Building Bridges (pack of 25)

Extract from the first two pages of the booklet

Contents

Introduction
The Context
Religion
Belief
Faith
Culture
The Balancing Act
Building Good Relations
The Code
Reflection on The Code    


Introduction 

Over the past eight years we have run over sixty training and awareness days around “Issues of Belief, Faith and Culture”.  I have been asked, on a number of occasions, to produce an informative guide to accompany the day that would outline simply and concisely;  beliefs, practices and cultural sensitivities.  Some years ago I tried this but failed miserably!  I showed an early draft copy on Hinduism to a Hindu friend, who exclaimed, “Jonathan!  What are you doing?  You are in danger of reinforcing the very stereotypes we are trying to get away from!”

So this little booklet is an attempt to say that there is no shortcut to the process, no easy guide or manual.  Rather, one by one, each of us must take responsibility.  We have to do the work of building relations and communities ourselves.  The process is not about acquiring knowledge, understanding and skills alone – although they are crucial.  It is more to do with the quality of relationship that we bring to all our encounters with others.

Towards the end of his life Carl Rogers, that great pioneer of the “person-centred” approach in counselling, remarked that the helping process was not so much about the acquisition of a skill set, it was more to do with a “way of being”.

The perspective represented and promoted here is grounded in the work and experience that has developed at the Centre over the past ten years.

Jonathan Marshall MBE
Director
Plymouth Centre for Faiths & Cultural Diversity

September  2009

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