'The Imam and the Pastor' shown in Nottingham Sixth Forms

Musa Aliyu, a PhD student from Nigeria, and Howard Grace, co-ordinator of the Initiatives of Change Schools Service, facilitated sessions in eight Nottingham Sixth Forms during the three days from 6 to 8 November 2007. The sessions built on their experience gained from showing the film of The Imam and The Pastor in nine Berkshire and five Oxford schools, reported in October. There was a unanimous appreciative response from schools with audiences varying from none to 100 per cent of Muslim students, as well as with others of a complete mixture of beliefs and backgrounds. It was impossible to judge how many considered themselves Christian. One question that Musa and Grace asked the students was whether it takes more courage to take up arms and fight for your cause, risking death, or to overcome hatred and bitterness, hence forgiving and working together, as the Imam and the Pastor in the film had done. The students’ answers were invariably the latter. This helped to highlight the 'greater jihad'—the inner struggle with the negative aspects of one's nature. Once again the students were struck by the fact that Musa, a comparatively young Nigerian Muslim, and Grace, a more elderly British Christian, worked together in common cause.