Faiths United is a coalition of faith leaders and activists representing all nine major faiths responding to the COVID-19 crisis. 

Set up at the start of the pandemic in March 2020, we provide a forum for faith communities to discuss common challenges, to share best practices, and to drive joint responses. 

The group is action-focussed, and strives to support the most vulnerable in our communities.  

Advocacy

We have convened faith leaders and activists on regular Zoom calls with guest speakers including leaders from the British Medical Association, Royal College of Nursing and Royal Voluntary Service.

• Faiths United  also galvanises its communities behind common causes. We have clapped for carers, and letters from Faiths United  members have been published in major UK newspapers (for example, Letter in Telegraph, 9 April 2020).
• We engage with Government  regularly, advocating for the communities we represent, as well as for the  poor, the sick and the needy of all faiths and none. 
• The night the  second lockdown was introduced in November 2020, we hosted a Q&A with  Lord Greenhalgh to provide faith leaders with an opportunity to ask      questions about the new measures and their impact on spiritual life. 
• We have also  worked closely with NHS Test and Trace to explore how faith communities  can support the programme, and to provide Government officials with      opportunities to speak to communities’ concerns. 
• We are now  looking ahead to the new opportunities and challenges that will emerge  from the rollout of the vaccine. This began with an address from Danny      Kruger MBE MP, who spoke to us about sustaining the community spirit seen      during lockdown, and discussed how people of faith can help tackle  deprivation, unemployment and inequality. We continued this conversation with  Stephen Timms MP, Chair of the APPG on Faith and Society. 

Webinars and Events 

• During Ramadan,  we hosted a multi-faith Iftar, which was attended by the National Faith  Minister Lord Greenhalgh, as well as the First Minister of Northern Ireland and Wales, and the Mayors of Liverpool and Manchester – watch it here. 
• Series of online  webinars with past topics including bereavement, prejudice, mental health, domestic abuse and Black Lives Matter. 

We partnered with SFI to run a two-day conference, "Building Resilience to the Covid-19 Pandemic and Beyond", which included an interactive Webinar and culminated in a panel of philanthropists such as John Studzinski CBE and Mohamed Amersi, discussing potential sources of funding for Faith Organisations beyond the Government. In the summer of 2020, we held a Key worker thank you evening and a “Faiths, Jobs and Business” webinar.

• To learn more  about upcoming events, please take a look at our calendar.

Social Action and Projects 

• We have organised multi-faith  donations to food banks, run a Connected Communities Competition and as  well as a phone volunteering programme to connect people  who are isolating with those of different faith. 
• We produced a multi-faith  light-hearted sketch scripted by Ivor Baddiel, which      was issued in November 2020.

We are proud to work closely with our Youth Network, who have done inspiring work to bring young people of faith together during the pandemic, to educate and entertain them, and to support others through their volunteering programme