More About WCF

WCF works to develop better understanding, co-operation

and respect between people of different faiths

What does it do?

The World Congress of Faiths publishes the leading journal on interfaith matters Interreligious Insight. It arranges a variety of conferences, meetings, retreats, visits and group travel. All these provide occasions to learn what others believe, what they think about life today and how they pray, meditate and worship. Some meetings are of special interest to teachers or to health and social workers. WCF also provides a chance for members of local interfaith groups to meet people from different parts of the country and the world who share their concern.

What are its beliefs?

The World Congress of Faiths believes that understanding between people of different religions is important for good community relations, for moral and spiritual renewal and for world peace. A principle is respect for those of differing faith. WCF by its educational work encourages interfaith understanding and co-operation at all levels of society.

Who else does it work with?

WCF is a member of the Inter Faith Network (UK) and works with other interfaith organizations in Britain and across the world. WCF has helped to establish the International Interfaith Centre at Oxford and works closely with the London Interfaith Centre. It has good relations with many faith communities.

Who are the Executive?

The members of the Executive of WCF are drawn from all major religious communities in Britain.

President: Rev Marcus Braybrooke

The Reverend Marcus Braybrooke
Oxford, UK
MarcusBray@worldfaiths.org

Patron of the International Interfaith Centre, Co-founder of the Three Faiths Forum and Peace Councillor and author.

Revd Dr Marcus Braybrooke is a retired Anglican parish priest, living near Oxford, England. He has been involved in interfaith work for over forty years, especially through the World Congress of Faiths, which he joined in 1964 and of which he is now President. He was Executive Director of the Council of Christians and Jews from 1984-8. He is a Co-Founder of the Three Faiths Forum, Patron of the International Interfaith Centre at Oxford and a Peace Councillor. He has travelled widely to attend interfaith conferences and to lecture. He has studied for a time in India and in Israel.
In September 2004, he was awarded a Lambeth Doctorate of Divinity by the Archbishop of Canterbury ‘in recognition of his contribution to the development of inter-religious co-operation and understanding throughout the world.’
He is author of over forty books on world religions and Christianity, including Pilgrimage of Hope, Faith and Interfaith in a Global Age, Time to Meet, How to Understand Judaism, What We Can Learn from Hinduism, Christian-Jewish Dialogue: the Next Steps. He has also written Learn to Pray and 365 Meditations for a Peaceful Heart and a Peaceful World and has edited several anthologies of prayers and meditations, including 1,000 World Prayers and Life Lines. His latest book A Heart for the World: the Interfaith Alternative is now available. See our publications page for more details.
Marcus is married to Mary, who is a social worker and a magistrate. They have a son and a daughter and six granddaughters.

Patrons:

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

The Most Reverend Desmond Tutu
Desmond Tutu was born in Klerksdorp, in the South African state of Transvaal. The family moved to Johannesburg when he was 12, and he attended Johannesburg Bantu High School. He trained as a teacher at Pretoria Bantu Normal Normal College and graduated from the University of South Africa in 1954.
He was ordained as a priest in the Anglican church in 1960. He lived in England from 1962 to 1966, where he earned a master's degree in theology. He taught theology in South Africa for the next five years, and returned to England to serve as an assistant director of the World Council of Churches in London. In 1975 he became the first black African to serve as Dean of St. Mary's Cathedral in Johannesburg.
From 1976 to 1978 he was Bishop of Lesotho. In 1978 he became the first I black General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches.
In 1984, Desmond Tutu was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace, "not only as a gesture of support to him and to the South African Council of Churches of which he is leader, but also to all individuals and groups in South Africa who, with their concern for human dignity, fraternity and democracy, incite the admiration of the world."
Two years later, Desmond Tutu was elected Archbishop of Cape Town.
After the country's first multi racial elections in 1994, President Mandela appointed Archbishop Tutu to chair the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, investigating the human rights violations of the previous 34 years. Today he is a Professor of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Published collections of his speeches, sermons and other writings include Crying in the Wilderness, Hope and Suffering, and The Rainbow People of God.

Diana Eck
Diana L. Eck is Professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies at Harvard University where she serves on the Committee on the Study of Religion in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. She is also a member of the Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies as well as the Faculty of Divinity. She received her B.A. from Smith College (1967) in Religion, her M.A. from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (1968) in South Asian History, and her Ph.D. from Harvard University (1976) in the Comparative Study of Religion. Diana Eck and her partner Dorothy Austin are currently serving as Masters of Lowell House at Harvard.
Since 1991, Diana Eck has been heading a research team at Harvard University to explore the new religious diversity of the United States and its meaning for the American pluralist experiment. The Pluralism Project, funded by the Lilly Endowment, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Ford Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation has been documenting the growing presence of the Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, Jain, and Zoroastrian communities in the U.S. This research project has involved students and professors in "hometown" research on America's new religious landscape.
In 1996, Diana L. Eck was appointed to a U.S. State Department Advisory Committee on Religious Freedom Abroad, a twenty-member commission charged with advising the Secretary of State on enhancing and protecting religious freedom in the overall context of human rights. In 1998, Eck received the National Humanities Medal from President Clinton and the National Endowment for the Humanities for her work on American religious pluralism.

Dadi Janki
Dadi Janki is a pioneer in spiritual leadership. She is Co-administrative Head of the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University, known for its grass roots work in spiritual education and its role convening international projects and dialogues about issues of world transformation. An energetic 89 year old, Dadi Janki provides inspiration and practical help to millions.
Since 1974, Dadi has overseen the expansion of the university's work into nearly 90 countries. She shares only that which is an example in her own life. A mentor to business and community leaders, Dadi was one of the few women spiritual leaders empowering women to become leaders in their communities, following India's independence. In 1992 Dadi was invited to be one of ten Keepers of Wisdom, an eminent group of world spiritual leaders convened to advise the Earth Summit in Brazil on the fundamental spiritual dilemmas which underpin current worldwide environment issues. Her awards include the Medal of Independence from The King of Jordan, for humanitarian work.

Chair:

Rabbi Jackie Tabick
London, UK
Rabbi, North West Surrey Synagogue, Weybridge.
jtabick@lineone.net

Rabbi Tabick became a rabbi in 1975, the first woman rabbi ordained in Great Britain. She served West London Synagogue as an associate rabbi till 1998 and then became rabbi of North West Surrey Synagogue in Weybridge.
She is married to Rabbi Larry Tabick and they have three children.
Rabbi Jackie is Vice-President of the Movement for Reform Judaism, an executive member of the InterFaith Network and a Patron of the Jewish Council for Racial Equality.

Secretary: The Reverend Feargus O'Connor Rev Feargus O'Connor

London, UK

Treasurer: Pejman Khojasteh

London, UK

pejman_khojasteh@btinternet.com

Pejman is researching and refining a belief structure, mainly with regard to the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, whilst accommodating the diversity in people's beliefs. Through commonality of belief the intention is to lower disagreements between people or conversely improve cooperation, which can be beneficial in connection with good and constructive communication and actions.

International Secretary:

Imam Abduljalil Sajid
Hove, UK

imamsajid@gmail.com

Chairman Muslim Council for Religious and Racial Harmony UK
Chair Religions for Peace UK and Deputy President European WCRP Board
National Chairman of National Association of British Pakistanis (NABPAK)
Secretary Mosques and Community Affairs Committee of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB)
Secretary Sussex Muslim Society Trust UK (A registered Charity)
Secretary Al-Hijrah Trust UK (A registered Charity)
European representative of World Council of Muslims Inter-faith Relations (WCMIR)
IFCG Link Officer for National and International Inter-faith matters

Editor of Interreligious Insight:

The Reverend Dr Alan Race
Leicester UK
Author, Interfaith Encounter;
Trustee, International Interfaith Centre, Oxford;
Rector, St. Andrews, Leicester.
alan.race@ntlworld.com

The Revd Alan Race is involved in work for interfaith understanding and co-operation at many levels:
locally he is a member of the Leicester Council of Faiths;
nationally he has played a long-standing role as a member of the Church of England's committee for relation with people of other faiths; and internationally he has been a conference speaker on theological and dialogue themes.
His most recent visit was to Brisbane, Australia (October 2005) where he gave lectures on interreligious dialogue, democracy & religion, and dialogue & mission themes, as well as giving 2 full length interviews on national radio.

Editor of One Family:

Dr Joy Barrow
London, UK

Joy Barrow has been involved in interfaith dialogue for over twenty years.
After teaching Religious Studies in London secondary schoools for twenty five years, in September 2005 she became Director of the International Interfaith Centre in Oxford.
She is a member of the Interfaith Committee of the Methodist Church and is Co-ordinator of Faith Awareness, a local interfaith group in Southall, West London.
She has been studying Sikhism, and involved in dialogue with Sikhs, for over twenty years, regularly visitng Sikh places of worship and leading university field trips in Sikh studies.
Joy has a PhD in Sikh spirituality from Leeds University and, in 2003, was a Visiting Fellow in Sikhism at Punjabi University, India.
She edited 'Meeting Sikhs', which was published by Christians Aware and wrote 'World Faiths: Sikhism' for Chrysalis Books.
She has presented academic papers on Sikhism internationally and contributed to a variety of publications.

Other Executive Members:

Rev Jonathan Barker
London UK

Mrs Martha Besser
Harrow UK

The Reverend Dr Richard Boeke
Horsham UK

Richard Boeke has served as both Chairman and Secretary of the WCF.
He coined the word, FIDEOLOGY, the study of faith as trust, for three conferences based on the work of Wilfred Cantwell Smith.
He has served as Secretary for the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists (ICUU), and lectured on Michael Servetus for the ICUU.
He was founding President of the U.S. Chapter of the International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF). For several years he was Vice President of a Shinto Shrine (Tsubaki America).
His articles have appeared in "Dharma World," "Faith and Freedom," "Sacred Journey" and many Unitarian Publications.
Early in his ministry he was a U.S. Air Force Chaplain, and served churches in the United States before moving to England in 1995. In 2005 He received the Louis Cornish award for service to International Liberal Religion.
He currently serves as Moderator of the Horsham Interfaith Forum and Minister of the Horsham Unitarian Church.

The Reverend Fergus Capie Rev Fergus Capie

The London Interfaith Centre
London, UK

Dr Owen Cole
Chichester, UK

The Revd Dr Alan Gadd

London, UK
holmewood24@surefish.co.uk

Secretary, South London Inter Faith Group

Alan was ordained an Anglican priest in 1972 and was a Minister in Secular Employment, working in the Meteorological Office on Numerical Weather Prediction, until 1995. There followed 10 years as a parish priest at All Saints’ Church, Battersea Park, during which time he was active in the Southwark Diocesan Inter Faith Group. Since 2006 Alan has been the Secretary of the South London Inter Faith Group. Recent writing includes ‘The Book of Nature and the Book of Revelation: Perspectives from D B Burrell and T F Torrance’, a dissertation for the MA in Philosophy and Religion (London: Heythrop College, 2007) and two chapters in ‘Together and Different: Christians working with people of other faiths’, Eds. Malcolm Torry and Sarah Thorley (London: SCM-Canterbury Press, 2008).

Sister Maureen Goodman

London, UK

Sister Maureen has been Programme Co-ordinator at the International Centre of the Brahma Kumaris in London since 1991, and has travelled widely giving workshops and lectures on themes related to spiritual development.
She has worked with a variety of community groups, developing the University’s outreach work in the UK in prisons, healthcare, education, youth and women’s issues and interfaith dialogue. She is also the University’s representative at the United Nations, Vienna. In 2000, Maureen was the worldwide co-ordinator of Brahma Kumaris projects for the United Nations International Year for the Culture of Peace.
Maureen has worked in the area of inter-religious dialogue nationally and internationally for over 20 years, serving on several committees including the World Congress of Faiths, United Religions Initiative - UK and the Prince’s Trust Faith Communities Advisory Forum. She is a member of the advisory committee of ‘Respect – it’s about time’, an initiative launched by HRH the Prince of Wales to bring together young people in Britain’s faith communities. She has also served on the Advisory Committee of the International Interfaith Centre, and the Executive Committees of the World Conference on Religions and Peace (UK and Ireland Chapter). Maureen is a contributor to ‘Testing the Global Ethic’, published in 1998 and to the SHAP World Religions in Education Journal 2002/3, ‘Religion: the problem or the answer?’
Maureen is the international co-ordinator of The Inner Voice of Peace – a dialogue for religious and spiritual leaders. The first event in the series was held in Mt Abu, Rajasthan in October 2005.
Maureen is the International Co-ordinator for BK Youth Activities and co-convenes the annual International Youth forum at the Brahma Kumaris World Headquarters in Mt Abu, India. The Forum attracts youth from around 50 countries.
Maureen is a trustee of the Janki Foundation for Global Healthcare, a charity that supports the Global Hospital and research Centre in Mt Abu, Rajasthan, India. She is also a member of the UK Committee for Rights and Humanity, an organisation promoting respect for human rights as a foundation for global economic and social justice and human development.

The Reverend David Hart Rev David Hart