Balsall Heathan # 266 Jun 2007 - St. Paul's Community Trust

Are you in a
Mixed Faith
Family?
A New Project in the Warwick
Religions and Education
Research Unit (WRERU) at the
University of Warwick is
Looking for Volunteers
by Elisabeth Arweck
There are little solid statistics on the number of mixed faith or
interfaith marriages, yet every faith community is aware that such
marriages are on the rise, particularly among young adults. Some
evidence of their existence and the issues which arise from religiously
mixed families can be found in web chat rooms where
contributors discuss mixing and meshing traditions in wedding
ceremonies, holiday celebrations, and child-rearing.
Further evidence can be found in the arts, in particular in literature
and drama. For example, Brick Lane, a novel set in the Bangladeshi
Muslim community in East London, shortlisted for the Booker
Prize, is informed by the author’s own dual heritage. Monica Ali
grew up as the child of a Bengali Muslim father—who wished her
to be a ‘good Bengali girl’—and an English mother. Another example
is Child of the Divide, a recent play by Sudha Bhuchar, cofounder
of Tamasha Arts and co-winner of the Asian Women of
Achievement Award in Arts and Culture. The play tells the story of
a small Hindu boy who is taken in by a Muslim family in the chaos
of border crossing between India and the newly formed Pakistan in
1947. Having been brought up a Muslim he eventually finds himself
confronted with his Hindu roots and needs to decide what he
wants to be.
While some people are sceptical and even negative about the mixed
faith background of children who grow up in interfaith families,
others see it as an enrichment, fertile ground for creativity, and fine
examples of successful resolution of conflict. However, there is no
conclusive sociological evidence that children raised with two faiths
are any better or worse off than children raised in a single faith.
Academic research in this area is scant, with some notable exceptions,
such as Abe Ata’s work on Christian/Muslim Intermarriage
on the West Bank and in Australia. Hence the project at the
Univerasity of Warwick. It seeks to investigate how children, whose
parents have different faith backgrounds (Christian, Hindu, Muslim,
or Sikh), form their own religious identity.
The three-year study (June 2006–May 2009) is funded by the Arts
and Humanities Research Council. The research team is building
on previous studies of religious nurture in examining the factors,
which influence young people’s religious identity, allegiance,
activities, and beliefs in relation to their parents’.
As many schools have become increasingly diverse in terms of pupils’
ethnic and cultural backgrounds, questions about the role, that
upbringing and teaching play in young people’s religious identity
formation are of great importance. Such questions are all the more
significant given widespread assumptions about the discrete nature
of religious and cultural communities and their related faiths, which
do not allow for the more plural reality of many families and
individuals. Interfaith families are ‘obvious’ examples, which
demonstrate that faith and religious identity do not necessarily
come in neat categories. All this has implications for the way in
which religious education is constructed and taught in schools and
the way in which educators approach individuals from various faith
communities.
The research team would welcome any relevant information and
contact with members of mixed-faith families. Please get in touch!
elisabeth.arweck@warwick.ac.uk
Tel. 02476 528 434
POLICE OFFICERS TEAM
UP WITH AUTO REPAIR
SERVICE TO CRACK CAR
CRIME
By Lori Gillespie
POLICE Officers from Balsall Heath neighbourhood are teaming
up with a nationwide auto repair service to provide anti-theft
screws to drivers.
The special screws replace traditional screws in car number plates
to make it extremely difficult for them to be removed.
Number plate theft is becoming a nationwide problem, enabling
criminals to ‘clone’ other cars. Innocent motorists can incur
speeding fines, parking tickets, congestion charges and other
offences as a result. It is hoped that by making the number plates
harder to remove, the chances of becoming a victim of this type of
crime will decrease.
Auto repairers Kwik Fit volunteered their services and fitted the
anti-theft screws for anyone living in the area on 30th May at Aldi
in Sparkbrook for free of charge.
As well as fitting the anti theft screws, motorists were able to pick
up security marking pens to mark valuables in their car, such as
radios and sat nav systems.
PC Christopher Brown, running the initiative, said: “We want to
make it hard for thieves and every crime prevention method taken
is a step towards reducing the chances of becoming a victim.
“Kwik Fit have kindly agreed to support us in this initiative by
fitting the screws while officers gave further crime prevention advice
and literature to those who attended.”
THEFT OF LEAD
The price of scrap metal has rocketed in the last year. As a consequence,
there has been a spate of thefts in the area. Offenders are
stealing the lead from the roof of people’s homes.
Often the victim is not aware of the theft until their roof starts to
leak. There have been a number of reported incidents and there
are possibly many more that have gone unreported or unnoticed
until the winter weather sets in.
If you see anyone acting suspiciously please call Belgrave Road
Police Station on 0845 113 5000 or in the case of an emergency
call 999.