A-to-Z Index

Interfaith Coalition Goals

 

Within the over 300 organizations on JMU's campus, there are roughly 27 religious organizations. These groups offer excellent locations for students to deepen their understanding of their own faith or worldview; however, very few opportunities are offered to learn about the other worldviews on campus and these organizations rarely interact. A spirit of collaboration between these groups will allow members and non-members to have greater experiences related to understanding themselves, each other, and the world around them.

The goals of the Interfaith Coalition are as follows:

  • To facilitate exploration and understanding of all religions through collaborative activities of several religiously-based student organizations
  • To encourage mutual understanding among individuals of different belief traditions.
  • To enrich the JMU experience by expanding consciousness and facilitating a deeper understanding of others.
  • To intentionally link our service experiences to our motivation to serve,
  • To offer a glimpse of the diversity of worldviews and faiths present on campus in the surrounding community.
  • To facilitate understanding of other beliefs while at the same time contextualizing one's own beliefs.
  • To facilitate relationships with people of other beliefs.
  • To provide models for relations throughout life with people who are different in some way.
  • To serve the needs of local community agencies.
  • To cultivate leadership skills within the JMU community.

The Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC) is an organization dedicated to building "mutual respect and pluralism among young people from different religious traditions by empowering them to work together to serve others." IFYC has worked on Interfaith relations on campuses around the country, including thirty-five in 2006-07. This is their vision statement:

    There are millions of religious young people in the world interacting with greater frequency. That interaction tends either toward conflict or cooperation. Where so many of these interactions tend towards conflict, the Interfaith Youth Core aims to introduce a new relationship, one that is about mutual respect and religious pluralism. Instead of focusing a dialogue on political or theological differences, we build relationships on the values that we share, such as hospitality and caring for the Earth, and how we can live out those values together to contribute to the betterment of our community.

The Interfaith Youth Core is creating these relationships across the world by inspiring, networking, and resourcing young people, who are the leaders of this movement. We provide young people and the institutions that support them with leadership training, project resources and a connection to a broader movement. 




Jerusalem Women Speak poster
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Spirituality Dialogues poster
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Interfaith Coalition Logo

The vision of the JMU Interfaith Coalition is to facilitate mutual understanding of any and all religions and world views, and to promote positive civic engagement in the JMU and local communities