Left to right: Lord Lieutenant of Somerset, Mohammed Saddiq; Imam Mohammed Gamal; Bishop Michael Beasley; Mayor of Bath Cllr Michelle O’Doherty; Chair of Bath Inter Faith Group David Musgrave; High Sheriff of Somerset, Rob Buckley.
An audience of over 100 were treated to an inspiring and stimulating evening in St Michael’s Without church in Bath, as the Imam of Bath Mosque, Dr Mohammed Gamal, and the Bishop Michael, held a public conversation on their faiths’ views of the relationship between science and religion. The event was organised by Bath Inter Faith Group to mark this year’s national Inter Faith Week. It was attended by the Group’s two Patrons, His Majesty the King’s Lord Lieutenant of Somerset, Mohammed Saddiq, and the Mayor of Bath, Cllr Michelle O’Doherty, and by a wide variety of interested people from Bath and around.
Speaking during the converstation Imam Mohammed recalled the Golden Age of Islam, when the flame of scientific knowledge was kept alive through a time of suppression in the West, and regretted that the insecurities of more recent times had brought a reaction against the search for understanding. Bishop Michael similarly regretted that the cultural norm in so much of the Christian world through the centuries had been to see science as an enemy rather than a partner in the search for truth. The imam and the bishop responded to a number of questions from the floor and were united in their hope that science and religion could be seen as complementary in helping to understanding the world and making it a better place.