News > February 14, 2008

By Molly Nevola | Staff writer

The university’s interfaith council has proposed a new space on Benson University Center’s third floor, set to open after spring break, which will accommodate people of all religious denominations to meet, learn and worship in an environment that promotes diversity, tolerance and religious growth. The interfaith space will serve as a worship space and as a meeting area for the interfaith council, a group comprised of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Bahai.

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The university has proposed a new space for interfaith worship. The space will accommodate students of all faiths and seeks to promote tolerance. (Kelly Makepeace)

A relatively new organization sponsored by the Office of the Chaplain, the interfaith council was founded two years ago by alumnus Anis Ragland and is currently headed by staff representative Matt Stalnaker, a divinity student and intern in the Chaplain’s Office.

Sophomore Hannah Rothman, the Jewish representative in the interfaith council and member of Hillel, the Jewish student organization, said that the new space will function as a central location for both secular interfaith gatherings and intimate single-religion gatherings, fostering an atmosphere of learning, worship and equality.

“We have set forth goals to maintain the university attitude toward promoting diversity and tolerance into a sphere where religion is accepted and everyone is viewed as equal with equal arenas for participation and growth,” Rothman said.

Chaplain Tim Auman initially suggested the idea of an interfaith room, and the interfaith council members jointly agreed that there was a need for space where people of all faiths feel comfortable worshipping.

“While we all know about the worship room on the fourth floor of Benson, all of us agreed that sometimes this worship space feels dominated by majority religions on campus,” she said.

Prior to the transformation of the room, the area had been two separate offices, and there was no clearly designated space for interfaith worship.

Rothman noted that Hillel usually uses freshman form lounges for meetings because it does not have permanent lounge space for meetings like many religious organizations on campus.

Sarah Gabriel, the Christian representative on the interfaith council, agreed that the new meditation room is a very important addition to campus.

“It will give people who are of different faiths an opportunity to mingle and learn about other faiths or be exposed to them,” Gabriel said. “From the Christian perspective, there is so much church space and smaller chapels that are dedicated to Christian worship that it is nice to see another space made available to people that they may worship without being in a religious building.”

The room will allow Christians on a predominantly Christian campus to broaden their understanding of other faiths, she said.

Sophomore Zahir Rahman, a Muslim representative on the interfaith council, said that the council devoted many of its meetings to interfaith dialogue and the needs of students of all faiths but also felt that it had a duty to promote faith itself, no matter the creed, on campus.

Many of the council’s concerns surrounded the meditation room on the fourth floor of Benson, Rahman said.

“We felt that it clearly had a strong Christian bias and that the uncomfortable seating, stained glass and imposing cross did not create the accepting, universal environment that an interfaith room should have,” he said.

Rahman said that he participated in meetings which culminated in a final discussion with President Hatch and voiced concerns of members of the Islamic faith as well as those of a close Buddhist friend who found the meditation room overbearing and unapproachable.

Members of the interfaith council are hopeful that the room will open after spring break this year.

Rahman hopes to see the room grow into something greater in the next few years and continue the university tradition of encouraging students to develop not only academically and athletically but also spiritually.

“Like other leading national universities, we have undertaken the new vision of creating a faith-based environment, which caters not only to Christians, but to people of all religions,” he said.

Fellow Muslim representative junior Sajid Ghaffar said that he helped offer ideas of what to add to the space, such as the Kaaba, a place where Muslims pray inside a mosque, and other various benches for different groups to present readings.

Ghaffar noted that when he came to the university, he believed to be one of three Muslims on campus, but he is now pleased to say that he is one of six.

“This interfaith space will hopefully become part of the master plan for the campus because the university needs to be able to attract a diverse range of students,” Ghaffar said. “The space is intended to make people of all faiths feel welcome and not excluded.”