Statement from the Bishops, our Dean and other local faith leaders
As leaders within Leicestershire’s diverse faith communities we have come together as a sign of our solidarity and unity.
Leicester has a proud history of coming together in times of celebration and in times of challenge and we have no doubt the city will respond in this way again.
We are currently facing a particular challenge, now familiar to all of us throughout the United Kingdom, but prolonged within our city and parts of the county. No single cause is likely to be found for the spike in cases here, and what is more important is that we continue to work together and stand alongside each other with kindness, compassion and hope as we persevere in lockdown for the good of our community and our key workers.
Throughout the period of lockdown, there have been many fantastic examples of people of all faiths and none working together for the good of all. We have so many stories to illustrate this, whether of a Hindu mandir providing dates for Muslims to break their fast during Ramadan, of Sikhs distributing langar freely, of Christians and Muslims working together to run a food bank and provide essential supplies for some of the most vulnerable in our city.
We must all continue in this way to focus on supporting those who are suffering from this vicious illness, grieving for lost loved ones, people who are afflicted by isolation, and those struggling without work or with a failing business.
We know Leicester will do this and when lockdown is over and we’re able to move about once more, we look forward to welcoming visitors back to our wonderful city and county to see how well we live together.
Rt Revd Martyn Snow, Bishop of Leicester
Rt Revd Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, Bishop of Loughborough
The Very Revd David Monteith, Dean of Leicester
Kartar Singh Bring, Chair UK Sikh Healthcare Chaplaincy Group.
Jaawahir Dahir BEM, Somali Development Services
Pradip Gajjar, President, ISKCON Leicester
Miriam Levene, Leicester Progressive Jewish Community
Jaspal Singh Minhas, Chair, Leicester Asian Business Association
Suleman Nagdi Federation of Muslim Organisations
Tony Nelson, Leicester Hebrew Congregation
Resham Singh Sandhu, MBE, DL, FRSA
Narendra Waghela, BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir
Revd Dr Tom Wilson, Director, St Philip’s Centre