Faith groups from East Renfrewshire congregated to discuss how to make their mark in the media.

Entitled ‘Faith and the Media’, the event kicked off with a presentation by Jean Urquhart, from Renfrewshire Interfaith Group, who demonstrated how invisible and vulnerable minority faith groups feel when they are portrayed negatively in media reporting.

Guest speaker Peter Kearney, director of the Scottish Catholic media office, then argued there is a lack of press and television coverage of faith and said the reasons for this include the growth of secularism in Scotland, with the consequence that relatively small numbers of people now practise their faith.

Representatives of the Christian, Hindu, Jain, Baha’i and Muslim faiths contributed to the dialogue. and it was agreed that the event had helped to educate and strengthen relationships between faith traditions.

Douglas Yates, chairman of East Renfrewshire Faith Forum, who hosted the event, said: “This is one of a number of events the Faith Forum has organised to bring people from different faith traditions together to discuss what problems are being encountered by people of faith in their communities.

“Our common aim is to promote peace and harmony and community cohesiveness.”

The Faith Forum’s next meeting will take place at 7pm on Thursday, August 17. For further information, contact Douglas Yates by email at dayates@ntlworld.com.