A Tribute to Alex Salmond Former First Minister of Scotland

"I wanted to share my own personal sadness at the passing of Alex Salmond. He was a great supporter of interfaith and articulated a strong vision of an inclusive multi-cultural, multi-faith Scotland, 'One Scotland many cultures.' As such he was fond of quoting from the The Declaration of Arbroath including the line, "cum non sit Pondus nec distinccio Judei et Greci, Scoti aut Anglici", which translates to "there is neither bias nor difference between Jew or Greek, Scot or English". My thoughts are with his family and friends and at Edinburgh Interfaith we will continue to work towards fulfilling this vision."

- Executive Director, Iain Stewart.

An Official Statement on behalf of The Edinburgh Interfaith Association

“As faith and community leaders and representatives across Edinburgh, we are heartbroken for the people of Southport following the tragic killings of three innocent children at a dance class. We are all more determined to work together to build a strong, cohesive and resilient community across our capital city.

we abhor the actions of extremist groups to spread disinformation and to stir up hatred and violence against particular communities. We also stand in solidarity with the people of Southport and elsewhere who have shown such dignity in resisting these forces. We appreciate Police Scotland reaching out to communities in Edinburgh to reassure them of their safety and allay fears of such hatred spreading here.

We must all strengthen our resolve to continue working together in safeguarding our communities. Therefore it is important that we fact check any social media reports before circulating them. We endeavour to follow the lead of the people of Southport, alongside other places having faces violence in recent days, and come together with mutual respect, united for the peace and well being of society as a whole.”

Signatures to the statement:

Robert Aldridge (The Right Honourable Lord Provost of Edinburgh),  Cammy Day (Leader of Edinburgh Council),  Alastair Cameron (Clerk, South East Scotland Area Quaker Meeting), Rabbi David Rose ( Edinburgh Hebrew Synagogue) Sheikh Amin Buxton, Bishop John Armes (Scottish Episcopal Church), Ifty Ali (Co-Chair, Scottish Ahlul Bayt Society), Fiona Bennett (Minister Augustines United Reformed Church), Ani Rinchen Khandro (Kagyu Samyé Dzong Edinburgh, Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Centre for Peace and Health), Daniel Gilius ( Scotland Regional Manager, MEND),  Dr Hazel Hastie (Presbytery Clerk, Presbytery of Edinburgh and West Lothian) Gareth Jones (Interfaith Officer, the Methodist Church in Scotland), Margery MacKay (Honorary President Edinburgh Interfaith Association), Unitarians in Edinburgh, Nasim Azad (Co-Chair of Edinburgh Interfaith Association), Joe Goldblatt (Co-Chair of Edinburgh Interfaith Association), Ruhy Parris (Baha’i Community),Bill Crook (Order of Interbeing, Plum Village UK), Wege Singh (Edinburgh Guru Nanak Gurdwara), Usha & Parul (Inner Space, Edinburgh, Braham Kumari) Nick Silk (Sukkat Shalom, Edinburgh Liberal Jewish Community), The Most Reverend Leo Cushley (Archbishop of St Andrews & Edinburgh), Suman Vohra (Edinburgh Hindu Mandir), Julie Finneran (Convener Unitarians in Edinburgh), Dr Festus Ogunmola (Scottish Council of African Churches), Jean Fowler, The Scottish Pagan Federation.

The Edinburgh Interfaith Association Statement on Israel – Palestine Conflict

The thoughts and prayers of The Edinburgh Interfaith Association (EIFA) are with those innocent victims and their families caught up in the Israel-Palestine conflict. As people of faith (and none), for over three decades EIFA has consistently recognised the intrinsic value of each and every human life. It saddens us all to witness suffering on an incomprehensible scale. We are reminded that these are people’s brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, fathers, and mothers, and that many in our communities living here have deep personal connections with loved ones living in the region.

Therefore, EIFA calls upon all parties, with support from the international community, to work together to establish peace in the area, and to bring an end to the suffering, and loss of human life.

We are also sadly too aware that the escalation of the Israel- Palestine conflict often leads to a sharp rise in Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in the UK and elsewhere. This then places even more importance upon our interfaith programmes, including our ‘Faith and Belief Roadshows’, as a way to counter that rise. Hence we shall continue to positively collaborate together on these programmes and with all others who share our values to foster mutual respect and understanding and to encourage and support an enduring peace in Edinburgh, in Scotland and throughout the world.

On 13 November 2023 EIFA at 6:30pm will hold a special Peace service in partnership with ‘The Oxford Foundation’, at St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, ‘Edinburgh Communities United Against Hate', when we shall remember all victims of the Israel/ Palestine Conflict, and other conflicts around the world, and come together across our different faiths, cultural, and political groups to call for lasting peace in the world today.

Editor’s Note: EIFA is the oldest Interfaith Association in Scotland. For 35 years EIFA has provided resources to promote education, understanding, empathy, collaboration, and peace in the City of Edinburgh, in Scotland and throughout the world.

Approved By:

Professor Joe Goldblatt (Chair)

Nasim Azad (Vice Chair)

and the Trustees of The Edinburgh Interfaith Association

EIFA Statement on Racist and Antisemitic Views Expressed by Kanye West (Ye)

As faith community members of the Edinburgh Interfaith Association, we wish to express our disappointment and disgust at the racist and antisemitic comments and social media posts of the musician Ye, formerly known as Kanye West. We condemn this egregious and dangerous behaviour and demand that all electronic and social media providers and music distributors remove his racist and antisemitic comments and consider banning him temporarily or permanently to prevent further harm to protected groups. Ye has just released a track entitled “Someday We’ll All Be Free.” The title ironically is contrary to his recent outbursts expressing anti-Black, white supremacist, antisemitic language, referring to slavery as “a choice” and declaring that “there’s a lot of things that I love about Hitler – a lot of things.” For the many millions of victims of enslavement and the Holocaust, “Someday We’ll All Be Free” was a hope that they never saw fulfilled. However, Ye continues to share hate filled views about Jewish people, declaring that he planned to “go death con 3” on Jewish people, and he has tweeted an image of a swastika inside the historic symbol of Judaism, the star of David. We do not need to look back too far in history to recognise what can happen when racist and antisemitic ideas are allowed to spread unchecked, uncriticised, and without condemnation by people of good hearts. Hate speech, sadly, leads to the dehumanisation of others and provokes acts of violence against them. Ye has a following of over 30 million people and is therefore able to reach and influence many others with these hate filled views. With rapidly rising antisemitism statistics at an all-time high in both the United Kingdom and in America with a total of 2,717 incidents of assault, harassment, and vandalism reported, now is the time for action to counter this evil behaviour. Following the Jewish Holocaust in Europe, leaders and citizens throughout the world proclaimed loudly “Never Again.” Nearly 80 years later, as the last Holocaust survivors​ vanish from our midst, we believe it is time to once again unite in global humanity to bring an end to this horrific behaviour. In order to build a world where such atrocities may “Never Again” be committed, The Edinburgh Interfaith Association is determined to work with others to take action against the evil views expressed by Ye and others, to immediately call out, and continually stamp out racism, antisemitism and all other forms of abuse and violence based upon race, faith, spirituality or individual beliefs.