Students gained exposure to four religious perspectives in an open dialogue Monday night at the Downtown campus.
A panel of five people from the Arizona Interfaith Movement gave a presentation and answered questions from ASU students.
The panelists were Arizona Interfaith Movement executive director Paul Eppinger, who acted as a facilitator; Jerry Burbach, who represented Catholicism; Dilara Hafiz, who represented Islam; Joshua Porter, from the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints; and N.V. Shamasundar, who represented Hinduism.
Eppinger began by holding up a license plate that had the phrase “Live the Golden Rule” written on it.
“Our group believes in following the golden rule,” Eppinger said. “We seek to break down the walls of hatred between people and hope to develop a common understanding among all.”
After the introduction, panelists each gave a short description about their religion before turning the dialogue over to the students for a question and answer session.
Creative writing and theater junior Eichelle Armstrong organized the event as a multicultural programming assistant for the Downtown Student Engagement Office.
Armstrong said she has always been interested in the similarities between
religions and thought the dialogue would be a good way to show the common ground among religions.
“One of the best parts of the event was when you got to hear what each panelists thought of something, like when [a student] asked the question what they all thought the afterlife looked like,” Armstrong said. “Their answers were very diverse, and it was interesting to hear what each person believed in.”
Hafiz said that she believes the afterlife includes being united with God.
“I think the afterlife is a beautiful garden, and people are there with God and there is pure love. People are reunited with their loved ones and everything is about love,” Hafiz said.
About 15 people attended the dialogue including religious studies freshman Jessica Beach. She said she talks about religion often in her classes, but attending the dialogue was different.
“I get the education point of view all the time, but this was new because I got to hear actual points of view from people who practice these faiths,” Beach said.
Reach the reporter at sheydt@asu.edu.
