Diversity Dialogue

The night started off with a brisk walk from PAR 132 to the UTC. There, we were greeted by a few familiar faces and various unfamiliar ones. A man with a thick, Turkish accent introduced the group spearheading the dialogue --the University Interfaith Council. We were then split into 5 groups, Hannah and I were in Group 1.

We immediately took hold of the conversation and became moderators for the group. We went around in a circle and introduced ourselves. We had an eclectic group, to say the least: a Business professor from Spain, a Hindu student who recently received his Bachelor's in Computer Science, a third-year Biology major, a second-year Religious Studies major, etc.

The conversation started off by identifying the problem. Where do these differences stem from? Who is to blame? What can we do?

Differences arise because we tend to find fault in others before we find commonalities. It's a lot easier to spot the difference, rather than highlight what's the same. Also, we tend to "preach more than we practice."

Professor Carlos Corona (teaches Managerial Accounting to MBA students) mentioned that the problem lies in politics. As human beings, we seek to grasp control of others by implementing hierarchal institutions. Take the Church, for example. It has used various "scare tactics" to force the inferior laymen into submission (i.e., indulgences). Prof. Corona states that it's the exclusivity of religion that makes it immensely powerful.

As Hannah mentioned in her post, the concept of jihad, as someone in the group pointed out, is an internal struggle, rather than an external one. The concept of a holy war was just an extremist's way of justifying harm on others.

One person brought up the fact that the diversity dialogue is beneficial in establishing great conviction about religion in his life. Prof. Corona said that by learning about other religions, we are less likely to become manipulated by external forces in the world, since we know more about how other religions work. Essentially, religion is about love. Love of God and love of neighbor.