Preview: Panel to tackle student-chosen topics on faith
In accordance with January’s newly declared theme of Interfaith Harmony, Diversity Initiatives is hosting multiple similarly themed events including the ICE event “Building Bridges: Interfaith Conversations.”
The event is to take place on Jan. 30 from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the SAC Mezz.
Hoss Brown, assistant director of student life—Diversity Initiatives, discussed the featured guests to be speaking at the panel.
“The event is part of a wider series of events called ‘Interfaith Harmony Month,” Brown said.
Diversity Initiatives, according to Brown, holds the panels to prove “that constructive and civil conversations and discourse can be had between people of different faiths.”
“We sought to bring three religious leaders from three different faiths, Islam, Christianity, and Sikhism, to discuss differences. To show that you can have civil discourse and constructive discourse and even find commonalities in them, even though your faith is fundamentally different from each other”
The panel will feature three religious figures, according to the Student Life email: a reverend from a Baptist church, a spokesperson from a Sikh temple, and an imam from a mosque.
Facilitating the event is Hoss Brown. He stated that the timeframe of the panel would be around 1 hour and 10 minutes, leaving 15-20 minutes for a Q&A.
Prior to the event, Diversity Initiatives polled students on their Facebook page to choose three topics to present at the panel.
The three topics presented will be homosexuality, the afterlife and the misconceptions of each individual faith.
For students unable to attend, Hoss Brown encourages watching the live stream on Diversity Initiatives’ Facebook page.
Furthermore, if students wish to explore the practices and principles of the three faiths, Brown remarked on the outreach programs each religious place of worship holds.
“Even though you might not be Muslim, you might not be Sikh, you might not be Christian and see what it’s like to worship at these places,” Brown said.
Brown also recalled an experience he had at a Sikh temple outreach program, “They are very welcoming, I’ve been to the Sikh temple myself.”
Hoss Brown previewed more events of the same theme to come later in the month, including the Jewish Cooking Class event on Tue. 28.
