Interfaith conference promotes conversation about religion

Students and religious leaders from around the world gathered in Norris University Center on Sunday to discuss religious pluralism, student leadership and Obama's faith initiatives at the Interfaith Youth Core's sixth annual conference.

The three-day event, "Leadership for a Religiously Diverse World," brought more than 600 people to Northwestern's campus for sessions and workshops. Samantha Kirby, executive associate for Interfaith Youth Core and Weinberg '08, said more than 60 percent of the attendees are young people, including high school and university students from all over the country.

NU's Center for Civic Engagement hosted the conference to promote religious plurality and civic engagement on campus, said Rob Donahue, associate director of the center.

"We felt like we could do more good by bringing that conversation to Northwestern rather than to try and replicate it," he said. "Service is a lens and engagement is a lens that impacts our learning, but for a lot of students faith is as well."

The opening session in the Louis Room was led by Dr. Eboo Patel, the organization's executive director and founder, and featured Farah Pandith, U.S. Department of State's special representative to Muslim Communities. Patel, who was recently named one of America's Best Leaders by U.S. News and World Report, spoke about his inspiration for the movement and his goal to promote religious pluralism. When he spoke, the audience of about 500 fell silent. 

"If God shines a light in the path, you walk the path," he said, relating a story about a priest he met who wanted to "build a Middle East that God would be proud of."

Patel and the Interfaith Youth Core discussed the goal of open conversations about religion on college campuses. Patel said he believes students who change the way their school promotes religious pluralism pave the way for future activists to do even more.

"Leaders change environments and environments nurture leaders," he said.
Interfaith Youth Core Leadership Scholar Daniella Adler, a senior at Queens College in New York, said she attended the conference to learn how to encourage religious conversations on her campus.

"I want to start getting these people to talk," she said, referring to Jewish and Muslim students at her school.

SESP senior Stefani Weiss, a fellow at the Center for Civic Engagement, helped promote the event and make sessions available to NU students.

"I've heard students from every department and every background talk about how excited they are (for the conference)," she said.

Attendees will spend the remainder of the conference breaking into smaller workshops like "Speed Faithing: Sikhism" and "Spicing up Dialogue: Broaching the Tough Issues that Really Count." The conference also features an award session on Monday and service projects in Evanston on Tuesday. Other speakers will include U.S. Representative Keith Ellison and Joshua Dubois, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

The Center for Civic Engagement made 10 student tickets available for each workshop and gave away 200 student tickets to a session Sunday evening, "A Conversation on Interfaith Leadership," featuring bestselling author Reverend Jim Wallis and Patel.

Conference attendee Larry Wood, Weinberg ‘87, said the focus on youth is a vital one.

"Folks my age already belong to a world of bad patterns," he said. "If a younger generation can set some new models of interfaith dialogue, that's going to make a great, great difference."

lark@u.northwestern.edu