Faith is put right on the map in Norwich

APRIL 2008: It has been dubbed the least spiritual and most atheist place in Britain. But in a bid to prove that there are plenty of oases of faith within the supposed desert of spirituality, religious leaders have come together to produce a "faith map" of Norwich.

The gentle retort to the National Census findings in 2003 has resulted in a map that is punctuated by a host of worship centres for numerous belief systems.

The map includes the usual suspects, like the towering Norwich Cathedral, St John's Roman Catholic Cathedral and the Salvation Army Norwich Citadel on St Giles.

It also includes other branches of Christianity, including the Quaker meeting house on Upper Goat Lane, the Octagon Unitarian Chapel on Colegate and Princes Street United Reformed Church.

And other faiths are prominent, including:

East Anglian Bangladeshi Islamic Centre, Rose Lane

Ihsan Islamic Centre, Chapelfield East

UEA Islamic Centre

The Orthodox Jewish Synagogue on Earlham Road

The Norwich Buddhist Centre, Bank Street

The map also includes contacts for Hinduism, Sikhism and the Baha'i faith, none of which have permanent worship centres but all have communities of believers in Norwich.

The map has been produced by Norwich Interfaith Educational Network, which aims to promote harmony between faiths.

Jill Napier, community learning officer for Norwich Cathedral, said: "We get visits from 15,000 schoolchildren each year, and from lots of other people. Often, people want to know about other faiths and denominations as well.

"We've decided to formalise things in a map so that people can come and visit one place of worship and go on to another one.

"It is important for schools because the national curriculum includes Christianity and five other faiths."

She added: "This is by no means a comprehensive map of every faith centre, but all the places on the map are geared up to cater for organisations like schools.

"We all need to appreciate we live in a multi-faith, multi-cultural society. A couple of years ago Norwich was rated the most godless and faithless city in the UK.

"What this map shows is that is not true," she said.

"There's a variety of different faith groups and places of worship which are very active in Norwich."

One thousand copies have been printed to be distributed to public libraries, schools and other centres, and the organisers hope they will also be useful contact points for the police and health services.

The idea is also likely to catch on across East Anglia, with faith leaders keen to follow suit in Ipswich and Peterborough.

Pictured above is Norwich Cathedral community learning officer Jill Napier, with the new faith map of Norwich.

Story and picture courtesy of www.edp24.co.uk