Governance of Britain

For use at a special Millennium celebration in the Houses of Parliament on 3 January 2000, the UK’s faith communities developed, with the Inter Faith Network, the following Act of Commitment:

In a world scarred by the evils of war, racism, injustice and poverty, we offer this joint Act of Commitment as we look to our shared future.

We commit ourselves,
as people of many faiths,
to work together
for the common good,
uniting to build a better society,
grounded in values and ideals we share:

community,
personal integrity,
a sense of right and wrong,
learning, wisdom and love of truth,
care and compassion,
justice and peace,
respect for one another,
for the earth and its creatures.

We commit ourselves,
in a spirit of friendship and co-operation,
to work together
alongside all who share our values and ideals,
to help bring about a better world
now and for generations to come.

The values at the heart of this commitment are reflected in many aspects of our society: both in our institutions and in our daily lives. But they are also ‘ideals’ which lead us on and inspire us to work together for the common good.

There are other values and principles, too, which Britain’s faith communities have highlighted in some of the documents they have worked on through the Inter Faith Network, such as:

• courtesy and good neighbourliness
• a concern for rights, balanced by a sense of social responsibility - each to one another
• a commitment to fair and transparent social processes which can help us as people of many different backgrounds live together well and justly
• a belief in the importance of personal freedom and a willingness to defend this – while at the same time recognising that we sometimes need mutually to negotiate limits to this for the well being of all
• working to resolve disagreements and remedy injustice without recourse to violence
• a willingness to speak out when necessary and be a ‘critical friend’ to one’s country
• a commitment to our British society and its flourishing, while always remembering we are citizens, too, both of its individual nations, of Europe and of a wider world

And, of course, for each religious community, belief in God or recognition of an ultimate law or principle underpins all human values.

The Inter Faith Network for the UK works with its 150 member bodies to promote good inter faith relations in Britain. The web address is: www.interfaith.org.uk