OXFORD’S Interfaith Friendship walk, sometimes known as the Peace Walk, has now become an annual fixture in the city’s calendar.

As many as 500 people of all faiths and none, young and old, come together to walk from the Synagogue in Jericho to the Central Mosque on Cowley Road calling at St Giles’ Church and St Mary’s, Radcliffe Square, on the way.

But why?

At its most basic level the walk provides the perfect opportunity to show solidarity with each other, to demonstrate that in Oxford at least, different faith groups can and do get on together, and that we enjoy each other’s company.

It’s more than tolerance, it’s a way of showing respect between faiths and our recognition that each faith can contribute in an equally valid way to the life of the city, and that we want to live together in peace.

Recently there have been questions about why it’s necessary to have a walk that specifically calls upon people of faith to demonstrate mutual solidarity.

Firstly I think that there is so much publicity given to the parts of the world where religions and denominations are at loggerheads with each other.

We don’t hear nearly enough about the occasions where the different groups live harmoniously together, or even actively provide support to one another when it’s needed and the walk is one way of showing that this does happen in Oxford.

But more than that, it’s too often suggested that faith is an irrelevance in modern secular Britain.

Events over the past few years have proved that to be profoundly untrue. Faith is a defining feature of life for more than 85 per cent of the world’s population and it Seeing pupils respond to the cathedral with awe and wonder and listening to their comments and questions has convinced me that the cathedral provides children and young people with a unique opportunity to explore their own spirituality and discover more about Christian belief and ministry.

comes in a rich variety of forms and traditions. If we look back in history, faith in its various forms has provided the bedrock of morality for humanity over For several years, Christ Church has offered schools tours and workshops which supplement classroom learning.

Cathedrals are immensely rich learning resources, and teachers appreciate the power and importance of learning outside the classroom: handling objects; encountering art and music; listening to stories; formulating questions and discussing key issues.

Because most groups may represent differing faiths or none, we attempt to ensure that every individual can take something of spiritual worth and personal value from the experience.

When they visit, primary pupils may dress up as medieval pilgrims to learn about Saint Frideswide, pilgrimage and monastic life or, as Tudor townsfolk, consider the upheavals of the Reformation in the history of church and state.

Secondary pupils may choose from a range of options and can even “grill a canon”, posing questions about society, ethics, and issues of worship and belief.

Sixth form seminars on specific topics can also be arranged.

thousands of years.

Judging it from a 21st century perspective, adherence to a faith is not always successful nor, in modern terms, always entirely positive. But that’s also true for other ethical and political philosophies.

Faith has served a definable worldwide purpose – bringing humans together in communities that share a common reason for being, and providing the framework for living together and acting as a means of support. I happen to believe in a Darwinian way that if adherence to a faith did not contribute to the ability of human beings to survive, faith itself would have died out long ago.

For me the Oxford Friendship Walk provides the ideal occasion for recognising publicly that there are many ways to live your life and that each of them is valid and credible for the person for whom it is true. As diverse as we all are, so are the forms of faith.

The walk itself is an extraordinary experience and not just for people of faith, we know it also attracts agnostic or atheist people. They walk to demonstrate their solidarity with the various communities that exist in Oxford; they walk because the ambience of the walk reflects the unique atmosphere of our city.

People carry balloons to identify themselves as participants, talk to new people and make friends.

Some join in for just part of the route, others stay to the end for the meal, provided by the Mosque with desserts from the Jewish Congregation.

This year’s walk is leaving from the synagogue at 6.15pm on Thursday, June 11.

Everyone is very welcome.