Digging in deep at Multifaith Week
Interfaith Initiatives’ Multifaith Week brought the community together to learn about and celebrate diverse spiritual, religious, and secular experiences.
Students engaged in a workshop on improv for community-building, facilitated by Assistant Professor of Applied Theatre Brittney Harris during Multifaith Week. Photo by Bridget Elmshaeuser for Virginia Tech.
Despite the age-old advice that one shouldn’t talk about religion at the dinner table, at Multifaith Week, conversations on religion, secularity, and spirituality were front and center.
When addressing the importance of religious literacy, Assistant Dean for Interfaith Leadership JillAnn Knonenborg frequently points to this statistic: Of the 8.3 billion people in the world, less than a quarter identify as religiously unaffiliated.
“Trying to not talk about religion hasn’t worked so far to make the world a better place,” she said. “It’s time to try something different.”
Multifaith Week was organized by Interfaith Initiatives and featured workshops, presentations, and interactive events for students, faculty, and staff in collaboration with the APIDA+ Center, Black Cultural Center, the Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention, the Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech, the Department of Religion and Culture, the School of Performing Arts, and VT Engage.
One of Knonenborg’s goals for the week was for attendees to learn to celebrate each other better while learning about interfaith tools in a multifaith context.
“Multifaith is our way of talking about religious pluralism — people who orient around religion in many different ways living in the same community,” she said. Interfaith describes how those different groups can intentionally coexist.
Experiences that build belonging
At the week’s signature event, Andrew Henry, who runs the ReligionForBreakfast YouTube channel, addressed the importance of understanding how people may be implicitly included or excluded within a community — such as when or how someone is able to celebrate a holiday, or whether or not the questions on an intake form apply to them — and what tools are available to help them.
Andrew Henry, who runs the ReligionForBreakfast YouTube channel, presenting on the importance of religious literacy at Multifaith Week. Photo by JillAnn Knonenborg for Virginia Tech.
Two faculty member and staff Interfaith lunch events focused on meaning-making, helping attendees understand their own value systems and the origins of their values. Through guided group discussions, attendees learned to better understand themselves and their colleagues.
Cedric Dunham III, director for the Ujima living-learning community, said the interfaith lunches were the best events he’s been to as a staff member.
“When people think of interfaith, it often correlates to religion, but there are different things that can influence your way of making meaning, like socio-economic status, background, and life experiences,” he said. “Interfaith is a conversation that everybody is involved in.”
In partnership with the Black Cultural Center and School of Performing Arts Assistant Professor of applied theatre Brittney Harris, the Center for the Arts hosted a learning lunch with the cast of “Hero: The Boy from Troy,” a musical about the life of Congressman John Lewis. Associate Director of Engagement Ben Jewell-Plocher said the discussion gave insight into how Lewis' fight for equality in the Civil Rights Movement was supported by his deep faith.
“I hope attendees carry the idea of ‘one struggle, one fight’ with them into their daily lives,” he said. “That kind of faith stretches across theology; it can unite us much more than divide us, if we let it.”
Harris invited students into an immersive experience that explored the intersections of beliefs, identity, and “the parts of ourselves that aren’t always visible.” In an exercise inspired by the teachings of bell hooks, participants moved through the room, tracing the unseen lines of their lives.
“As those lines started to cross,” Harris said, “what really stood out were the moments of connection, where stories met and real dialogue opened up across the circle.”
A not-so-surprising side effect
Knonenborg’s favorite part of the week was seeing participants share meaningful discussions and form friendships in real time.
“I think one of the things that all people struggle with in our digital age is making connections that go below the surface,” she said. “It’s easy to talk about the weather and your favorite movie and favorite type of ice cream, but that’s not usually the type of conversation that leads to life-affirming conversations. It can be awkward to jump from those conversations to conversations about family, lifestyle, and background, unless it’s facilitated.”
Dunham said the interfaith lunches have had a lasting impact on him and his colleagues. When, at one of the lunches, attendees were asked, “What helps you make sense of the world?” Dunham was struck by the variety of answers, from religion to family to life experiences. The conversations that followed helped him understand his colleagues better, but also himself.
“When you have a meaning-making system you understand, you feel more grounded in your decisions,” he said. When others know about your meaning-making system, he continued, “the easier it is for them to understand the way you interact and the way you work. It can help you work better together as professionals or build friendships as people, or it allows you to know the type of boundaries you need to set.”
At the Appalachian Granny Magic workshop, students and event leaders stuck around long after the event ended, deep in conversation. Photo by JillAnn Knonenborg for Virginia Tech.
Cultivating an interfaith mindset
Interfaith Initiatives hosts an array of events for students, faculty, and staff throughout the academic year. To learn more, visit the website or follow on Instagram. If you have questions about religious, secular, and spiritual life at Virginia Tech, email interfaith@vt.edu.
