Editor’s note: This is the third in a five-part series exploring the role of religion in the lives of Ohio University students.
As headlines about the intolerance of groups such as the Westboro Baptist Church continue to take the national stage, students at Ohio University are working to promote understanding across beliefs.
“For too long, we have built walls to keep out those who are different than us,” said Rachel Hyden, a senior studying public relations and media liaison for Better Together at OU. “We assume that because a person is of a certain faith, we somehow know everything there is to know about them.”
The desire to break down walls has sparked a movement, both nationally and at OU, to encourage interfaith cooperation. Although no specific incident fueled the fire, Steve Hays, a classics and world religions professor, said sentiments such as those can have widespread impact.
“There are times when things appear without roots, but they were beliefs, and beliefs shape the nature of a country,” Hays said. “We don’t want to be the people that don’t care. Religious people and atheists want to find a better way. If we pull together and agree, it offers a way for us to have sense as a people.”
Hays said he believes interfaith efforts open doors to encourage people to cross what may have been considered divides in the past in order to realize common purposes.
“Getting to know real flesh-and-blood people who carry a different label is almost always the sort of experience that produces a sense of, ‘Why, they’re just good ordinary people like me,’ ” Hays added. “That is all to say that I think interfaith efforts are wonderful, both intellectually and personally.”
The interfaith movement has allowed students turned off by the extremism of radical religious groups to enter the spiritual discussion.
“I believe interfaith is on the right path and has the right goals,” said Joe Askew, a junior studying accounting and business law. “I feel that the people who join in these efforts need to change their perspective or ways of dealing with others as to expand their horizons rather than limiting them.”
Askew said he grew up in a Catholic home and attended Catholic grade and high school. The feeling that he was being “force fed” too much of a religion his entire life led him to develop a distaste for religion.
“People who become overbearing or continually bring up differences or arguments based on faith cause tension among groups and projects unnecessarily,” he said. “It is really based on the people who are participating rather than the faiths they practice.”
Andrew McMillan, a senior studying video production and a practicing Buddhist, said he thinks the mainstream media also encourage narrow-mindedness.
“I think it’s important because a lot of mainstream media blow things out of proportion and people take things out of proportion,” he said. “We kind of judge everything based on ideas we see. The mind judges things, so you need to figure things out because reality is different than what you think.”
Opening the spiritual discussion to include all faiths would lead to more productive interactions, said Giovanni Anello, a freshman studying philosophy.
“A very good friend and I frequently discuss the immense problems of the world and seeking solutions to them, and we couldn’t vary in belief in God more,” he said. “I think that, with a well-focused series of actions without the ambiguity of truth which surrounds religious beliefs separating good people, improvement can be achieved much easier.”
INTERFAITH YOUTH CORE
The idea for an Interfaith Youth Core was created in 1998 when founder and president Eboo Patel attended an interfaith conference at Stanford University with several of his peers. They noticed they were the only young group present and began to ask why there are stories about young people fighting in the name of faith rather than stories of young people working together to help service others.
What began as a small interfaith youth service project in places such as South Africa, India and Sri Lanka grew to an organization that wanted to focus on student leaders and college campuses, according to its website. In 2002, with the help of a $35,000 grant, IFYC was created with the goal to use faith as a bridge of cooperation.
According to its website, IFYC defines interfaith and interfaith cooperation as “a way religiously diverse people can live together in equal dignity and mutual loyalty, inspired by their various traditions to work together for the common good.”
PRESIDENT'S INTERFAITH CHALLENGE
The President’s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge was launched last year as President Barack Obama’s incentive for institutions of higher education to have their students spend one year on interfaith cooperation and community service. After a year, the White House will recognize the best student examples of interfaith cooperation and community service.
The primary groups involved for the interfaith challenge at Ohio University include the Office for Diversity, Access and Equity; Residential Housing; and United Campus Ministry: Center for Spiritual Growth and Social Justice.
“At the same time we were deciding to focus on student spirituality, we heard of the president’s plan for this interfaith challenge,” said Barbara Harrison, assistant director for Residential Education and Off-Campus Living. “If we work together on a common need to improve it, we can help the issue and learn about each other and become more tolerant.”
BETTER TOGETHER AT OHIO UNIVERSITY
Rue Khalsa, an intern at United Campus Ministry, had been accepted as a fellow at Interfaith Youth Core and has run the Better Together Campaign at OU since Fall Quarter 2010.
“As a group, the Better Together campaign at Ohio University works to bring students of all and no-faith traditions together to voice their values, engage with others and act together to make this world a better place,” Hyden said.
The campaign is focusing on two issues this year: food insecurity and water security.
“This quarter, we hope to raise awareness about the poverty level in Appalachia and the struggle so many individuals face when trying to put a meal on the table,” Hyden said. “In regards to water, we are running a campaign to raise $5,000 to build a well in a developing nation.”
Better Together aims to give students an opportunity to put their beliefs and values into action while also teaching and learning about the value of serving others while working together.
ao007510@ohiou.edu
