The STU community comes together to discuss faith
A campus club aimed at promoting inter-faith discussion is looking for more student members. Unity and Diversity was started last year by campus minister Janice Ryan and STU researcher Debbie Van Den Hoonaard.
“It is important that we all carry our own faith and respect each other’s faiths and celebrate them,” says Ryan.
The group brings together different faiths and religions, giving each group member the opportunity to learn and share with each other.
Van Den Hoonaard is a follower of the Baha’i Faith. She and Ryan came together to discuss their faiths and decided it would be a good idea to bring different religions together.
“We realize the value in sharing faith and respecting each other,” says Ryan.
Khairunnisa Intiar, a Muslim student from Indonesia, says she found a new understanding of other religions through the group.
“I loved it, it opened my eyes to the ‘smaller’ religions like Quaker, Baha’i and even bigger ones like Catholicism and Judaism. I think more religious groups should be included. It promotes discussion and focuses on the similarities the religions have, rather than talk about the differences.”
Other international students are taking notice. Some of them have found a place to share their faiths and learn about others.
The group has evolved in many ways from a panel discussion to a lecture series, and now a meeting of fellowship. According to Ryan, this new approach has been the most effective way to share faiths as well as build understanding among the group members.
“We just want to acknowledge that to be respectful, to be tolerant, to be loving–that is primary. What we hear sometimes in the news is secondary because we have experienced different relations and have learned different things from each other.”
The Unity and Diversity group meets every Monday behind the St. Thomas Chapel at 12:30 pm.
