The central theme of Bahá’u'lláh’s message is that humanity is one single race and that the day has come for its unification in one global society. God, Bahá’u'lláh said, has set in motion historical forces that are breaking down traditional barriers of race, class, creed, and nation and that will, in time, give birth to a universal civilization. The principal challenge facing the people’s of the earth is to accept the fact of their oneness and to assist the processes of unification.

Among the principles which the Bahá’í Faith promotes as vital to the achievement of this goal are:

- the abandonment of all forms of prejudice

assurance to women of full equality of opportunity with men

recognition of the unity and relativity of religious truth

- the elimination of extremes of poverty and wealth

- the realization of universal education

- the responsibility of each person to independently search for truth

- the establishment of a global commonwealth of nations

- recognition that true religion is in harmony with reason and the pursuit of scientific knowledge

Looking at these principles, we can relate them back to different faiths and practices that encourage service and giving what you can to the community. One thing that is interesting is that the self discovery of faith is up to the individual. Through these principles, you can grow as a person who is Baha’i, Bettering the world results in bettering yourself. Some of the questions that we were exploring were things like if it’s actually achievable to live your life by those principles fully and to consistently have the values in your mind. It’s one thing to believe in these and other practices and principles, but it’s put on a whole different level when you begin to do these things in your daily life and have them in your mind.

These principles, although not exactly identical, are very similar to those of other religions and beliefs. To some of us though, the difference was that the core of this belief system is serving people and trying to better society through the actions in your life. If all faiths, beliefs, and religious systems were as explicit in laying out the obligations or guidelines of the faith to serving and bettering the community, how would that shape the world in the future? Would there be more collective action to eliminate certain things that are so prominent in our society today like discrimination and poverty?

If you’d like more information on the Baha’i faith, visit the website– http://www.bahai.org/

Next Monday, we’ll be talking about Bahai faith. Rola’s leading that one- going to be wonderful.

On the 21st, we’re joining with Hamline’s GLBT group Spectrum to have a fantastic discussion on the intersections of GLBT and spirituality.

On the 27th, we’ll be looking at how religion is represented in Pop Culture.

And on December 5th, we’re going to have an amazing Winter celebration night with really delicious food.

Please stop by for any of these events. But really, we’ve been so happy with the turnout we’ve had this year. It’s really fantastic to see our regulars every week, but also seeing the new people who come to check it out. We are glad to know we are providing an open and safe space for discussion between religious and nonreligious people here on campus. Hope you stop by soon!

The coat drive is another example of how beneficial and powerful interfaith service work is to people. Regardless of religious or ethnic backgrounds, people are working together to create more of a pluralistic way of living.

See you next Monday!

check out the website for American Atheists, which I referenced a lot on Monday

http://www.atheists.org/

An atheist believes that a hospital should be built instead of a church. An atheist believes that a deed must be done instead of a prayer said. An atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death. He wants disease conquered, poverty vanquished, war eliminated. He wants man to understand and love man.

Minnesotans Standing Together worked as the kick off event for President Obama’s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge, which we thought was fitting since the day is recognized as the National Day of Service. Today, we are looking at another kick off on the Hamline campus, which is Multifaith Alliance! We’ve changed the day to Mondays at 6:00 pm at the Chapel, but the open discussion and dinner is still the same. Tonight’s topic is of current events and a look into the next semester’s topics, as well as covering some questions and information on what’s to be expected when we’re together sharing our stories and opinions. As some may know, April Palo has graduated and has moved onto Harvard Divinity School (WAY TO GO APRIL!!!), but has left us on a strong note. Megan Dimond and I (rola) am still here, and we’re now joined by another awesome new student leader Casey Magnuson! We’re all looking forward to starting this year of Multifaith and all of the adventures and events along with it!

If you’ve got any questions, please feel free to contact any of us and we’ll do our best to tell you what you need!

Next time… more info on the President’s Challenge and Interfaith Council!

We all know the narratives by now.

“Different religions can never get along.”
“Organized religion is stupid or useless.”
“Faith only breeds hatred and mistrust in the world.”

But at Hamline, we know that’s not true. We know that our faiths and traditions can be better together, and we know that it all starts with a question: “What if?” What if people of all religious and philosophical backgrounds came together to do good work? What if Muslims and atheists, Christians and Hindus, Jews and Sikhs, all came together to share our stories and change the world? What if we all chipped in, learned to get along, and helped our communities together?

“What if?”

In November 2010, the Better Together campaign formed a partnership with Taking Root, a local interfaith free-case refugee resettlement program of the Minnesota Council of Churches. Between November and April, Hamline students worked with Taking Root staff to help settle new refugee families into new homes – and on the path toward better lives! We hosted monthly interfaith dialogue meals at which we shared food, hospitality, and conversation. We also completed monthly interfaith service days, collecting donations and volunteering for new families. By the time we ended our campaign with April’s Better Together Finale, we had collected a mountain of clothes, warm jackets, household items, and baby items, packed eight welcome kits for new apartments, contributed roughly $700 worth of donations, and served twelve to fifteen hours for our new neighbors.

Now, we are eager to share our continued plans for next year! We are folding this year’s Better Together campaign into an even stronger national campaign: President Obama’s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge, spearheaded by Rola Alkatout.

We can’t wait to make Campus Challenge a strong improvement on the Better Together campaign, bringing the same ideas and intentions along with the plan. Our tentative service project goals include the idea of ‘home’ – working to provide new homes for new families, safe neighborhoods for children, and affordable, accessible housing. With next year’s Campus Challenge, there will be plenty of volunteer opportunities for students around campus to be involved, at several partnerships in the Twin Cities.

The idea that we can be a strong and loving community despite religious differences is something that is very important to us, and dedicating time to volunteer work is something that we believe can make a community much stronger and united. We are so eager to get a solid plan figured out and work together as a community at Hamline and beyond, learning and loving along the way! Watch out for our events next fall, and join us in proving that we can make the world a better place.

- Rola Alkatout (Social Justice ’12) and April Palo (Religion ’11)

Interested in helping out with this epic challenge?! Email me at ralkatout01@hamlineuniversity.edu or comment on the blog!

Rola

Scientology is one that has been noted in the public sphere for some time now. There are quite a few celebs who have been (fairly or unfairly) associated with Scientology, including John Travolta, Will Smith, and Tom Cruise. Unfortunately, Tom Cruise may be the one that comes to mind first. His very odd public outbursts have made people think that it’s the religion that’s making him “crazy”. Being in the public eye can cause a lot of false information to develop and it’s very easy to get wrong ideas traveling fast.

In the case of Scientology, because there was so much media attention, the true meaning of the religion was lost. When looking into what Scientology actually consists of, it is heavily weighed on helping your community and striving to be the best that you can possibly be. The most important thing is to make yourself a better person, and helping whenever you can along your own personal journey. The morals of the faith are lost when looked at from a public lens, and it shows that it’s important to educate ourselves before we jump to conclusions based on what we’ve heard.

In the case of Scientology, for example, what makes a religion or its practitioners authentic? When unraveling this question, a large amount of our time was spent discussing cults. What makes a cult… a cult?

The word usually has a negative connotation to it, but in reality, a cult is simply defined as followers of an exclusive system of religious beliefs and practices. So, technically, Christianity and Buddhism are cults, along with all the other beliefs and religious systems in the world.

But why have we come to have negatives ideas with the word cult? A lot of the time, we throw that word out there because the thing the group is practicing is uncommon and unfamiliar to us. It doesn’t go with the usual belief system that one might follow. It’s something that’s ‘strange and not normal’, so you instantly put a label to it, usually ‘cult’ because it’s a word that should spark fear and unease to a person.

For example, we talked a lot about Branch Davidians, Heaven’s Gate, and other cults – what makes them uncommon, unfamiliar, strange, abnormal? What makes them incite fear and unease? What crosses the line, and who decides?

So while discussing religion, pop culture, and public opinion – and developing a deeper conversation about public opinion, cults, and connotations – the real question becomes: What makes a religious tradition authentic, what makes cults abnormal, and who decides?

November 2010 to April 2011: What If to Better Together

We all know the narratives by now. “Different religions can never get along.” “Organized religion is stupid or useless.” “Faith only breeds hatred and mistrust in the world.”

But at Hamline, we know that’s not true! We know that our faiths and traditions can be better together, and we know that it all starts with a question: “What if?” What if people of all faiths and traditions came together to do good work? What if Muslims and atheists, Christians and Hindus, Jews and Sikhs, all came together to share our stories and change the world? What if we all chipped in, learned to get along, and helped our communities together?

In November, we asked, “What if?” On a rainy Wednesday night in November, over thirty members of the Hamline community and guests all came together  to share food, conversation, and stories. All around me, I watched as people of all genders, racial and ethnic backgrounds, and religious traditions bent their heads together to talk, ask questions, listen, and learn. All around me, the conversation just kept coming. People wanted to talk. People wanted to help. And we wanted to do it.

In December, we formed a partnership with Taking Root, an interfaith refugee resettlement program, to prove that our religious and cultural traditions really are Better Together! We kicked off on December 15, when a young widow named Paw Say and her children arrived in Minnesota. They were Christian Karen refugees from Burma, persecuted and displaced in their home countries by religious and ethnic violence. Upon arriving, a multilingual and interfaith team met them at the airport and took them to their new apartment. There, they were welcomed into a fresh, clean apartment, complete with furniture, beds, kitchen supplies, food in the fridge, welcome kits, and school supplies for the children! Taking Root has provided additional financial and life skills support ever since. Today, they are on their feet and part of Minnesota’s international culture.

I am proud to say that I, along with another Better Together member Adam Zagoria-Moffet, helped volunteer to make it happen. Along with other volunteers and a mountain of donated goods, we spent several hours moving and sprucing up the family’s apartment. After lugging furniture, putting together beds, stocking the kitchen, and more, we finally called it a day and surveyed our handiwork. That weekend, they would be reunited with their family. The whole family would get to enjoy the new apartment that I had helped pull together. Everyone would get the best Christmas present ever, and a sustainable one at that, all because of interfaith service work.

So we kept doing it! In February and March, we held awesome monthly interfaith meals and did group interfaith service projects! We ate great food, heard stories, watched films, learned, donated, and volunteered!

Februarys smash hit interfaith meal

Februarys group interfaith service project!

Marchs (even bigger) interfaith service project!

Just in those two months, we collected:

• Eight garbage bags of clothing
• Three or four warm winter jackets
• Two or three boxes of diapers
• Countless baby supplies
• Tons of household items
• and a TV!

We also packed eight big welcome kits for eight new apartments, including bathroom kits and kitchen kits, pots and pans, utensils, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, and more! And we’ve volunteered for a total of over twelve hours of service work, helping to spruce up and move in:

• Paw Say and her children
• Abdi, a young Somali man who was reunited with his family here in Minnesota
• Ker Ner and Paw Tar Shu, a young couple our age, who are expecting their first baby next month.

And in April, we wrapped up our campaign with our Better Together + Taking Root Finale: Raffle and Art Show! We collected an unbelievable amount of donations, ate more amazing food, shared some inspiring stories, participated in our collaborative art project, and gave away prizes. We finally proved the success of our interfaith collaboration!

This photo doesn’t do it justice, but we collected a HUGE amount of donations! As you can see, we collected toilet paper, baby supplies, household items, kids’ toys and games, household hardware supplies, and more! This picture doesn’t show the additional four big garbage bags of clothing that were donated by Safety and Security, Kaitlyn Ripley, and others by the end of the night!

Donations!

People ate, talked, checked out our art project, and added their contributions!

Margaret Crenshaw telling her story about volunteering with refugee youth, and the power of the Better Together campaign to help relate to their experiences.

Jenna Kallestad discussing her experiences interning with public schools, working with young refugee children, and developing an interest in interfaith refugee resettlement. Now, she works as an intern for Taking Root!

Our huge collaborative art project, to which people added their thoughts and prayers throughout the night!

Prize winners won gift cards to The Ginkgo, Target, and the Hamline Bookstore! Yay!

Over the weekend, Hamline students also donated and volunteered for a new Karen refugee family, Dah Bu (father), Hser Mi (mother), Lah Lah Doo (daughter, 12 years old), Peh Mue (daughter, 11 years old), Chit Koe Nai (son, 9 years old), and Paw Eh Mui (daughter, 4 years old).

Final thoughts: I feel like Hamline University finally understands the real value of asking questions, rocking the boat, changing the narrative, and working together for the common good. Now, the groundwork is set for future interfaith collaborations. Now, we can truly move forward together and make Hamline University a centerpiece of interfaith service!

Thank you all for your part in it, and I hope you’ll join us for next year’s events! We are currently working with the Interfaith Council and The President’s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge to plan next year’s Better Together campaign. See you then!