The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rev Dr Rowan Williams has stated that he shares the Prince of Wales’ views, that young people should be encouraged to ensure that the expectations of their lives are kept realistic. Williams made the point as he presented a lecture on ‘Building Moral Communities’ last week.

Williams stated that a “lot of rhetoric” directed towards the younger members of community gave the inference that everyone could achieve their goals and make the difference that they want to make.

He said, “Very often, I’d feel less uneasy if people, not least the young, were urged to commit themselves not to the possibility of achieving a dream, but to having the kind of vision (dream if you must) that sustains you even when it is hard to realise.”

In the same presentation, Williams spoke about fears that voluntary faith-based organisations were acting like ‘Trojan horses’. The Archbishop, however, dismissed these fears and called on the bodies that were critical of faith-based initiatives to reconsider.

“I don’t think that a voluntary sector with strong faith representation is necessarily a tool of fundamentalist repression. Instead, government departments should negotiate with them,” commented a passionate Williams.

He continued by expressing that it was correct for people to be sensitive about the risks involved in provoking inter-community tensions. But that “many are equally afraid of an interfaith coalition pushing a socially conservative agenda (on abortion or sexuality or gender roles) in a way that is dangerous to what may be a numerically stronger but more weakly motivated proportion of the population.”

Dr Williams gave his opinion on what the answer is to the problem; “mechanisms of brokerage”, and “processes that identify specific needs and skills and how to match them, and to clarify what is and isn’t achievable by partnership.”

“Our best strategy is engagement, drawing people and groups into a position where they genuinely feel they have a stake in co-operation, consultation and negotiation, rather than trying to pretend that the contribution of communities of belief to the public good can be ignored.”

He asked statutory bodies to “look again at their practice as regards concrete support for faith-based voluntary initiatives. I have seen too many carefully structured and non-manipulative programmes, for children’s welfare in particular, treated as inadmissible for public/statutory support because of a ‘faith’ basis.”

Rev Williams pointed out that the way in which some refused to accept the work of religious groups would lead to resentment and rivalry, and this was the type of thing that fostered extremism...