Peace

Touching the Earth at the Interfaith Seder

bcicirel Buddhism, Judaism, Peace, Prayer/Reflection/Meditation, Seeds of Mission, Social Justice

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This post was written by Ashley Brazil, co-President of DePaul Interfaith. Ashley is graduating this June with a degree in Sociology.

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A few nights ago I attended my first Passover Seder. I didn’t know what to expect but I knew there would be food so I was excited. The vent was an incredibly affecting one.

Passover is the Jewish festival or remembering their history as a people. While at the Seder, learning about the symbolic foods, listening to the prayers and songs that go along with the ritual meal I couldn’t help but be touched by the significance it had for me as an African American. The central idea of remembering the trials and perseverance of ancestors is something that resonated with me and called to mind my family celebrating Watch Night every New Year’s Eve. The similarities were so uncanny that with the help of a simple Google search I found that I’m not the only one seeing the connection between Jews and African Americans. Continue reading →

The Power of Holding Hands

bcicirel Christianity, DePaul University, Peace, Prayer/Reflection/Meditation, Seeds of Mission, Service, Social Justice, United States

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This article was written by Emma CushmanWood, an Interfaith Scholar and President of DePaul University’s chapter of Amnesty International. Emma is a sophomore studying English and Religious Studies.

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This past Spring Break I went to Montgomery, AL, for a Service Immersion trip with a group of eleven students and one staff member. The trip was sponsored by University Ministry. While we were there we visited many Civil Rights historical sites and learned about peaceful protest in the Civil Rights Movement. Along with learning about the Civil Rights Movement, we also volunteered. We mostly volunteered at Resurrection Catholic Missions School, but one afternoon we did something different. We went to a home for physically and mentally disabled adults called Milton Road. While I was there volunteering, a wondrous thing happened to me. Continue reading →

Interfaith and Higher Education (Part 2): Socially Responsible Leadership

bcicirel DePaul University, Global Interfaith Movement, Peace, Seeds of Mission, Service, Social Justice
Michael Evers (Left) and Nic Cable (Right) on the 2011 Interfaith Retreat

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This is the second article in a several part series throughout this quarter, written by Nic Cable, focusing on the complexities of interfaith work in higher education. These articles are in conjunction with an academic independent study project on the same themes.

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Last Thursday, students gathered in room 220 of the Lincoln Park Student Center for very important occasion. They came as they are: Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Atheists, Unitarian Universalists, and more; there were people who fit snug into a religious tradition and others who were exploring the borders of several. But, we all came for one reason. This reason was to celebrate the interfaith movement that is growing across this world and blossoming greatly at DePaul University. Continue reading →

A Fly on the Wall

bcicirel Buddhism, Peace

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This post was written by Ashley Brazil, co-President of DePaul Interfaith. Ashley is a senior, finishing up her degree in Sociology this June.

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A few days ago, I returned to my dorm room after a long day to find that my roommate had left the window open and a fly had gotten into the room. My first thought was “Darn! How am I supposed to sleep tonight with this fly in here?” Continue reading →

A Call to Arms – Cooperation in 2011

bcicirel Peace, United States

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This article was written by Peter Dziedzic, a sophomore at DePaul, who is pursuing a double major in Religious Studies and English. Peter is the co-President of DePaul Interfaith and member of the Executive Committee of the Better Together Campaign at DePaul University.

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The world is not at peace.

A decade into the millennium, hate crimes still plague our neighborhoods, acts of terrorism claim the lives of innocents at unsuspecting intervals, and fear and mistrust have kept our communities from attaining local and global harmony.

This past year was scarred by acts of religious intolerance, not only here in America, but also abroad. While we’ve been exposed to issues of Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism here in the United States – Qur’ans threatened and burned, mosques defaced and denied, bomb threats and deeply-etched swastikas at synagogues – we must also be aware of such issues abroad. Continue reading →

A Single Seed of Hope

bcicirel Global Interfaith Movement, Peace
Ms. Sasamori and DePaul Students

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Today’s post is by Nic Cable, a senior at Depaul, pursuing a double major in Religious Studies and Peac, Justice, and Conflict Studies. He is serving his second year as an Interfaith Scholar at DePaul University and is the Director of the Better Together Campaign at this institution.

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The room was tense as we waited for the moment everyone felt differently about. Some of us were apprehensive, some slightly fearful. Others were intrigued and some still were a little excited. Ms. Sasamori entered the room at a slow, yet steady pace. Her face, I noticed immediately, was scarred from something long ago. Her stature no more than five feet tall. A smile never left her face as she entered bowing before us and saying in a louder voice than I had imagined: “Good Morning!”

This salutation set the tone of her two hour long talk with us about her experiences before, during, and after surviving the dropping of the Atomic Bomb in Hiroshima, Japan. Twenty young students, sat silently glued to every word, story, and emotion that fell from the mouth of this elderly survivor nearing her eighties. I thought about the emotions that were stirring in the hearts of my fellow students. Continue reading →

Truth Pursues Peace

bcicirel Dialogue, Peace

Interfaith Dialogue

Conflict often emerges from assuming differences and ignoring similarities. Asserting irreconcilable differences between oneself and anyone else and ignoring the similarities to life’s experience is both very common and very dangerous. Any predetermined perception of others upsets the future of that relationship in an equitable way to the effect of stereotypes on racism and sexism. Exposure to other faiths can cause confusion and doubt about own own religion. But, however we react to our differences, there will be no progression without embracing both our similarities and our differences and engaging them. We are called to interfaith dialogue. Continue reading →