A Christian, a Jew and a Muslim meet to discuss their holy scriptures. It could be the beginning of a joke. The dialogue that develops, however, is not a battle of punch lines, but an attempt to build a relationship. Is this possible? Varsity met Debbie Danon from Three Faiths Forum, a London-based organisation that was established in 1997 to work nationwide on encouraging dialogue and confronting prejudice between adherents of the three Abrahamic religions.

Danon read Theology at St John’s and was President of the Jewish Society before starting to work as Education Manager at Three Faiths Forum.

"Looking back it seems natural, but at the time it was more accidental. I’d planned to go into advertising and PR, but after many interviews, a friend said that she couldn’t see me selling toothpaste for the rest of my life!" she explains.

Instead, she chose to advertise something that can often be quite tricky to sell: dialogue - as it involves "learning to ask and answer tough questions without offending others. You can disagree without falling out."

To achieve this, Danon works on developing educational programs, which are aimed at both faith and non-faith schools, universities, youth groups and individuals.

Funded by the Home Office, "Tools 4 Trialogue" is one of the organization’s most popular programs. "It uses religious texts as the basis of discussion. Extracts from Christian, Jewish and Muslim texts on a particular theme are presented by a member of the faith and participants are encouraged from that to share their own views," Danon says.

Doesn’t this inevitably lead to conflict? "We encourage everyone to talk from a personal perspective and explain their own family’s beliefs and traditions, rather than simply saying what the holy books of the various religions instruct," Danon explains.

According to Danon, her own family background has had an impact on the work she now does. To some extent, she has her personal three faiths, or rather, cultures. "I was born in London myself, but both my parents are Turkish, so I’ve always had a great understanding of and respect for the culture. People are sometimes confused that I can be Turkish, British and Jewish all in one. It can work in my favour, though – it’s good to challenge stereotypes and presumptions!"

While studying for her Theology degree at Cambridge, Danon got actively involved in interfaith work. At the Jewish Society, she helped to organise ‘HinJew’ dance classes, as well as ‘MoJow’ – "a discussion group for Muslim and Jewish girls that’s still going strong today," she proudly admits.

The CU Faiths Forum, which she describes as "an academic studies program on faith, on top of the work that all the religious societies do," was also set up during Danon’s time in Cambridge. No wonder, therefore, that their activities bear resemblance to the work that Three Faiths Forum does.

Even though this society is currently undergoing a period of handover and change, they nevertheless organise interfaith concerts and workshops for promoting dialogue and discussion.

A charity day is also planned to happen during Michaelmas term 2010. The NUS sponsors some of these events in Cambridge.

Danon believes in the transformative power of the university experience to change people’s perceptions and views. "For many of us, university is the first time in life where we encounter a whole range of people from diverse backgrounds and have the chance to develop new interests and friendships," she says. This is why Three Faiths Forum has a particular interest in reaching university students.

Danon is also involved in running the program Undergraduate ParliaMentors. This initiative gives university students with a special interest in politics the opportunity to work in interfaith trios on projects fostering social change.

Over the period of one year, the group is being mentored by a member of parliament and, therefore, not only gains an insight into politics, but also develops leadership skills.

Cambridge is currently one of the few participating universities. Past projects included, for example, ‘Politics Works’ – a project teaching a group of 20 disadvantaged fifteen-year-olds how to effect change in their local area.

Three Faiths Forum has also recently recognised the special challenge posed by the conflict in the Middle East. In 2008, the Three Faiths Forum Middle East was launched at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

As part of the project, the organisation used its tried-and-tested approach of using interfaith workshops in which the Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy scriptures are studied, in order to facilitate "encounter, interaction and impact".

There are special programmes for medicine students as well as for young people who are of university-going age.

Danon sees the problem in the Middle East as being rooted in the "different backgrounds and narratives" people have on the conflict, which is where interfaith work comes in. As she explains, "You can empathise with others without agreeing on everything. Interfaith work is great for encouraging people to socialise together."

She adds, "Once a friendship is there and you have interests in common with someone, disagreeing on an issue is less unpleasant."

The future of initiatives such as Three Faiths Forum sounds promising: A similar organization already exists in Lisbon, while UK staff members are currently supporting the establishment of Three Faith and Interfaith Forums in Rome, as well as in the Middle East and in Eastern European countries, such as Hungary and Bulgaria. Clearly, this is an idea that is starting to take root and is being seen globally as an important one to foster cross-cultural dialogue.

According to Danon, "It’s all about building relationships between people of different faiths, cultures and communities." Hearing Danon describe it in this way, one can see what a vitally necessary undertaking this is for the current times.