Interfaith Dialogue Comes to LC

Hindus are fatalistic. Buddhists are spiritual. Christians always try to force their religion down your throat. The tragedy and dilemma of our times is that, although we live in a smaller world, where travel is easier than ever before, we still rely on outdated and inaccurate stereotypes when thinking about and even meeting other people.

–Nancy Molin Longatan

Our campus is more religiously diverse than ever.  Our community has:

• An ongoing affiliation with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), a mainline Protestant movement that describes itself as, “a movement for wholeness
  in a fragmented world.”
• A small group of Muslim students, including some international students,
• Over two dozen Jewish students, half of whom are active in the Hillel group
• A student population that is half Catholic or Baptist
• Spiritual Life staff that are Disciples, Catholic and Jewish, as well as ministry partners with a dozen other affiliations

This year LC is participating in President Obama’s Interfaith & Community Service Challenge.  The goal is to learn about other faiths so that we can abandon unhelpful stereotypes and learn about each other.  We’ll be working side by side on service projects, and practicing healthy conversation, asking questions like: Can we learn to work together on common goals in our community? Can we discuss problems and differences without ugly debate? Can we be open to hearing others without watering down or compromising our own faith?

It should be a fun year where we can all learn a bit.  For the record, we are welcoming Muslim students this week who are joining us during Ramadan, a month where participating Muslims refrain from food or drink from sunrise to sunset.  Let’s all pray or hope that the cooler weather continues during their move-in.

Blessings, Stephanie