One of the inspiring things about being Mayor of Kenilworth is that you get to meet lots of people doing some amazing things to help make our town, our world, a better place.

This has been true during the past 12 months of Covid, just as at any other time. The difference this year being that I've mainly met people online, or by email and phone, rather than face-to-face.

As mayor you start to recognise what's as interesting as what people are doing is why they do it. Because ultimately it's the why which dictates both what's actually done and, crucially, how it's done. And it's the how things are done which creates the memories, the lasting feelings, the experience.

As my marketing friends say, it's the how that defines the brand.

The heart of this why is people's beliefs, faith and worldview. Some people are better than others at saying clearly why they do, what they do, and how they do it to help make our town a better place. For other people why they do things is a simple matter of belief and faith.

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A few days ago we all had to complete our census form. One question was about religion. To me this was completely the wrong question. It would have been much more interesting to ask about our beliefs, faith and worldview, not what religious group we identify with.

What do our beliefs – whether in God or not - mean for how we live our lives, how we relate to our neighbours and how we care for our environment?

Some people say that Britain was, and should still be, a Christian country. From which logic it follows should Kenilworth be a Christian town? To me this is immaterial.

As I understand it, and I say this just as we mark Easter, to be christian is to make a decision to follow a call to try to do things in a certain way. And, as a person of faith myself, I do not believe that people of any one belief, faith or worldview have a monopoly on care, or doing good, on forgiveness, on hope or even on love itself.

I've learned lots of things from people I've met whilst being your mayor. One of the biggest lessons is that I need much more respect for, and literacy in, the different reasons why people do things.

It's not so much about knowing the hard facts of the basic pillars of any belief, faith or worldview, and thinking that's all there is to it.

And it's certainly not my job to judge if any one belief, faith or worldview is superior to any other. But where I have seen real beauty in the past year is in coming to understand a bit better and to cherish a bit more the different motivations we each have for making Kenilworth such a special place.

This article was originally published in our free weekly newsletter - why not sign up by entering your email in the box at the bottom of this page!