Pictures tell story of British teens' faith
By Eleanor Wason
London, 10 Jan 2007

Tahiya, a student at an Islamic school converted from a Victorian grammar school, is discussing a photograph she took of a friend with her head covered by a hijab and a scarf pulled up to her eyes.

"I didn't really think of a meaning behind it, although when I look at it now it looks like there are several," she told Reuters, giggling.

"My photo makes me think 'terrorist' because of all the influences of the outside world, but that wasn't my intention. My friend wrapped the scarf around her face because she was cold."

Tahiya is one of a group of London teenagers from five different religions taking part in a government-funded photography workshop aimed at improving community links in one of the world's most multi-cultural cities.

The scheme encourages teenagers to use photography to explore perceptions of religion, at a time when Britain's traditional government support for schools based on religion -- alongside secular ones -- is coming under fire.

Critics say faith schools fuel segregation and intolerance. The London bombings by British-bred Muslim extremists in 2005 sparked concern that a policy of encouraging communities to conserve their traditions, rather than assume a common British identity, had deepened dangerous cultural divides.

There are about 7,000 state faith schools in Britain, mostly affiliated with major Christian denominations, but also Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Greek Orthodox and Seventh-Day Adventist schools.

They are popular with parents who often associate them with high academic achievement, and the government says they can help community cohesion by developing partnerships with schools of other faiths and non-faith schools.

"THE SAME HEROES"

In the project's weekly sessions, students study famous photographers and learn to document their own lives through photos. They aim to produce a joint exhibition of their pictures at the end of the school year. Once a term, they meet at one of the schools to work in mixed-faith groups.

Despite initial reservations, the 14-to-16-year old pupils from Islamia Girls School, Mount Carmel Roman Catholic Technology College, King Solomon High, Guru Nanak Sikh School and Swaminarayan Hindu School were pleasantly surprised by each other.

"You think people from other religions are going to be very different," 14-year-old Islamia student Sarah said.

"But they're just like you, they have the same ideas as you, the same heroes. Religion is something we base our lives on but it didn't matter when we talked together."

The pupils' discussions of how a simple image can hold different interpretations according to the viewers' background help probe wider issues of identity -- personal, religious and national.

Many said they had never met people from certain religions before, but their nerves soon gave way to inquisitiveness.

"I was impressed they felt comfortable to ask questions and to answer them. I heard a Catholic girl ask a Muslim girl if she liked to wear a headscarf," organiser Gabrielle Lobb said.

Muslim women's dress has become a hot topic in many countries after senior politicians, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, said full veils hindered community relations.

Britain has traditionally taken a more tolerant approach to Islamic dress than other European countries such as France, where the headscarf is banned in state schools.

Many of the non-Muslim girls attending the workshop were clearly unused to keeping their hair covered as required by Islamia, one of several Islamic schools founded by Yusuf Islam, the singer formerly known as Cat Stevens.

"SO MUCH DIVERSITY"

The government last year tried but failed to enforce a scheme obliging religious schools to offer a quarter of their places to children of different faiths.

Instead, leaders of the major faiths pledged to commit their schools to teach pupils about other religions and promote community cohesion.

Spencer Lewis, deputy head of Jewish King Solomon High, opposed the quota idea but welcomed inter-faith dialogue.

"This photo project was a tremendous opportunity to get students to learn about each others' faiths," he said. "This is what schools need to be doing. Children need to see how other people live -- that is how you break down stereotypes."

Mount Carmel's art teacher Cathy Lee said a visit to the opulent white marble temple next door to the Hindu school in the project had reduced her girls to uncharacteristic silence and left some of them almost moved to tears.

At one photography session in the Hindu school, 13-year-old Ravi talked about the work of British photographer Martin Parr and gestured to the classroom's views of temple domes and turrets alongside London's new Wembley football stadium.

"Parr uses photos to represent England. He does beaches, people having fun. It's all blue skies and yellow sand but only a small part of England is like that," he said in navy school blazer and tie, a red ritual Hindu mark on his forehead.

"I wanted to take photos of what London is about. Parr takes pictures of white people but now there is so much diversity."

Editing by Sara Ledwith; tel: +44207542 8058; e-mail: eleanor.wason@reuters.com