To get an idea of activity in the UK, check out The Interfaith Network for the UK wwnw.interfaith.org.ulc; they link together 90 different bodies in the UK who work on interfaith relations. The Westminster Interfaith Network www. westminsterinterfaith.org.uk is also useful. This year’s Gresham College divinity lectures, by Professor Gwen Griffith-Dickson, focus on fundamental questions of belief in the context of interfaith dialogue.
The lectures will appear on the Gresham College web site, www.gresham.ac.uk. Although not specifically a religious site, the Commission on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain www.runnymedetrust.org/ meb/ is useful, particularly the section on Islamophobia.
Internationally, there are too many organizations to list. A few of the prominent ones are the International Association for Religious Freedom www.iarf-rel net which works for freedom of religion and belief through 90 affiliated member organisations in 27 countries. Their site includes a useful quarterly review of religious persecution around the globe, records of their work at the United Nations and other projects, and a useful set of links. Their partner organization The International Interfaith Centre www. interfaith-center.org promotes international interfaith networking, encounter, education and research. Their site includes information about past and upcoming events, including papers from their annual conferences, and another useful set of links.
It is also useful to check the more rights-oriented sites dealing with freedom of religion and belief, such as the Oslo Coalition www.hri.ca/partners/forob/welcome.htm which gives details on the legal provisions about freedom of religion in each country, UN conventions and declarations relevant to freedom of religions, and reports of the UN special rapporteur on freedom of religion and belief, etc.
Religiousfreedom.lib.virginia.edu/home.html is an extraordinary collection of religious and political texts concerning religious freedom, country dossiers including country-specific bibliographies and web links, and an extensive, annotated list of organisations in the USA concerned with religious freedom. The Center for Religious Freedom freedomhouse.org/ religion/ includes substantial portions of its own publication Religious Freedom in the World, plus a “new martyrs list” of current cases of religious persecution. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom www.uscirf.gov/ publishes detailed annual reports on their assessment of religious freedom around the world.
Finally some sites offer a wealth of background information for learning about other religions. Useful places to start are The United Religions Initiative www.uri.org, A Sourcebook for Earth’s Religions www.silcom.com/~origin/csb2.html, and www.religious-tolerance.org — this last site has a distressingly busy design and far too many advertisements, but if you can ignore that and plough on, some of the essays have detailed sets of links to on-line primary and secondary resources about different religions.
If you know of a site that should be featured, please email the link to pattiwhaley@compuserve.com.