Students Focus on Faith

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December 02, 1999

SEARCH THE GAZETTE

HARVARD GAZETTE ARCHIVES

By Alvin Powell
Gazette Staff

Vivienne Angeles (left), a Pluralism Project-affiliated researcher from LaSalle University, and Rajwinder Singh (right), director of research for the Sikh Mediawatch and Resources Taskforce, chat during a break at a Pluralism Project symposium. Photo by Jon Chase

The religious life of Harvard students is complex – full of introspection on personal faith, interaction with people of other religions, and set in a strongly secular campus environment that reflects the subdued religious attitudes of broader American society, according to student religious leaders.

"College is a time for introspection as well as interaction," said Adam Arenson ’00, of Harvard-Radcliffe Hillel. "In order to have interfaith [activities] you have to have faith. In some ways we [faithful] are a minority on the Harvard campus."

The discussion of campus religious life came during a Nov. 18 panel discussion that opened a three-day symposium, "Civil Society and Multireligious America," held at the Barker Center for the Humanities and sponsored by the Pluralism Project.

The Project was founded by Diana Eck, professor of comparative religion and Indian studies in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, to document and interpret the nation’s increasing religious diversity in the light of post-1965 immigration. The Pluralism Project has hosted a series of consultations that bring together scholars, researchers, and people from different religious advocacy groups to talk about the civic and public aspects of today’s new religious diversity.

"It is kind of history in the making," Eck said as she opened the symposium. "History is going on right before our eyes."

The conference consisted of a series of panel discussions featuring research scholars documenting the changing religious landscape of northern Ohio, central Florida, and South Carolina as well as leaders of Muslim, Sikh, and Hindu advocacy groups, who presented their views of religious participation in American civil society.

From a Student Point of View
The opening panel gave all participants a glimpse of the complexity of campus religious life today. The student leaders each presented a brief description of their organizations an d the struggles they face. Several said their major challenges are finding appropriate facilities and fighting stereotypes.

With space tight all over campus, student religious groups are feeling the space squeeze. Facilities range from Hillel, where Jewish groups have a dedicated facility to meet, eat kosher meals, and worship, to the Harvard Buddhist Community, which meets in University common spaces, complete with the accompanying noise and distractions.

Despite the noise, the Buddhist community’s meditations draw people of other religions, some interested in Buddhism, some interested just in meditation, according to Sumi Loundon, a divinity student who represented the Harvard Buddhist Community on the panel.

"[Meditations have] been a wonderful cross-faith dialogue," Loundon said.

Several groups – Hindus, Muslims, and Buddhists – reported that many of their outreach efforts – as well as many personal conversations – are aimed at dispelling stereotypes of their religions common in America.

Hindus, for example, are coordinating a letter-writing campaign in the wake of the Southern Baptist Convention’s October call for prayers "aimed at dispelling the darkness that holds more than 900 million Hindus in spiritual bondage."

"[The Hindu student group] Dharma is trying to create a letter-writing campaign to raise awareness of the religious intolerance that still exists in America," said Maneesh Amancharla ’00, founder and president of Dharma. "I find it positive that people are still incredulous that this is going on. If Harvard reflects society, it’s good."

Sameera Fazili ’00, president of the Harvard Islamic Society, said Muslim students also struggle to dispel stereotypes.

"We try to teach people about Islam because of the many misconceptions among Americans about Islam," Fazili said.

One of the special things about Harvard’s religious life, s tudents said, is the proximity of people with other beliefs.

"It‘s a great privilege to be here on campus with representatives of all religious faiths," said Nina Sawyer ’01, who represented the Catholic Student Association on the panel. "I had very limited religious diversity where I grew up. [Now] we live next to people who are very different from us. We get to learn from them."

Despite the unique opportunity to learn about different religions, some organization leaders said it is difficult to get students to attend events because Harvard students are always overbooked, with studies, sports, club activities, and volunteer work all competing for time.

"It’s very hard to motivate Harvard students to come to your events because we’re all strapped for time," Fazili said.

The panel concluded with a discussion of the "December dilemma" or the problem of deciding what kinds of public displays and school celebrations are appropriate during the December holiday season, which incorporates the holy days and holidays of a variety of religions, including Christmas, Hanukkah, Ramadan, and Kwanzaa.

Asked whether it would be most appropriate to ban religious displays or allow many different ones, the student panelists said they’d rather have variety.

"You’re probably going to step on people’s toes, you’re probably going to leave someone out, but the key is you have to try," said Ming Hsu ’00, of the Harvard-Radcliffe Asian American Christian Fellowship.

SIDEBAR
A debate on the role of religion in public life will be held Thursday, Dec. 2, at 4:30 p.m. at Starr Auditorium at the Kennedy School of Government. The program, sponsored by the University’s Center for Ethics and the Professions, will be moderated by J. Bryan Hehir, professor of the practice in religion and society at

Harvard Divinity School and leader of the Divinity School. The speakers are Amy Gutmann, the Laurance S. Rock efeller University Professor of Politics at Princeton, and Michael McConnell, the Presidential Professor of Law at the University of Utah College of Law.