self-obsessed to unconditional love and compassion for others.

Religion also provides us with a reality check.  We are able to observe what is happening, where we are getting stuck and where we are in danger of losing perspective. Through our practice and experience, we must ensure that religion, in whatever form, maintains this edge; supportive but also sometimes subversive.  Religion may therefore be challenging and not always comfortable.  Religion is not a cosy armchair – spirituality is not a comfortable, old sweater.  Religion is not an escape from life but a way into the fullness of living.  Today there is a danger that some of our religious institutions, leaders and representatives are failing to rouse us from our slumbers on the couches of consumerism, apathy, and general bamboozlement because they too have dozed off!

Perhaps it is time for us all to wake up!

Jonathan.