Consultants

The consultants named here are ready to respond to relevant questions. They will offer perspectives on questions not definitive answers. They are willing to share their knowledge where it can help others. No-one is paid for this sharing of expertise.

Heather Al-Youssuf

Rosalind Birtwistle: Member of the Interfaith Marriage Network. MA in Christianity and Inter-religious Dialogue from Heythrop College, University of London, and currently engaged in research into interfaith marriage. Co-author, with Heather al-Yousuf, of Interfaith Marriage: A Resource Pack for couples.

Leo Bowder

Patrice Brodeur

Paul Chaffee

Pradip Choudhuri

David Clark is a retired Anglican priest, having served in Norwich, UK as an Industrial Chaplain and in parishes there and in Leicester, where he undertook an interfaith ministry until retirement. He is interested in classical music, working in wood and reading.

Simon Cohen

Kalyansri Dasgupta has been a minister of the Brahmo Samaj in Calcutta, India since 1967. He was in charge of all the spiritual work done by the Brahmo Sammilan Samaj from 1979 to 1994. Now he continues as Emeritus Permanent Minister of the said Samaj. He participated actively in all the activities of the IARF in India and abroad.

Andreas D'souza

Rowan Fairgrove is a Wiccan, mystic, scholar, priestess, family historian and a librarian. She is the National Interfaith Representative for the Covenant of the Goddess, helped organize Celebrating the Spirit: Towards a Global Ethic in 1994 and during 2003 worked with the Bridge CC effort in the San Francisco Bay Area called "Bringing the Global Ethic Home". She belongs to several URI Cooperation Circles.

Morse Flores

Mark Gifford

Zerbanoo Gifford is the founder of the ASHA Foundation and Centre which works for Interfaith understanding and co-operation. Zerbanoo is a Zoroastrian who has been actively involved in politics, charity work and community cohesion. She is a patron of United Religions and in 2006 was voted International Woman of the Year for her humanitarian work, especially her campaigns promoting the rights of women, children and minorities. She is the author of seven books and a much sought after public speaker.

Maureen Goodman is the Programme Director at the International Centre of the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University in London. She has worked in inter-religious dialogue for nearly 30 years, serving on several committees. She helped convene the Inner Voice of Peace, an international dialogue for religious and spiritual leaders, in India, exploring the spiritual dimension of dialogue; is an Advisory Board Member of Women Working Towards Excellence: The Our Lives Project, an initiative to capture the voice of Muslim women in Britain; and the International Co-ordinator for BK Youth Activities.

Gerardo Gonzalez

Maud Grainger co-ordinates a project in Birmingham supporting faith communities in environmental initiatives. Based with Friends of the Earth Birmingham and working in partnership with environmental and faith organisations this project is actively making connections, building relationships and enabling the ideas of others.

Manoj das Gupta

Mussie Hailu, peace and Golden Rule activist from Ethiopia, is a Board Chairman of the Interfaith Peace-building Initiative and Regional Coordinator of United Religions Initiative (URI) for Africa. He served URI as a Global Council member and Vice Chair. He is a member of many regional and international peace and interfaith organisations.

Elizabeth Harris is a Senior Lecturer in the Comparative Study of Religion at Liverpool Hope University, UK, with a specialism in Buddhist Studies. Before this, she was Executive Secretary for Inter Faith Relations for the Methodist Church in Britain. She has a doctorate in Buddhist Studies from the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, where she lived for 7 years, and has been involved in Buddhist-Christian dialogue for over twenty years. Her books include, What Buddhists Believe? (Oxford: Oneworld, 1998) and Theravada Buddhism and the British Encounter: religious, missionary and colonial experience in nineteenth century Sri Lanka (Routledge, 2006).

Bawa Jain

Reinhard Kirste, Lutheran Reverend; Dr. theol, Studies of Protestant Theology in Berlin, Tubingen, Gottingen; parish reverend in Berlin and Hildesheim; part-time lecturer at the Pedagogic Academy at Hildesheim; lecturer at the University of Dortmund; co-founder and coordinator of the Institute of Interreligious Studies (Interreligiösen Arbeitsstelle (INTR°A); co-editor of Iserlohner Con-Texte, the series Religionen im Gespräch (RIG = Religions in Dialogue) and other publications in the context of interreligious dialogue and interreligious education.

Jim Kenney

Barney Leith has been a member of the UK Bahá’í community’s elected national governing council since 1993 and has served as its Secretary and Secretary for External Affairs. He is currently the community’s principal diplomatic representative, with a focus on the human rights of the Bahá’ís in Iran and Egypt. He has long experience in the inter-faith field and chairs two national multi-faith bodies in the UK. He is also a trustee of the Inter Faith Network for the UK.

Kamran Mofid is the Founder of 'An Inter-faith Perspective on Globalisation for the Common Good Initiative' and the Co-editor of the 'Journal of Globalisation for the Common Good'. He has an Economics PhD and a Certificate in Education in Pastoral Studies. His publications include Promoting the Common Good: Bringing Economics and Theology Together Again (with Rev. Dr. Marcus Braybrooke, 2005); Globalisation for the Common Good (2002), The Economic Consequences of the Gulf War (1990) and Development Planning in Iran: from Monarchy to Islamic Republic (1987).

Rachel Montagu

Peggy Morgan

Chandra Muzaffar is President of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST), an international NGO based in Malaysia; the Noordin Sopiee Professor of Global Studies at the Science University of Malaysia (USM) in Penang; and founder of a multi-ethnic social reform group called ALIRAN. Dr Muzaffar’s major publications include Protector (1979); Islamic Resurgence in Malaysia (1987); Human Rights and the New World Order (1993), Rights, Religion and Reform and Global Ethic or Global Hegemony? (2005).

Deepak Naik

Ramesh Pattni is Chair of the Interfaith Committee of the Hindu Forum of Britain and Trustee of Chinmaya Mission of UK. Ramesh is a spiritual teacher and has been, for the last 15 years, conducting classes and workshops in spirituality especially from the Vedanta perspective. He works as a business consultant in his professional life.

K.L.Seshagiri Rao is Professor Emeritus, Department of Religious Studies, University of Virginia; Chief Editor of the Encyclopedia of Hindusim project; and a Co- editor of Interreligious Insight. Dr. Rao has a Master's degree with distinction in Philosophy from the University of Mysore and a Ph.D. degree in Comparative Study of World Religions from Harvard University. He is the author of several books and numerous articles, and has received many Awards for his works. His areas of specialization are Indic Religions, Gandhian Studies and Inter-religious dialogue.

Gene Reeves is a Buddhist teacher and writer located primarily in Tokyo, Japan. He is the Special Minister for the International Buddhist Congregation of Rissho Kosei-kai and the International Advisor for Rissho Kosei-kai. In 2008 he will be a visiting Professor at the University of Peking. He has taught at several U.S. universities, including the Univ. of Chicago, Wilberforce Univ., Antioch Univ. and Tufts Univ. He is a former head of the Meadville/Lombard Theological School.

Sivakumar Saravan

Ranvir Singh

Isabel Smyth: BA Hons, Religious Studies and Education; Masters Degree, Women and Religion; founding secretary, Director and CEO of the Scottish Inter Faith Council; Catholic Bishops Associate Secretary for Inter Faith Relations; convener of the Churches Agency for Inter Faith Relations in Scotland; lecturer, Centre for Inter Faith Studies at Glasgow University; director, Centre for Inter Faith & Spirituality.

Fred Stella is on the adjunct faculty of Muskegon Community College, where he is an instructor of Hatha Yoga. He is president of Interfaith Dialogue Association and hosts its weekly radio program, Common Threads; has a degree in Communications; his articles have appeared in Freeman, India Link and Hinduism Today magazines; he is a leader in the local chapter of Self Realization Fellowship and has given lectures, facilitated workshops and retreats at schools, churches and in the private sector.

Yehuda Stolov is the Executive Director of the Interfaith Encounter Association that works from Jerusalem for real and sustainable peace and coexistence between people and communities in the Holy Land and the Middle East. He holds a Ph.D. from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and is active in many international organizations and initiatives. He is an author of many publications, a public lecturer and was awarded the 2006 Prize for Humanity by the Immortal Chaplains Foundation.

Celia Storey

Jackie Tabick became a rabbi in 1975, the first woman rabbi ordained in Great Britain. She served West London Synagogue as an associate rabbi till 1998 and then became rabbi of North West Surrey Synagogue in Weybridge. She is Chair of the World Congress of Faiths, Vice-President of the Movement for Reform Judaism, an executive member of the Inter Faith Network and a Patron of the Jewish Council for Racial Equality.

Paul Trafford

Eva Tucker is a writer - most recent novel Berlin Mosaic (Starhaven 2005). She is a Quaker, co-editor of Patterns and Examples: Experiencing the Spirit of Other Faiths (Sessions of York 2005) and ran Hampstead Interfaith Group for ten years 1994-2004. She is a member of Camden Interfaith Network in North West London.

Brian Walker is a Doctor of Philosophy, specialising in Multi Faith Cooperation; a Master of Arts, with a distinction in Religious Studies; Director of the UK Chapter of Religions for Peace; member of the Governing Board for Religions for Peace (Europe); and a member of the UK Consortium on AIDS and International Development. He is currently engaged in building cooperation between local UK faith communities and supporting the reconciliation work of the Inter Religious Council of Sierra Leone.

Matt Weiner

Monica Willard represents the United Religions Initiative (URI) at the United Nations with a special dedication to the annual International Day of Peace on September 21. Her UN work also includes leadership positions on the Values Caucus, Committee of Religious NGOs and the Tripartite Forum on Interfaith Cooperation for Peace. In 1996 she chaired the annual DPI NGO Conference at the UN.

Chintamani Yogi has founded and leads several organizations in Nepal, including the Hindu Vidyapeeth movement (3 schools supporting the education of underprivileged and orphaned children); Shanti Sewa Ashram, promoting peace and spirituality, helping the poor and disadvantaged, and providing a united forum for spiritual and peace-oriented organizations; and a Youth Society for Peace, to support values of peace, tolerance and selfless service, and to develop various projects enabling these ideals to be put to voluntary action.