THE withdrawal of presidency funding from the Inter Faith Network (IFN), which has forced its closure, is a “matter of great regret”, the Archbishop of York has said.
The board of the IFN announced in an announcement on Thursday that the charity would close, after it received an extra letter from the Communities Secretary, Michael Gove, dated 21 February, confirming that a previous funding offer of £155,000 from the Government was being withdrawn, despite appeals for it to be honoured.
Archbishop Cottrell said in an announcement on Friday that the closure was a “sad day for the entire nation”. The work of the IFN had “helped to bind diverse communities together for a few years”, he said.
The IFN had announced the opportunity of closure earlier this month after previous correspondence with Mr Gove in regards to the withdrawal (News, 16 February). In his latest letter, Mr Gove repeated that the choice had been taken because a member of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) was made an IFN trustee.
The Government has not engaged with the MCB since a former member appeared to condone attacks on the British Navy in 2009.
Mr Gove wrote: “Whilst I recognise that the MCB was already a member of the Inter Faith Network when the previous offer of funding was made, I find their membership regrettable and it’s deeply concerning that an MCB member could possibly be appointed into your core governance structure.
“This increases the proximity between government funding and an organisation (the MCB) with which the Government has a long-standing policy of non-engagement. This is much more essential within the case of funding for a distinguished and nationally lively organisation similar to the IFN, which might carry too great a risk of compromising the credibility and effectiveness of that policy.”
The IFN has said that it had not been asked to proscribe membership of any individual, nor had it previously been advised by the department to expel any MCB members due to Government’s policy of non-engagement.
The co-chairs of the IFN said on Thursday: “It shouldn’t be easy to see how IFN’s purpose (the worth of which it has all the time been believed the Government appreciates) could possibly be achieved by sowing division.” Division can be inevitable, they said, if the IFN expelled a trustee without cause — similar to being found guilty of illegal actions, or bringing reputational damage.
The MCB represented greater than 500 national, regional, and native Muslim organisations, mosques, charities, and schools, the co-chairs said, due to this fact: “Although the Government can select not to interact with it, that shouldn’t be a smart option open to the IFN whether it is to realize the needs for which the Government funds it in the primary place.”
The IFN has been preparing for closure because the Government refused to verify whether the cash promised last July — which covers the charity’s operating costs until March 2024 — can be paid.
In an announcement, IFN trustees said: “Neither the careful and thought of response of IFN’s board, nor the widespread support and concern on the potential lack of the Inter Faith Network for the UK, have led Mr Gove to reconsider his position
“Therefore, the organisation is now on the trail to closure, and IFN trustees and staff will likely be working to bring the organisation’s work to a detailed and to preserve its legacy in ways in which enable others to construct strongly on that in the long run.”
Archbishop Cottrell said: “The IFN has been the umbrella organisation for nearly 4 a long time, supporting local interfaith groups, the national Faith Forum, and the meeting of religion communities across the devolved nations. It has done an enormous amount of labor with academic institutions to advertise religious literacy across the UK. . . This is a tragic day for the entire nation.”
During an urgent query on the funding withdrawal within the House of Lords, last week, the Bishop of Worcester, Dr John Inge, said: “The optics of this usually are not good. . . Surely in our society we would like to encourage dialogue, even with those organisations that will express some views with which we disagree. To not be willing to interact in any respect with an organisation that has not been proscribed goes against all of the efforts being made to bring our society together.”
Responding on behalf of the Government, Baroness Scott said that there have been “many positive examples of thriving initiatives that bring people together” that didn’t “require us to make use of taxpayers’ money in a way that legitimises the influence of organisations similar to the MCB”.
A petition urging Mr Gove to keep up the funding has gathered greater than 2400 signatures because it was created last week. It was because of be delivered to Downing Street at lunchtime on Monday by a bunch which included the Bishop of Dudley, the Rt Revd Martin Gorick, and Rabbi Alexandra Wright, who said that she was “disturbed and mystified” by the Government’s decision.
“Over the past few days [I] have been appalled by the prospect that the IFN goes to should close. I don’t understand the logic of bringing 40 years of the IFN’s work to a detailed, unless it’s to further polarise different religious groupings on this country and drive a sword of hostility between us.”
