New Interfaith Center workshops to include more religions

University Christian Ministries has developed a new way for the Interfaith Center to represent more religious denominations, a switch from actions taken a year ago when its parent organization voted to restrict Campus Ministries to Judeo-Christian faiths.

Starting March 27, the Interfaith Center will offer a seven-week series of workshops that will focus on several religious aspects and meditation techniques. Each of the workshops will teach participants about an important part of a religion about which they may know nothing. Since Campus Ministries overturned its decision last fall, it has been striving to create a more inclusive organization.

University Christian Ministries, an organization under the Campus Ministries' authority, formed a board last fall to examine ways to change the Interfaith Center to reflect more religions in the community. Treesong, a board member and a volunteer at the center, said the Interfaith Center's bylaws were rewritten to reflect the change, as well as how to include more faiths. All members of the board agreed the workshops would bring in additional funding from several religious organizations in the community.

"We are creating a space where these different faiths can come together," Treesong said. "We can all chip in and run the center together." The workshops also will help the center receive more funding. Treesong said the center needed to find help with the budget crunch last semester or make a decision to sell it. Erika Peterson, director of University Christian Ministries, said the workshops are one example of the center's recent push for an integrated religious center. "You don't have to be a Christian to enjoy it," Peterson said. "It can really enrich your own spiritual life without challenging your own beliefs. "It's not just a respect and tolerance thing. It can also help you really grow spiritually in your own faith."

Peterson, who developed the program along with peer minister Virginia Dickens, said learning meditation is important, especially for college students. "Students are stressed, and there's just so much in just the pace of life in American culture that keeps you from looking inside yourself," Peterson said. "There are just so many studies that show that regular meditation of some kind has so many benefits."

A few examples of the meditation practices the workshop will teach are the use of tarot cards and the labyrinth structure, which is located behind the center. Other religious organizations involved in the Interfaith Center Organizations include the Shawnee Dharma meditation group, the Southern Illinois Pagan Alliance and the Southern Illinois Baha'i Community. Peterson said she hopes more organizations will form a coalition with the Interfaith Center in providing a more inclusive religious approach.