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Interfaith Collaborative encourages students to discuss religion

Bradley’s campus is home to a number of different religions and denominations. If students want to learn more about them, they can take classes in the religious studies program, or they can get involved in the Interfaith Collaborative, which centers around discussion between different faiths in the student body.

According to the group’s official Facebook page, the Interfaith Collaborative is a part of a nationwide movement toward cooperation between different religions and is a member of the Interfaith Youth Core’s Better Together Student Network.

This group brings together all sorts of religions from across the Hilltop, including Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Sikh and more, in an effort to bring members of these faiths together and build relationships between students by religion, according to club president Atika Malique.

“I hope after attending, students will be able to walk out being more informed about other faiths,” Malique said. “I also hope that this event can help people learn how to discuss topics such as interfaith since it happens to be a subject many people shy away from.”

The Interfaith Collaborative has five leaders: Malique, a freshman biomedical science pre-med major, junior psychology major Hannah Snidman, junior mechanical engineering major Isaac Main, junior sports communication and marketing double major Ronan Khalsa and senior religious studies and history double major Shiva Lennon-Ross.

These students took on the administrative role in the group because of their interest in learning about other faiths and how interfaith is “such an important topic and wanted to embrace it and teach others about it,” according to a statement on the group’s Facebook page.

On Friday, the Interfaith Collab will be hosting a hangout at 7 p.m. in the Romeo B. Garrett Center. Students who attend will experience 90 minutes of interesting conversation, new perspectives and, of course, food. A positive atmosphere is something Malique said she hopes to foster for students who attend.

“Putting on a safe place for discussion and socialization between students of different faiths is really what the hangout is all about,” Malique said. “Bradley is a more diverse place than most people realize when they take a look at it, and this is one way we can display it.”

Though faith is the center of the group, conversation is not limited to just religion. Discussion of faith, ideology, philosophy and worldview are also encouraged in the group’s meetings and hangouts, according to their Facebook.

“Faith is a central part of what we do here, but we do not want to limit what our conversation is about,” Malique said. “We encourage discussion of all sorts of topics that can be traced back to faith.”

The Bradley Interfaith Collaborative holds weekly meetings every Sunday at 5 p.m. in Michel Student Center Meeting Room 2.

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