Last month, the White House presented a project for creating interfaith communities through community service.

Obama continues to recommend integration

President Barack Obama has advocated the integration of people of different faiths since his inauguration, according to Mara Vanderslice, the deputy director and senior policy advisor to the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. On March 17, Vanderslice shared on the White House’s blog that the president’s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge was launched. The effort seeks to challenge college presidents in the 2011-2012 academic year to carry out interfaith understanding on their college campuses.

Numerous organizations work together

Various founders and presidents of corporations have worked to make this program possible. The founder of the Interfaith Youth Core, Eboo Patel, and his group advised the White House on the project.

Obama stated in a video shared on the White House’s website that “as a Christian who became committed to the church while serving my community, I know that an act of service can unite people of all faiths or even no faith.”

Students have varied responses

While some students said this seems like a great idea for the expansion of interfaith communities, other students said they do not feel that Biola has even started working to understand other’s beliefs.

Freshman Crystal Brown said she believes Biola is secluded and makes no effort to understand any other religious beliefs.

According to Biola’s mission statement, Biola is a Christian university who values, promotes and inspires personal life transformation in Christ.

“Biola does a good job at biblical teaching in faith and that God should be a part of all that Christians do, regardless of what is going on,” sophomore Kelsie Hamilton said.
The White House plans to create interfaith communities as an important way to build understanding between different communities and contribute to the common good, according to Vanderslice’s post on the White House blog.

Chair and professor of communication studies, Todd Lewis, said he believes that Christians have a mandate to actively integrate the Christian faith with their disciplines, but as to how they do that, there is no consensus on campus.
“We should not neglect the term [interfaith], but be sensitive to accurately represent divergent faith perspectives when the topic arises in classes,” Lewis said.