The Three Faiths Forum aims to encourage friendship, goodwill and understanding amongst Christians, Muslims and Jews in the UK and elsewhere. Although our focus is on the Abrahamic Faiths, we are engaged in facilitating dialogue between people from all faiths, and with those who do not subscribe to any religion. We are action-oriented, focusing primarily on tangible projects that achieve results.

Our programmes often involve our facilitating “Trialogue” between groups of young Muslims, Christians and Jews, designed to broaden their understanding and confront prejudice.  We mostly work with young people in secondary schools and universities, as well as recent graduates and young professionals.

We also train external facilitators to run our programmes and provide free resources for teachers, thereby multiplying the effect. 

And when our session ends, the Trialogue continues online with our TriaBlog, which is a forum for all young people to voice their views about faith, society and the role of interfaith dialogue and action in multifaith Britain.

In addition, we organise and run mentoring programmes where we provide seasoned mentors to coach small groups comprised of Muslim, Christian and Jewish students. 

Our objective is to help build a cohesive society where religious and cultural differences can co-exist through empathy, respect and positive engagement. If you share our vision, perhaps you would like to experience one of our programmes, or to come and volunteer with us in our offices. You may even like to help us pave the way for a more understanding society by making a donation.

Get in touch, get involved. We can't wait to hear from you.

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Mark Ebert Executive Director

Mark was born in the US and has lived in the UK and Switzerland for all his working life. He has a degree in Finance and Accountancy and has a long career in investment banking and asset management, holding senior positions at Citicorp, UBS, Panmure Gordon, Lombard Odier and the Fortune Group (Close Brothers). He has a keen interest in working for peace and social cohesion in Europe, and is especially interested in engaging the business and financial sectors in this effort.

Stephen Shashoua Director

Born in Canada, of Iraqi-Jewish descent, Stephen has been involved in communal and voluntary organisations all his life.  He has studied Journalism, Anthropology, Teaching and English Literature. He has worked internationally with young and mature, disabled and impoverished students of diverse cultures. He is a Freeman of the City of London and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.  He is also the Manager of Faithspace, the interfaith hub for new interfaith organisations, and is the Co-Founder of Iraq in Common.

Rachel Heilbron Programme Director         

Rachel comes to the Three Faiths Forum from working in a variety of social justice and cultural organisations, including the Jewish Council for Racial Equality and Save the Children UK.  With an MA in Culture, Language and Identity in Education, her experience is in informal and extra-curricular education programmes.  She has worked in many of London’s major museums, most recently at the British Library, where she worked on the Sacred Exhibition programme.

Karsten van Sander Education Officer         

Karsten was born in Germany. He did postgraduate studies in Theology at Oxford University and is now studying for his PhD, exploring Christian political identity. Through studying of biblical and Qur’anic languages, as well as involvement in his local church and Christian student groups, he has developed a keen interest in cherishing differences in ways faithful to one's own tradition.  He developed the Forum’s training workshops and convenes a Scriptural Reasoning group in Camden.

Debbie Danon Education Officer

Debbie liaises with mainstream schools and Jewish faith schools, as well as Jewish youth groups. She was born in South London to Turkish-Jewish parents. While reading Theology at Cambridge Divinity Faculty, she served as president of the Cambridge University Jewish Society, facilitated the Muslim-Jewish Womens' (MoJoW) Group, ran a “Hin-Jew” dance class, and co-presented the radio show, “Kol Cambridge.”  She was awarded a Rajiv Gandhi scholarship to visit India in 2007.

Sana Saleem Education Officer

Sana is responsible for liaising with faith and mainstream schools, and develops relationships with Muslim organisations. After graduating with a BSc in Psychology from University College London, Sana volunteered with a number of community based organisations. She was a helpline Counsellor at Saneline and the Muslim Youth Helpline, a Community Mediator for Conflict and Change and a writer for the youth guidance and support website, muslimyouth.net.

Daniella Gabay Project Manager, UP            

Daniella has experience in community development, interfaith relations and representation of minority communities in politics. She held the position of Minorities Officer at Leeds University, convening the Interfaith Forum and anti-racism campaigns. Daniella has since worked on grass roots Muslim-Jewish initiatives, bringing together grass-roots individuals. Daniella has been a consultant for emerging NGOs within the field of faith and community relations. She is working towards a MA in ethnicity, globalisation, culture.

TESTIMONIALS

What people say about us:

"I’ve never really spoken to anyone of another religion - this really opened my eyes."

"I felt the session was exceedingly informative and helped me gain greater understanding of the similarities and differences between the three faiths"

"It was very insightful. Most interesting session on religion we have ever had."

“Today I learnt that Christian’s beliefs are similar to our Islamic beliefs when it comes to women’s grace and modesty...”

"It was very good and I wish it [had been] longer so I could find out more about Judaism."

"It was fantastic - the best Monday lesson EVER!"

“I enjoyed listening to everyone’s views. Are the three texts really that different?”

"It felt good to share our opinions and learn about others."

“I thought about things I wouldn’t normally think about. I learnt about different faiths...”

"I enjoyed it and feel every school and year group should do this."

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