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For some, discussing differences of opinion on religion may be off-putting. But panelists at a recent interfaith dialogue at The College of Saint Rose in Albany were willing to tackle the subject head-on. 

On Feb. 26, six students from local colleges representing Hindu, Jewish, Buddhist, Christian and Muslim faiths came together at CSR for a roundtable discussion on interfaith relations. The gathering was sponsored by the college's Sidney and Beatrice Albert Interfaith Lectureship.

Rev. Christopher DeGiovine, CSR's dean of spiritual life, felt the event demonstrated religious tolerance.

"We have been working diligently to build an interfaith understanding," he said. 
"The task of interfaith dialogue is more critical today than it was when we first started 18 years ago."

Half-dozen share
For an hour and a half, Jonathon Dickens (Jewish), Maseeh Mukhtar (Muslim), Jai Misir (Hindu), Katie Headd (Catholic), Grace O'Shaughnessy (undecided) and Eleanor Phelps (Buddhist) all discussed their religious beliefs with one another. 

For each, faith was enough of a fascinating subject that they wanted to further their education on it.

"As I got older I began to realize just how much religion was missing in my life," said Jonathon, a senior at The University at Albany who described growing up in a non-practicing Jewish family. "I decided to take it upon myself to learn about the Jewish religion."

Said Grace, a student at CSR: "In middle school, I realized people had a love for a religious tradition and I didn't. Once I got to high school, I searched for what to believe in."

Her search continues. "Right now, the journey is my best option," she explained. "Every day my spirituality changes."

Boosting belief
The students each found that once they became more in touch with their faith, they became more adamant about it.

"Once I really challenged what I believed in, [that] made me believe it even more," said Katie. 

Despite having such passion about their own beliefs, the students were able to discuss those beliefs with each other with respect.

"It's dialogue where we can be serious with each other, but also courteous," said Maseeh.

When asked about the future direction of interfaith relations, the group all seemed very hopeful, with a number of them pointing to President Barack Obama as a sign of positive developments.

"The fact that we have a biracial president leads me to believe the next generation of children will be more compassionate to other traditions," said Grace.

All the students agreed that, despite having different religious beliefs, they share common ground. 

"There's a very strong force that drives us all to religion," said Eleanor. "To explore the similarities of religion will be a great step."

What's next
Maseeh felt that the relationship between different religious faiths needs to be accepted instead of causing conflict.

"We are all born into different religious faiths and we are not going to change each other," he said. "But if we can find, throughout the differences, a commonality, then that's what we look for. We look to integrate, but not assimilate."

The Sidney and Beatrice Albert Interfaith Lectureship hopes to sponsor more, similar gatherings.

Father DeGiovine concluded with a hope that "out of this discussion will grow an interfaith youth council that will continue doing this."[[In-content Ad]]

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