Awareness Sunday takes place each year on a Sunday in September. Awareness Sunday in 2014 took place on Sunday 14 September. Awareness Sunday is described as "about healing and reconciliation in our communities". Awareness Sunday is an initiative of the Awareness Foundation. "Awareness Sunday is an annual opportunity to reflect on the value of loving our neighbour as ourself, even if our neighbour is of a different religious faith or worldview."Awareness Sunday official website: http://www.awareness-foundation.co.uk/index.php/awareness-sunday According to the Awareness Sunday website, "This is an invitation to everyone, whatever their faith or world view, to join us at this time and make a commitment to change attitudes and build relationships in your own community, based on respect and understanding."

Supporters

Awareness Sunday is supported by the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

, the

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers th ...

, Archbishop

Desmond Tutu Desmond Mpilo Tutu (7 October 193126 December 2021) was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbishop ...

, and many other leading clergy in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

, the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, the

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

Church and the

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

Church. In addition, Awareness Sunday is supported by

Lord Sacks Jonathan Henry Sacks, Baron Sacks ( he, יונתן הנרי זקס, translit=Yona'tan Henry Zaks; 8 March 19487 November 2020) was an English Orthodox rabbi, philosopher, theologian, and author. Sacks served as the Chief Rabbi of the United He ...

, the former Chief Rabbi for the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, and Sunni and Shia scholars.

Main events in 2011

A special public service of remembrance and reconciliation for Awareness Sunday took place at

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

in London at 6:30 pm on Sunday 11 September 2011. The Abbey was packed with people from around the world: Londoners and tourists, plus priests, imams and rabbis. A large number of those attending were American. Other events took place across the UK, and internationally.

Nadim Nassar The Revd Nadim Nassar (born 1964) is a Syrian-British Anglican priest, who is the Executive Director and Founder of the Awareness Foundation. He established the Awareness Foundation in 2003 with Bishop Michael Marshall in response to the growi ...

, Director of the Awareness Foundation, preached, and Courtney Cowart, a survivor of 9/11, spoke about her experiences. Cowart laid a wreath at the Memorial to Innocent Victims during the service. In addition, the Sunday Worship on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

at 8:10 am on the morning of 11 September featured a live broadcast of a special Awareness Sunday service at

Grosvenor Chapel Grosvenor Chapel is an Anglican church in what is now the City of Westminster, in England, built in the 1730s. It inspired many churches in New England. It is situated on South Audley Street in Mayfair. History The foundation stone of the Grosven ...

in London. Nassar preached and Cowart spoke. In addition, a memorial candle was lit by Barbara J. Stephenson, Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in London.

Supporters

Main events in 2011

See also