World religions event promotes understanding, tolerance

The Global Union held a World Religions event April 11 to bring together people of various faiths and religious backgrounds to allow them to gain a better understanding of different beliefs and rituals.

Angie Rizzo, ’19, an ambassador for the Global Union, had the idea for this event and organized it with Rabbi Danielle Stillman, the Global Union and other multi-faith groups on campus.

She wanted to bring together different faith groups on campus and expose students to different religions, especially in light of current events around the world.

The religious groups presenting at the event included the Newman Center, the Hillel Society, the Muslim Student Association, Reformed University Fellowship and the Orthodox Christian Fellowship. While many of the more prevalent religions on campus were represented, the Global Union is hoping to get more religious organizations involved in the future so students can learn about all faiths present at Lehigh.

The format of the World Religions event was presentation-based. A student or two representing each group would come up and talk about their respective religion and touch on points such as the principles, historic facts and holidays. Following each presentation, the floor was open to questions and students had a chance to gain greater insight into people’s personal feelings about the religion as well as any other general questions.

Stillman said she believes it is important for students to have this open forum to talk about religion because it is often a subject people do not feel comfortable bringing up.

“It is so easy not to talk about religion, so it is important to create spaces for students to see it and talk about it,” she said.

Chaplain Lloyd Steffen echoed her sentiment.

“I think it is part of the educational mission of the university,” he said. “When students leave Lehigh, they should know something about other religions because of the way the world has been globalized.”

Rizzo’s idea for creating the World Religions event was consistent with the views of both Steffen and Stillman. She expressed many different ideas about why she thinks opportunities to be exposed to religion are important for every student.

Rizzo said seeing common ground between faiths is essential for understanding and tolerance.

“We need to open the door for more dialogue and cooperation because it is great to have these events, but we cannot just leave it at that,” she said. “We need to learn how to work together and communicate more effectively.”

Rizzo said it is important for people to learn how to have these conversations about religion. This event was an opportunity for many students to be exposed to and begin to understand both their own and others’ religions.

Madison Miranda, ’19, who was in attendance at the World Religions event, said she thinks it’s important to learn about different religions.

“It makes you more open-minded to different people when you meet them,” she said.

While Lehigh has many diversity-focused events — whether they be ethnic, racial or religious — there are still many students who do not take advantage of learning about different groups on campus.

“People naturally gravitate to people like them,” Stillman said. “This is not something that is unique to Lehigh. People feel more comfortable with people like them.”

While there are many students who choose to remain with people similar to themselves, some, like Global Union president Danielle Hanes, ’16, want to get out of their comfort zones.

“It is important for me to attend events we are producing and interact with people who share our goal of creating a more diverse, inclusive campus,” she said.