On Monday Sumayya Koviwala of Preston Faith Forum organised and led a Faith Trail by mini-bus from the Vajravarahi Buddhist Centre to the Gujrat Hindu Temple then to St Stephens Church ending on Avenham Park beside the river Ribble; a Pagan sacred site. As it was a cold day I gave an introductory talk on Paganism on the mini-bus (which was a first!) before we walked together down to the Ribble and I talked about the sacredness of the local landscape, the river and its goddess, Belisama.
The questions posed by the students were insightful and intelligent. The discussion illuminated the similarities and differences between attitudes toward gender across the faiths, in particular between individual understandings of the role of men and women from different Christian perspectives. Several students approached to ask further questions about Paganism at the end, which I found encouraging.
On Thursday evening I attended a Celebration of Faith event at County Hall, organised by Andy Pratt of Lancashire Faith Forum.
The event began and ended with interfaith cake donated by Donna Hussain.