{"id":8792,"date":"2020-05-14T21:30:09","date_gmt":"2020-05-14T21:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/2020\/05\/15\/interfaith-scholar-program-teaches-students-to-be-leaders\/"},"modified":"2022-09-07T15:33:17","modified_gmt":"2022-09-07T19:33:17","slug":"interfaith-scholar-program-teaches-students-to-be-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/interfaith-scholar-program-teaches-students-to-be-leaders\/","title":{"rendered":"Interfaith Scholar program teaches students to be leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Rev. Kate Taber, associate chaplain for Furman, is working to expand students\u2019 opportunities to explore and discuss spiritual differences.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI really want to create a campus that has students with these life experiences and knowledge and skills,\u201d she said of a student body that identifies to a greater degree as Christian than peer institutions. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

With the help of a grant from Interfaith Youth Core,\u00a0a Chicago-based nonprofit that works to make interfaith cooperation a social norm, Taber developed the Interfaith Scholars program. Four students participated during the 2019-20 school year, taking part in both intensive experiential learning and the development of campus-based programs to foster interfaith conversations.<\/p>\n

Lauren Ghighi \u201921, a religion and educational studies major from Dallas, Texas, was one of the scholars. She remembers, when she was younger, feeling that she was \u201cfine\u201d with people of other faiths. The program has been part of maturing her views.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only being fine with it, but appreciating those differences,\u201d Ghighi said.<\/p>\n

Taber came to Furman in 2017 after a period of interfaith work in Jerusalem. While Furman\u2019s Office of Spiritual Life had a history of interfaith work, no current programming focused on the topic when she arrived.<\/p>\n

In the 2018-2019 school year, Taber won a grant to hire one student to research the current religious environment on campus, specifically focusing on ways to support students who are religious minorities.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"

Interfaith scholars Connor Jenkins ’22, Olivia Martins ’22, Madeleine Wiggs ’22 and Lauren Ghighi ’21 observe faculty and staff participating in Faith Zone, a religious literacy workshop, in the Garden Room of Daniel Chapel.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018Bigger than ourselves\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

The research revealed that\u00a0\u201cFurman has a relatively more Christian student body than our peer institutions,\u201d she said. \u201cHowever, we still have present in our student body religious diversity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The findings fueled Taber\u2019s grant application for 2019-20: Her second proposal focused on equipping student leaders who would spend a semester learning about interfaith work and then a semester putting the lessons into practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd hopefully nurture in them a passion for interfaith engagement,\u201d Taber said.<\/p>\n

In fall 2019, the interfaith scholars completed a variety of self-directed experiences and learning modules. Among other things, they visited religious meetings outside of their own faith tradition, interviewed students and community members of different faiths, participated in a dinner dialogue organized by the Interfaith Forum of Greenville, and planned and recruited for an interfaith pilgrimage to the United States-Mexico border.<\/p>\n

(The trip, scheduled for March 2020, was canceled as the coronavirus spread across the country.)<\/p>\n

Ghighi particularly enjoyed the interfaith dinner \u2013 an experience she plans to replicate for other students as her campus project for the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just opened up my eyes, being able to see their deep faith, similar to my own but in a completely different religion,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In both group meetings and written reflections, the students debriefed on the positive, negative and fascinating aspects of their fall experiences.<\/p>\n

Olivia Martins \u201922, a politics and international affairs major, called the first semester \u201cpowerful and moving.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her written reflection, she highlighted the conversation at the interfaith dinner she attended, where she found herself surprised by things she heard from both Baptists and Baha\u2019is.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all want something to believe in that is bigger than ourselves, somewhere we can go when life is hard, and a community of people who support us,\u201d Martins wrote. \u201cHow we find this peace, hope, and love does not change that fact that we are all seeking similar things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides the pilgrimage, the spring semester was going to focus on leadership projects on campus. Taber was proud of the way the students adjusted when the campus had to close.<\/p>\n

Martins was preparing a religious literacy presentation for other students. Instead, she\u2019ll present the material virtually to her home congregation. Ghighi moved her spring plans for an interfaith dinner to the 2020 fall semester. Madeleine Wiggs \u201922 was able to continue her research on interfaith engagement happening at colleges and universities with similar demographics to Furman\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Plans for the future<\/strong><\/p>\n

The students joined the program for different reasons. Ghighi, for example, plans to work in youth ministry after attending seminary. She hopes to have a role in bringing interfaith conversations to a younger level. Connor Jenkins \u201922 is studying Spanish and plans to be doctor. He saw Interfaith Scholars as an opportunity to improve his cross-cultural skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re all really open-minded people, curious people who have a deep capacity for learning about differences,\u201d Taber said.<\/p>\n

Ghighi said it\u2019s important for students and faculty who are part of the religious majority to be mindful of others who are not.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re not looking for them, it\u2019s easy for them to fall into the shadows,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Rev. Kate Taber, associate chaplain for Furman, is working to expand students\u2019 opportunities to explore and discuss spiritual differences.\u00a0 \u201cI really want to create a campus that has students […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":272,"featured_media":18569,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,23,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-department-page","category-religion","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/272"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}