HERE is the weekly Faith Viewpoint provided by Liz Falkingham of South Lakes Interfaith Forum.

Our local celebrations for National Interfaith Week this year ended in Kendal on Sunday 20 November with an interfaith service at the Unitarian chapel on Branthwaite Brow.

Based in Kendal, the South Lakes Interfaith Forum (SLIF) includes members of many faiths: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Buddhist, Baha’i, Islam, Christian Science, Judaism and also some ecumenical representatives.

This year, the SLIF was invited by the vicar of Sedbergh Parish Church, Andy Burgess, to meet pupils from four schools in the area over two sessions on Thursday 17 November.

Members of the Forum were invited to introduce their individual faiths to the pupils in a group discussion, followed by a time for the young people to put questions to a panel of the representatives.

Initially ‘The Golden Rule’ - common to many faiths and recorded in Luke’s gospel in the Bible like this: ‘as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise’, gave focus to the group time.

This guiding principle to think and act with kindness towards others, led to considering the possibilities of meditation and prayerful listening to God when making choices in our lives.

The children put some challenging questions to the panel: Is there a Heaven and Hell?, Why are there wars?, Does your faith have a rite of passage? and Is there life after death?,

The representative from the Baha’i faith answered the last question cheerfully – saying that mankind existed before our current experience of it and affirming her faith that life is eternal.