Wendi’s Wanders

Consort with the followers of all religions in a spirit of friendliness and fellowship. Bahá’u'lláh, Bahá’í writings

Today I facilitated the Diversity Game on behalf of Bedford Council of Faiths with members of a housing association on whose audit committee I sit. The game was developed by the Suffolk Inter-Faith group to develop a basic understanding of 12 of the faith communities that are found in the UK, from the Bahá’í Faith to the Zoroastrian religion.

The game is played around a big floor mat with spaces that players move along after throwing a die, sort of like Monopoly.

If a player lands on a space with one of the religious symbols on it, he or she can ask a question of the person holding the card of that religion, or the person holding that card can read out a few facts. There are also different `challenge’ spaces, where players have to pick up a challenge card and answer the question on it or discuss the issue the card raises. Sometimes the question is relatively easy and the answer quickly found on the information card (e.g. when is the Bahá’í new year? 21 March) and some are a little tricky (e.g. what religion was Jesus? Jewish). Others focus on attitude and behaviour, e.g.

A Hare Krishna group is processing through town. A neighbour makes a disparaging remark. What might you reply?

You are caring for a patient who believes that their illness is a punishment for something they have done. Would you challenge this?

The questions this group found the most challenging were about travellers, or gypsies. Although not strictly an issue about religion, the game includes several communities that are often the subjects of prejudice. It seems travellers are among the least understood and least accepted, some commenting on how dirty their sites are, that their lifestyle is not `normal’ and that they are thieves and `above the law’. Where did participants get this information? It was common knowledge - anyway, it’s all over the TV and newspapers. On the other hand, people who had actually worked on gypsy sites or worked with traveller children told a very different story, of houseproud women with immaculate caravans, people trying to educate their children and men working hard as farm labourers. This is my own experience of the gypsies who live down the road from us - by and large they are lovely people with warm hearts, beautifully cared-for homes and a strong sense of family and community.

And, basically, this is what we learned from playing this game: The best way to develop understanding and overcome prejudice is to have a direct experience of people, to meet them in their own homes or on their own patch and to invite them into your own. And meeting people from different faith, ethnic and cultural communities is easy if you join something like our Bedford Council of Faiths.

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