We had the University carol service in the Octagon today - attended by, I was told later, around 350 people.  Of all events in the year this has probably the most diverse set of people present - students, academic staff, support staff from acacdemic departments, staff from professional services, and a number of retired or ex colleagues who return for the occasion.  It's an unusually all-encompassing celebration.  Prayers and lessons were read by a variety of representatives of different groups - students, the Students Union (a lesson read by the President, Josh Forstenzer), academic departments (a senior colleague from Archaeology): Phil Harvey, the Registrar, and I also read lessons. The Professor of English Language played the organ; the Students' Union chamber choir sang.  And the multi-faith chaplaincy team did their bit - the service was organised by the Methodist chaplain, the Anglican chaplain read a lesson, and the Roman Catholic chaplain gave an address.  And in that address Peter Cullen, the RC chaplain, celebrated the multi-faith chaplaincy and its work across all major world religions.

The links between organised religion and the university are complex.  We were founded as a secular institution in the sense that there would be no religious test for either staff or students.  We were built without a chapel or other place of worship.  Yet we now have one of the broadest and most successful multi-faith chaplaincies of a British university. We seek to enable those of any faith or none to feel part of the university community and to respect those around them who choose other personal paths through life. Students and staff within the university recognise and celebrate Eid, Hannukah, Diwali and other significant calendar dates for particular groups.  We have Islamic prayer rooms on campus, and we have a chaplaincy centre and  links to a variety of religious establishments within the city.

I am glad that is the case.  Strident voices are sometimes raised today against religion and against belief.  Religions are accused of breeding intolerance towards each other.  A university should be a place of searching, and the demographic structures and spirit of enquiry of a university population are such that many people are developing their own views on the world around them.  Something I think I can take a little credit for is the inter-faith tandem learning exercise that can make up part of a Sheffield Graduate Award portfolio.  Students undertaking this exercise are paired such that they represent different religious traditions or beliefs. They are then given tasks to explain to each other their understandings of major life-changing events, the ways in which their religious culture celebrates particular activities, or the ways in which secularisation has nevertheless left traces of former religious positions within common standards of morality.  I sponsored these exercises when they were first thought up, and I remain a believer in their potential for developing further cross-cultural understanding within our diverse university.  Perhaps it is over-ambitious, but I would like our overseas Islamic students, by the time of graduation, to have some awareness of what Christianity in the UK is about; but I would equally like our often secular UK students to have developed some real understanding of Islam or Buddhism. And I would like all parts of the community to be able to celebrate their own beliefs freely but without proselytizing.  'Awareness and tolerance' would be a good motto.