Opinion
Hamilton needs to increase interfaith dialogues
By Anna Arnn ’17
March 6, 2015
When you hear the word “interfaith,” on what part of the word do you focus? Do you hear “faith” and think, “oh, no, I am not religious, this could not apply to me!” Or do you focus on the prefix “inter” and think about how we could more cohesively “all get along like we used to in middle school,” as that one character says in Mean Girls.
In all seriousness, however, the word “interfaith” itself has some hurdles to overcome. For example, the “faith” part may turn secular people off, but in reality it is just as important for secular people to join the interfaith conversation as it is for religious people. As Senior Chapel Fellow Carrie Cabush said at one of the meetings for the All Beliefs Union, “ultimate concern” may be a more encompassing word for what interfaith work ultimately tries to accomplish. The basis of interfaith work is to develop positive and productive interaction among people from various religious or irreligious standpoints.
In addition, interfaith work does not involve a bunch of wishy-washy people trying to convince the staunchly religious to adopt the practices of a variety of religions. The whole point is to create an atmosphere where all people can thrive as they are. Most importantly, in a small and largely homogenous community such as Hamilton, interfaith work is not just for people who identify as spiritual or secular. It is for everyone because we are all human and we all have needs and concerns we would like to address.
Three weeks ago, thanks to Hamilton Chaplain Jeff McArn, I had the pleasure of attending an interfaith conference at Yale University. It was truly inspiring to talk to other people with such varied life experiences and who cared about creating a more peaceful world. We were able to attend discussions, lectures and explore the Yale chaplaincy. More importantly, we had a space where we could share our experiences with interfaith, including what worked on our campuses and what did not.
What should interfaith work look like at Hamilton? From what I learned at the conference, a solid interfaith foundation should be incorporated into administrative outlets, would involve regular interpersonal dialogue and would involve cooperation with other student organizations and the development of larger events. Hopefully, with a stronger interfaith atmosphere, issues that divide the campus could be more positively and thoroughly navigated. Hamilton needs interfaith dialogue because “know thyself” doesn’t end there—we need to know each other too.
If you are at all interested in interfaith work or the search for meaning, I encourage you to come to meetings of the All Beliefs Union. Deny it as much as you like, but we are all trying to build lives of meaning and harmony, and we should be in this together. Even if you never come to any of our meetings, or the meetings of other spiritual groups on campus, I just hope that you can bring peace and respect to all people wherever you go. This is not just a task for the Hamilton community; it is the responsibility of all people who strive for a more peaceful world.