Celebrating Tolerance

To celebrate the 2019 Year of Tolerance in the UAE, a diverse group of faiths have collaborated in producing this book titled Celebrating Tolerance: Religious Diversity in the United Arab Emirates, which serves as a compendium of their experiences of coexisting peacefully in the country. Representatives of each faith provide a brief overview of its migration to the UAE in the early 1960s and 1970s with an understanding of its rituals resulting in an engaging and informative read. Envisioned by Reverend Andrew Thompson from the Anglican Church in Abu Dhabi, the book is the first of its kind delivering an important message of tolerance; a testament to the country’s highly tolerant views and acceptance of a very diverse group of people who come from all over the world.

Key Features

• With a special foreword from the UAE Minister of Tolerance, His Excellency Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahyan.
  • Features 10 faiths including the Baha’i, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish and the Sikh communities as well as the various sects of the Christian community.
  • A grounding connection between the diversity of faiths and the spirit of tolerance in the UAE.

About the Author

Reverend Andrew Thompson was born in the UK where he studied behavioral sciences and Islamic communities. He moved to Jordan in 1990 to work with Palestinian youth and later to Dubai as an Anglican Church youth worker. He trained as a Church of England priest in the UK, getting ordained in 2000, later moving back to the Middle East to Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah and then to Kuwait in 2006, where he was the chaplain of the local parish of St Paul’s. In the UAE, he has been pastor of St Andrew’s Church in Abu Dhabi since 2010 and was awarded the MBE in 2011 for services to human rights and  promoting interfaith dialogue between Christians and Muslims.