By: Hayley Holloway ’17, staff writer
Lebanon Valley College is in its fifth academic year of holding sustained interfaith dialogues.
There is a different theme with three dialogues to discuss specific questions each semester. The theme for fall 2016 was “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.” The three dialogues discussed the nature of humanity, the question of evil in the world, and hateful scripture.
The dialogues always host panelists who are Hindu, Muslim, and Buddhist. The dialogues host different Christian panelists as well, including Catholic and Protestant participants. The panel hosted a non-believer the previous academic year.
“Attendance at the dialogues increases religious literacy,” Rev. Dr. Paul Fullmer, chaplain and director of service and volunteerism, said. “Perhaps more importantly, involvement enhances interfaith understanding, for recurring attendance helps students to come to know individuals who are members with faith backgrounds different from their own.”
Chaplain Fullmer and Dr. Matthew Sayers, associate professor of religion, organize the dialogues. They choose questions for the panelists that coincide with the theme. The questions are meant to encourage the panelists and audience members to engage with each other.
“We ask people to speak from their own experience of their tradition rather than trying to represent the entire tradition,” Sayers said.
Besides helping to plan the dialogues, Dr. Sayers acts as the moderator during the discussions. He introduces the dialogue, asks the panelists the questions, lets panelists know when it is their turn to speak, involves the audience and intervenes if the dialogues are not moving naturally. The role as the moderator is a challenging position.
“I think the biggest challenge is just stepping back and being a facilitator, not participating in the dialogue,” Sayers said. “I think the trickier thing is when things slow down, trying to figure out how to nudge in a small enough way that the folks get into it and get rolling rather than me having to continue to sort of pull people out.”
By attending the sustained interfaith dialogues, students have the opportunity of gaining more than just religious literacy.
“We say the two things you’re not allowed to talk about are religion and politics, and I think if we can get more and more comfortable with being uncomfortable or we can get to a point where discomfort doesn’t stop us from having a conversation,” Sayers said. “I think those subtle differences can really affect people on a long-term, slow developmental kind of way.”
The theme for the spring 2017 dialogues is “Experiencing the Divine.” The dialogues will be held Jan. 24, Feb. 21, and Mar. 21. Each dialogue will be held in Miller Chapel at 11 a.m. and is followed by a pizza lunch.