People

Pictured above left to right: Sandy Bharat, David Storey, Marcus Braybrooke, Charanjit Ajit Singh, Celia Storey and Madeleine Harman

Short Biographies (in alphabetical order; where available)

Charanjit AjitSingh has been actively involved in interfaith dialogue in the United Kingdom for over three decades. She has been associated with the International Interfaith Centre since its inception in 1992, firstly as the co-chair of the Advisory Committee which consisted of academics and practitioners of different religions and later as a trustee. She has made significant contributions locally, regionally and nationally for improving community relations and human equality. She has presented papers at international inter-religious conferences organised by the World Council of Churches, the Vatican and the Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions. She contributes regularly to books and magazines and is on the editorial board of the magazine Faith Initiative. Her book on the Wisdom of Sikhism received good reviews. A former lecturer, principal, director and educational inspector, Charanjit is currently the chair of the IIC board of Trustees.

Sandy Bharat was coordinator of the IIC from 1994-2004, working closely with other colleagues, especially Celia Storey (co-coordinator until she became a trustee) and Jael Bharat. Sadly Jael passed away in November 2006, two and a half years after he and Sandy retired from the IIC. Recently Sandy became a trustee and is also developing the Interfaith Information Network ( www.interfaithinfo.net ) in cooperation with Margaret Paton. Sandy has a Theology honours degree, is a disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda, and publications include Touched by Truth: A Contemporary Hindu Anthology, Mapping the Cosmos: An Introduction to God, A Global Guide to Interfaith: Reflections from around the world (all with Jael), and Christ Across the Ganges: Hindu Responses to Jesus. See www.spiritualityfordailylife.com

Marcus Braybrooke has been involved in interfaith work for over forty years, After studying in India, he joined the World Congress of Faiths in 1964 and is now its President. He is a Co-Founder of the Three Faiths Forum and a Peace Councillor. He helped to establish the International Interfaith Centre at Oxford, of which he is now a Patron. Marcus is a retired Anglican parish priest, living near Oxford, England. He is author of over forty books on world religions and Christianity, including Pilgrimage of Hope, What We Can Learn from Hinduism, What We Can Learn from Islam and The Wider Vision – a history of the World Congress of Faiths. He has also written Learn to Pray and 365 Meditations for a Peaceful Heart and a Peaceful World and has edited several anthologies of prayers and meditations, including 1,000 World Prayers and Life Lines. His latest book is A Heart for the World: the Interfaith Alternative, published by John Hunt. www.o-books.net . Mary, his wife, who is a social worker has shared in this work and is an active supporter of the International Interfaith Centre. They have a son and a daughter and six grandchildren and a poodle, called Toffee.

Madeleine Harman first became involved with the IIC ten years ago while reading theology as a mature student at Harris Manchester College, Oxford. She has helped out with events and with IIC Friends, and has a central house with parking well situated for meetings! Before that she was involved for many years with ecumenical matters in her home parish of Great Chesham, where it took more than ten years before the thirteen different Christian churches could agree to share a service once a month. Consequently she understands that interfaith wheels grind exceedingly slowly. Her work experience has been with speech affected stroke victims and with the care of the elderly and dying. She is married to Dan, and they farm beef and corn in Buckinghamshire.

Peggy Morgan currently lectures in the study of religions for the Theology Faculty, University of Oxford and is based at Mansfield College. She has been involved in interfaith dialogue and the study of religions for over forty years and has supported the IIC since its beginning, including giving the Inaugural Lecture, which was published in the journal NUMEN. She is a past Honorary President of the British Association for the Study of Religions, Director of the Religious Experience Research Centre and Chair of the Shap Working Party on World Religions in Education. She has written and lectured widely on Buddhism. Her research and publications are based on participant observation and include: Six Religions in the Twenty-First Century (with W Owen Cole, 2000) and Get Set for Religious Studies (with Dominic Corrywright, 2006), Testing The Global Ethic (with Marcus Braybrooke and others), and a second edition due late in 2006 of the best-selling Ethical Isssues in Six Religious Traditions (with Clive Lawton, First edition 1996).

Celia Storey became involved in Inter-religious activities when in 1987 she, with her husband David became co-ordinator to the International Interreligious Organisations Coordinating Committee for 1993 (IIOCC). 1993 marked the centenary of the first Parliament of the World’s Religions that was held in Chicago in 1893. As well as there being a large gathering in Chicago the IIOCC, a group representing four international interreligious organisations put on an international gathering in Bangalore, South India, Sarva-Dharma-Sammelan. Following these events, the International Interfaith Centre was inaugurated and when the office was set up in Oxford, Celia became joint co-ordinator with Sandy Bharat and worked there part time for a period of five years. In 1998 Celia became a trustee of the IIC until in 2003 she stepped down in favour of her husband and became a Patron.

David Storey graduated from Cambridge University in Economics and Law, and then worked for some years in the local newspaper and printing industry. Subsequently he worked in education, particularly in the Careers Service, from which he took early retirement. In 1989 he became involved in interfaith affairs through Marcus Braybrooke who he first met at theological college in 1963. He served as secretary to the International Committee of the World Congress of Faiths and joint secretary with his wife Celia to the International Interfaith Organisations Committee for 1993 which planned the year as an international Year of Interfaith Understanding and Co-operation and put on the conference in India. He and his wife then moved to Oxford to help set up the International Interfaith Centre of which she was a joint co-ordinator and later trustee and treasurer. After she retired, David became a trustee in 2004. For most of his life he was very involved as a layman in the Church of England up to diocesan level.