The National Youth Agency: Network plans first ever Inter-faith Week for England in the autumn

The week, announced by Communities and Local Government Secretary Hazel Blears last week, will run from 15 to 21 November 2009, with a launch the previous week.

The aims of the week are to strengthen good inter-faith relations at all levels, to increase awareness of the different and distinct faith communities in the UK, in particular celebrating and building on the contribution which their members make to their neighbourhoods and to wider society, and to increase understanding between people of religious and non-religious beliefs.

A football match involving people from different faiths is just one of the activities that could take place. Other activities designed to encourage the development of new partnerships within local communities could include a church and a mosque organising exchange visits for their congregations, a local inter-faith group organising a "faith trail" to different places of worship, a temple, synagogue or gurdwara arranging a special open day event and a youth group arranging an inter-faith debate. The week is being organised by the Inter Faith Network for the UK and the Department for Communities and Local Government but will be community-led, with local people and groups of different backgrounds holding their own events and highlighting work going on to promote understanding between people of different faiths and beliefs.