Students broaden religious horizons

Truth Tuesday Coffee House at the Marshall Catholic Newman Center had the second monthly meeting Tuesday night.

"We decided to make it a monthly event because of the great response to last month's meeting and amount of interaction between the students and the speaker.  We want to keep the momentum up," said  Traci Ferguson, Marshall Catholic Newman Center's Coordinator of Community Outreach.

Ferguson said the goal was to explore different faiths and give people an opportunity to look into other religions.

She said she hopes as the coffee house gains popularity and other students and groups on campus learn about what they're doing, it will attract a different demographic of religious views.

Ferguson said the students who attend the coffee house events get to choose what religion will be focused on at the next meeting.

She said there is an opportunity for students to write down any faith they are interested in or want to know more about and drop it in a suggestion box anonymously.

Another goal is to create a more intimate seating and arrangement as opposed to just tables, chairs and a podium, she said.

"As a society we need to become so much more tolerant of each other and the only way we can achieve that is by education," Ferguson said.

She said a good way to educate is to create a safe and informal conversation about religion. 

"We truly do find out that we have more in common with each other than we thought," she said.

"I think ultimately it's about breaking down stereotypes and breaking down boundaries and coming together for the greater good that we all have our faith in," she said.

Ben Egan, freshman theater major from Greenbank, W.Va., has attended both coffee house meetings and said he is really interested in becoming more informed about religions aside from Christianity.

"It gives you a wider view of the world and it puts things into perspective," Egan said.

Egan said it is good that the Newman Center is interacting with other faiths and helping the students to better understand them.

"It's never good to form an opinion until you know what you're forming an opinion about," he said. 

Egan said by informing students about other religions it will either convince them to convert or make their faith stronger.  Informative meetings like at the coffee house will raise a lot of questions but answer a lot.He said he really likes the atmosphere at the coffee house.

Egan said the open microphone has allowed him to get to know a lot of students much better than he did before and see sides to them he didn't know about.

He said he really enjoyed the seating arraignment of the speaker and the students.  He said the fact that they were all sitting in a circle on couches and chairs made the setting more intimate and easier to communicate with one another.

Egan said he would like to see religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism and Scientology as future topics for discussion at the coffee house.

At each coffee house meeting there is time set aside for students to go on stage with a microphone and either sing, read or talk.

Egan read a story he wrote and said he plans to do so again at the future coffee house gatherings.

Alicia Hess, senior economics major from Hedgesville, W.Va., said she has been really busy with work for finals and decided to come to the coffee house because she knew it would be relaxing and she would get to see some friends and talk.

Hess said she is interested in learning about other religions and seeing what they have in common with her religion. 

She said one thing she would like to see at one of the future meetings would not be so much as understanding different religions but understanding the daily life of different figures in these religions.  She said she would like to see a nun, monk or friar come and speak about their lifestyle.

Firas Aladai spoke about the Islamic faith and answered many questions raised by students at the coffee house.

"Most Muslims believe in Jesus and respect him as a prophet," Aladai said.

He said in the Quran it discusses Jesus Christ's mother and her pregnancy with Jesus.

Aladai said all the information and stories heard on the news about terrorism do not have to do with his faith.

"It's not the religion. The Quran never said to kill your brother, it said to judge someone," he said.

He said the people who support terrorism are living in a society they created themselves. They have little or no education, are brainwashed and if they were asked something important about the Muslim religion, they would not be able to answer it.

Aladai said if the Quran said anything about killing other people, he would not be a part of that religion.

Six students attended the event.

   Kate McCloy can be contacted at mccloy@marshall.edu.