Word: spaces
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2010-2019
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Second, note how there’s no public forum for the general discussion of religious opinions. To be sure, there are a variety of specific religious student groups on campus. But there is no collective space in which critical thinking about religion in general, rather than a specific religious tradition, can occur. It’s true that the programming at Memorial Church is helpful with respect to a general Christian perspective, but there needs to be a place where students of all persuasions can ask more fundamental questions about religion. The Institute of Politics is responsible for fostering...
...IOP’s recent panel discussion “Challenges to Faith at Harvard” revealed more clearly Harvard’s need for a general religious space on campus. The IOP’s Harvard Political Union astutely recognized the lack of dialogue about religion, and held the event for this reason. As Shankar G. Ramaswamy ’11, chair of the HPU, noted, “We decided to have this event because it’s the type of matter that students might be reluctant to strike up a conversation about, because...
Third, a distinctly religious public discussion space would be an extension of current, albeit incomplete attempts to engage with students’ faith-based identities. Rather than being completely foreign territory, a university-sanctioned, interreligious place of dialogue would be an augmentation of current efforts. Harvard currently organizes a “Reflecting on Your Life” program for first years to see how their “personal values” might affect their desire for a particular “life dream...
Some without a particular faith might eventually want to try religious language, in all its diversity and complexity, on for size, perhaps without reference to a particular faith. These students, situated on the religious spectrum somewhere between agnosticism and a particular belief, should have a non-denominational space in which to voice their beliefs both with fellow students as well as with different religious groups on campus...
...Chaplains to regularly extend invitations to students to ask questions about faith in general. Alternatively, student groups, in the spirit of this semester’s IOP event, could send a representative to a general religious caucus. These meetings would expand the dialogue among religious groups and provide a space in which students could find out more about this fundemental element of human experience...