About Us
United Religions Initiative UK works with communities to facilitate a greater understanding and respect between people of different faiths and none. We promote enduring, daily interfaith cooperation to end religiously motivated violence and to create cultures of peace, justice and healing for the Earth and all living beings. Our activities demonstrate that spiritual diversity is a blessing, not a threat.
International Context
URI UK is part of a global network of organisations. The worldwide umbrella body, United Religions Initiative, was granted special consultative status by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations in 2007. We work to the Global Charter of URI, its Purpose, Preamble and Principles.
The UK organisation was founded in 1999 as a Charitable Trust and has been reconstituted as a Charitable Company to develop our work further and better respond to the opportunities and challenges of the present day.
URI UK is an Inter Faith Network UK member and has established links with other organisations.
Our programmes seek to strengthen and develop good inter-faith relations and promote social cohesion in the UK. In the past, we campaigned for the then Government’s “Face-to-Face and Side-by-Side: Framework for partnership in our multi-faith society” strategy and have developed our new Faith in the Community™ campaign to deliver the key objectives of that strategy as well as those of the Commission on Integration and Cohesion.
Our Mission
To promote enduring daily interfaith cooperation, to help end religiously motivated violence, and to create cultures of peace, justice, and healing for the Earth and all living beings.
Our History
Originally founded in the 1990s, URI UK was re-established in 2022 following some years in abeyance. Our projects in the last year have included a conference on the Freedom of Religion and Belief as it impacts young people and a multi-faith celebration of the King’s Coronation.
In the face of adversity, building bridges of cooperation among diverse religious and spiritual communities and fostering understanding and collaboration in an increasingly interconnected world is crucial.
Our Objectives
– To work with people and organisations who share our values.
– We focus as much on social action (bringing people together by doing positive work in our communities) as on formal dialogue initiatives – the two are complementary.
– We welcome people from any background and of all faiths or none.
– Everyone is welcome to participate in our projects and events (we are NOT a membership organisation).
– We run activities across the United Kingdom.
Get Involved
Please read through the ‘Our Work’ section and see what kind of projects interest you, and please do contact us through our Contact Form.