Awareness Sunday

AWARENESS Sunday

Each year, Awareness Sunday acts as a call to people of all faiths and worldviews to make a new commitment to fostering peace in our communities through education and building bridges with our neighbours. All are invited to mark Awareness Sunday according to their own traditions and beliefs.

AWARENESS Sunday 2012

We shall be marking Awareness Sunday this year on Sunday 16 September 2012. We shall be working towards a special 'launch' event approximately two months before Awareness Sunday, which will mark the official commencement of the many activities we have planned for this year. WATCH THIS SPACE!

THE FIRST Awareness Sunday

The first Awareness Sunday was marked by Cathedrals, churches, chaplaincies and house groups on 11 September 2011. 'Awareness Sunday' became an opportunity for remembrance, reconciliation and better relationships with those of other faiths as we recalled the Christian values of love, forgiveness and respect in services around the world - values that we share with the other Abrahamic faiths. CLICK HERE to visit our 2011 Archive. (This opens in a new window.)

On the first Awareness Sunday, the Awareness Foundation led the regular BBC Radio 4 Sunday Morning worship programme on Radio 4 on Awareness Sunday. We took part in the 9/11 service at St. Paul's cathedral and then, in the evening, our Awareness Sunday service filled Westminster Abbey.

THE FIRST Awareness Friday

On Thursday 8th September 2011, the Abrar Islamic Foundation, in association with the Higher Islamic Shiite Council and the Awareness Foundation, hosted a special Awareness Friday event in response to Awareness Sunday in Central London.

Special Reports

LEARN MORE about all that happened on the first Awareness Sunday!

CLICK HERE to view our Special Edition Awareness Sunday Newsletter.

Quotes for the first Awareness Sunday

'Awareness Sunday...is acknowledging, through education, the urgent need to dispel ignorance and to help each one of us to build a path to peace in our diverse, ever-changing world.'

The Most Revd & Rt Hon Dr Rowan Williams
Archbishop of Canterbury Patron, Awareness Foundation

Williams

'This is a wonderful initiative. We need to make each other more aware of our God-given humanity. We need to celebrate our rainbow diversity. That is how God will help us to build a world of peace and justice. I support the initiative of Awareness Sunday.'

The Most Revd Dr Desmond Tutu Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town

'...We meet in Awareness Sunday to make always a new start, rejecting hatred and violence and welcoming healing and reconciliation...'

Sheikh Wissam Tarhini
UK Representative of the Higher Islamic Shiite Council (Lebanon)

Tarhini

'... I welcome Awareness Sunday as it seeks to reach out and build better relationships based on mutual respect and understanding.'

The Most Revd & Rt Hon Dr John Sentamu Archbishop of York

'...Awareness Sunday is a tangible expression of our shared humanity. It is a declaration of hope for the future and has my utmost support....'

Alan Scotland
Director, Global Horizons

Scotland

'...I would encourage the Jewish community to mark (Awareness Sunday) in an appropriate manner during the second weekend in September, as we remember the events of ten years ago and pray for peace and harmony in the days and years ahead...'

Lord Sacks
The Chief Rabbi

Sacks

'...Awareness Sunday brings us together to understand each other and work to heal wounds so that the practical aims of religion as a method of healing, peace and love are actualised...'

Sayed Ali Abbas Razawi
Islamic Scholar and Teacher

Razawi

'The tenth anniversary of 9/11 offers us the opportunity to reflect on our faith and its role in our diverse world. Let's make Awareness Sunday a call to liberate our faith from fear and suspicion!'

The Revd Nadim Nassar
Director of the Awareness Foundation

Nassar

'Awareness Sunday should be a day to stop and think where we came from, where we are now and where we want to go as people created in the image of God. Enough is enough. Let us (Christians) be what God wants us to be now'

The Rt Revd Louis Muvunyi
Bishop of the Anglican Church in Rwanda, Kigali Diocese

'...Through initiatives such as Awareness Sunday, and many others across the world, we can slowly, with a generosity of spirit and mutual respect for our differences, create a path toward peace...'

The Rt Revd Declan Lang
Bishop of Clifton and Chair, Department of International Affairs in the Catholic Bishops' Conference

Lang

'Awareness Sunday echoes a Chinese saying, “Qiu Tong Cun Yi”: “One needs to tolerate differences while seeking the common good”'

The Most Revd Dr Paul Kwong
Archbishop of Hong Kong

Kwong

'The future stability of the world depends upon good relationships between the faith communities both locally and internationally. In raising awareness of this I pray that religious leaders will sense all the more our responsibility to build paths of peace to one another.'

The Rt Revd James Jones
Bishop of Liverpool

Jones

'...People use religion to perpetrate evil. Awareness Sunday is an initiative that seeks to turn this evil into good and to let religion play its proper part in our contemporary world...'

Lord Griffiths of Pembrey and Burry Port
Warden, Wesley's Chapel

Griffiths

'...Awareness Sunday reminds us of our common humanity and spiritual relationship with all men and women regardless of their race or religion....'

Gregorios
Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Thyateira and Great Britain

Gregorios

'From time to time history presents us with a moment in which to reflect and renew our commitment to peace in our world. Awareness Sunday is such a moment.'

Joel Edwards
International Director, Micah Challenge

Edwards Joel

'... I am delighted that Awareness Sunday, the 10th Anniversary of 9/11, will be marked...and I hope that men and women from every part of society will want to join together to pray, reflect and renew our confidence in God.'

The Revd Jonathan Edwards
General Secretary, Baptist Union

Edwards Jonathan

'...the Awareness Sunday initiative promoted by the Awareness Foundation offers the solid ground to find space once again for the communion of Christians and all other believers, uniting their different minds, hearts and voices in one single prayer...'

Father Dr Patrizio Carolini
Roman Catholic Diocese of Massa Carrara, Italy

Carolini

'...I hope that (Awareness Sunday) will highlight the increasingly public role of Christian faith that teaches how to reflect the meekness that Jesus demonstrated....'

Guglielmo Borghetti
Bishop of Pitigliano-Sovana-Orbetello

Borghetti

Get Involved

We invite everyone, whatever their faith/worldview, to join us and make a commitment to change attitudes and build relationships in your own community, based on respect and understanding. Click below to explore the many ways in which you could express your commitment to Awareness Sunday!

Resource Centre

We are developing many resources for cathedrals, churches, communities and house groups who wish to mark Awareness Sunday. Click below to explore our Resources!

Awareness Course

The Awareness Course is an adult education programme that equips people for life in a diverse world, examining issues that affect every one of us, such as fundamentalism, the impact of globalisation around the world, and secularism. Click below to explore the Awareness Course!

Speak Out!

Speak Out! is a half-day workshop designed to help you understand why we need to be able to speak about our faith to others, especially in today's increasingly fragmented world, and to guide you in how to speak out whilst retaining respect for people of other faiths, or none.

Special Reports

Quotes for the first Awareness Sunday

The Most Revd & Rt Hon Dr Rowan Williams Archbishop of Canterbury Patron, Awareness Foundation

The Most Revd Dr Desmond Tutu Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town

Sheikh Wissam TarhiniUK Representative of the Higher Islamic Shiite Council (Lebanon)

The Most Revd & Rt Hon Dr John Sentamu Archbishop of York

Alan ScotlandDirector, Global Horizons

Lord SacksThe Chief Rabbi

Sayed Ali Abbas RazawiIslamic Scholar and Teacher

The Revd Nadim NassarDirector of the Awareness Foundation

The Rt Revd Louis MuvunyiBishop of the Anglican Church in Rwanda, Kigali Diocese

The Rt Revd Declan LangBishop of Clifton and Chair, Department of International Affairs in the Catholic Bishops' Conference

The Most Revd Dr Paul KwongArchbishop of Hong Kong

The Rt Revd James JonesBishop of Liverpool

Lord Griffiths of Pembrey and Burry PortWarden, Wesley's Chapel

GregoriosGreek Orthodox Archbishop of Thyateira and Great Britain

Joel Edwards International Director, Micah Challenge

The Revd Jonathan EdwardsGeneral Secretary, Baptist Union

Father Dr Patrizio CaroliniRoman Catholic Diocese of Massa Carrara, Italy

Guglielmo BorghettiBishop of Pitigliano-Sovana-Orbetello