Tips for Interfaith Organizing on College Campuses

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aamir-hussain/tips-for-interfaith-organ_b_4869332.html

Aamir Hussain Become a fan
Muslim Interfaith Activist

Posted: 02/28/2014 3:20 pm EST Updated: 02/28/2014 3:59 pm EST Print Article

Last month, I wrote about The Challenges of Interfaith Dialogue. However well-intentioned, interfaith dialogue will likely fail if the conversation is inappropriate for its audience, participants feel pressured to compromise their beliefs, and if some participants attempt to proselytize. Having recently graduated from Georgetown University, I have begun to reflect on my school's interfaith efforts. Although we usually avoid the aforementioned pitfalls, interfaith organizing in the college setting faces its own share of unique challenges. Here are some tips and strategies specifically for college and university students interested in promoting interfaith cooperation on their campuses.

1. Incorporate Community Service

College students quickly tire of "kumbaya" interfaith dialogues that highlight hackneyed religious similarities such as the Golden Rule. Since community service is a shared value among virtually all universities as well as religious and spiritual traditions, mobilizing diverse students towards a common service goal can be an excellent catalyst for interfaith work. The particular service goal can be tailored to each campus's unique needs; for example, at Georgetown, community service often focuses on combating hunger and expanding educational opportunity in Washington, D.C. Indeed, the concept of acting on common values is a critical component of the Interfaith Youth Core's highly-successful Better Together Campaign. Community service is also an excellent way to promote interfaith cooperation at campuses that largely avoid difficult religious discussions, or public schools that generally leave religion in the private sphere.

2. Think Outside the Box for Campus Support

Don't give up hope if your campus lacks any organized inter-religious engagement. It is likely that you have more existing support on campus than you think. Many universities have recently begun to recognize religion/spirituality as an important component of campus diversity; for this reason, you may be able to work through diversity affairs offices that exist in virtually all colleges. Other common campus areas that can support interfaith work are theology/religious studies departments, student religious communities, social justice organizations, and atheist/agnostic/secular student groups, and residential life.

3. Advice for Small and/or Relatively Homogeneous Colleges

Promoting interfaith cooperation can be difficult for campuses that lack religious diversity. In these cases, it is helpful to engage with the surrounding community. Large cities are very likely to have a myriad of diverse faith groups interested in engaging with others. However, being near a large city isn't a necessity. You may be near religiously-diverse refugee populations (common in some areas of the Midwest) a regional religious community (such as Mennonites), or even a large public university with a greater diversity of students. If none of these are an option, just be reasonable about your expectations. Colleges that are nearly 100 percent Christian can choose to focus on ecumenical work as an alternative to interfaith work. Ecumenical engagement often involves similar ideas and principles to interfaith dialogue and service.

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