Call it what you will, interfaith, multiculturalism, pluralist dialogue - it tends to be very formal, very serious, and often, very dull.
It's hard to introduce this film without giving too much away. All I will say is that 4 months ago, I got together with a Muslim and a Christian who I'd never met before. We were given a clear brief: make a film, which explores interfaith. We wanted to do something totally different, here's what we came up with:
Coexistence came up recently in Andrea's post and it got some interesting responses. I'm keen to further that debate, and to hear what people th!nk about uniting people of different faiths, cultures and ideologies.
We want people to see interfaith in an altogether new way. We want this film to bring people together, to think and talk, and hopefully laugh! So we're sending it to groups all over the country in the hope that it will be screened as part of a range of interfaith events.
It was screened for the first time last night, and, I'm very pleased to say, was well received by the mixed audience. We also entered it into the Tony Blair Faith Foundation Faith Shorts competition. This year's theme is 'Let me show you how my faith inspires you'. We've just been told that it has been shortlisted and is now being sent to the global judging panel including Tony Blair, Jonathan Kaplan, Hugh Jackman, Anil Kapoor, Amr Khaled, Jet Li,Kishore Lulla, Wendi Murdoch, Natalie Portman, Nik Powell, Queen Rania of Jordan, Rabbi David Rosen, June Sarpong and Deepak Verma
Enjoyed the video. Good initiative to open debate. Thanks!
Honestly, I think humour has a granted place in religion.
Of course, many may say we have to treate it carefully, but, when humour is faced only as humour, there is no problem at all. In my humbled opinion, problems start when humour is mixed up with prejudice and stereotypes.
It is also a bit curious, for me, talking about uniting people of different faiths, cultures and ideologies. Under the optics of Brazilians, it is so common, so day-to-day here. It has never been a problem for us. I know, for Europe it is the other way round.
I think fundamentalists are quite alike regardless of religion - and they usually have no sense of humour, especially when talking about their faith. From this point of view jokes may constitute a tool for fighting extremism. Danish cartoons of Muhammad were a good example. On the other hand, this is a little bit pointless activity, since no fundamentalist will become less fundamental after hearing a joke. The laugh is good for health, I belive, but not best way for interfaith coexistence.