Coming Events & News

Our program is finished for the year.
Hope to see you in the fall for 2001-2012!

INTERFAITH AMBASSADORS PROGRAM

• Interested in meeting students of different spiritual backgrounds and engaging in interfaith dialogue?

• Always wanted to share perspectives on religion but didn't know where to go?

• Passionate about promoting community and diversity through social action?

• Want to talk about faith and spirituality but don't know a safe space to do so?

If you answer “yes” to any of these questions, then we have just the thing for you! The UofS Multi-faith Chaplains Association is seeking to begin a Multi-Faith Ambassadors program, bringing together students of different faiths in a safe environment of mutual learning and respect. There is much that we can do together to learn from one another, to explore our own spiritualities more fully, and to encourage others on campus to nurture an atmosphere of respect and appreciation; if you are interested in looking at ways to make this happen, contact Paul Sartison, Multi-faith Coordinator, at 653-2509, or at luth.chap@usask.ca .

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DIVERSITY IMPORTANT IN EVERY CULTURE: Proposed burning of Qur'an disturbing
By Rev. Paul Sartison, Multi-Faith Coordinator, & the Multi-Faith Chaplains Association

In the last week we have all watched while news of a small religious community in Florida has captured the world's attention. The plans of the Dove World Outreach Centre to burn copies of the Qur'an were met with surprise, outrage, condemnation, and sometimes simply with the disbelieving laughter that arises when sheer absurdity rises up among us.

Thankfully, the response of most has been to condemn the proposed burning of the Qur'an, and the community planning to carry out the burning has rightly been identified as a fringe group that is certainly not representative of any mainstream religious tradition. What remains disturbing, though, is the ease with which hearsay and conjecture can be used to degrade a religious group, the utter disregard that some are willing to show for the things that others hold dear, and the way in which it is so easy to spread fear and hatred in the name of free speech, freedom of the press, or even - oddly enough - freedom of religion.

As the new academic year gets underway, the Multi-Faith Chaplains Association (MFCA) would like to draw attention to the diversity of traditions that are represented and practiced on this campus. A remarkable variety of students gather in this place for what we would all identify as religious or spiritual purposes. The MFCA itself has representatives of Aboriginal, Christian, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim traditions, and throughout any given week there are formal and informal gatherings of students and faculty from these traditions and many others who share common perspectives, common faith traditions, or common ancestry.

The Florida book burning threat seems predicated on the notion that “Western” society is for one kind of people and one kind of tradition. What we have on this campus is an indication of another way of understanding what any society can be, a way that sees the possibility and the promise of living with the richness of the variety of religious and spiritual expression in the world. It seems appropriate that this place, a University, should embrace the universality of belief and practice represented in the larger community. It enlarges our understanding of the world and its people.

There is much for us all to learn over the course of this or any academic year. We of the MFCA are grateful for the opportunity to work together in this universe of belief, and in this University that seeks to expand the universe of knowledge, expression and wisdom. We encourage the University community and its members to continue to recognize the varieties of religious and spiritual expression among us not as a threat to unity or a problem to be solved, but as an opportunity for growth and for the deepening of our own experience. For in the time that we spend together in this place, our own worlds and our own ways of understanding the world will be expanded and enriched while we work, study, learn, and play together with the varieties of people around us.

the Sheaf, 16 September 2010

OTHER FAITH OR INTER-FAITH ACTIVITIES ON CAMPUS & IN THE COMMUNITY
Go to Multi-Faith Centre