Interfaith Circle
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Edition 39 | April 2021
Latest news
Photo: Personal Archive
Meet Mohammed Ba-Aoum, VT interfaith student leader who received award from Interfaith Youth Core
Mohammed, a member of our Advisory Council, founder of Synergy, and PhD candidate in industrial systems engineering, has received the Racial Equity and Interfaith Award from the nonprofit Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC).
Graphic: Rachel DeBusk
Aurora Interfaith Living-Learning Community will launch in Fall 2021 | Open apps for incoming Hokies
The Aurora Interfaith Living Learning Community at Virginia Tech is a community of students — religious, non-religious, spiritual, secular, and seekers — who come together to explore the ways people make meaning and search for purpose, to connect to one another, and to work for positive action in the world.
Why interfaith?
Image: Sikh Coalition / IFYC
Teaching About Religion to Boost Classroom Safety and Students’ Civic Competence
“With targeted violence against minority communities continuing to rise and political clashes over the most basic questions of diversity, it is increasingly essential for all of us to consider how we prepare today’s youth to be tomorrow’s good citizens of a pluralistic society.” By multiple authors in Interfaith America.
Learning about diverse traditions
Image: Rebecca Peterson-Hall
The Rice Seedling Sutra | Buddhism
“Spoken by the bodhisattva Maitreya, the Rice Seedling Sutra is one of the most important Buddhist sutras on the topic of dependent arising, the basic Buddhist doctrine that everything depends on something else for its existence.”. Click to read the article in Lion’s Roar.
Engage with the Interfaith Initiative at VT
How the Teachings of Rumi Can Contribute to the Healing and Perfection of Our Humanity
Attend a talk by Kabir Helmisnki on Thursday April 15, 5:30 – 6:45 pm. Click the link to sign up to this virtual event Synergy: Interfaith Collective at VT in partnership with Interfaith VT, sponsored by the Interfaith Youth Core Alumni grant.
Interfaith, Social Justice & Arts | Panel & Art Exhibit
The community is invited to submit by April 17 artworks that express how worldviews, religious, spiritual, or secular beliefs inform perspectives in social justice. The exhibit launch will bring a panel with three outstanding artists: Anne Elise Thomas, PhD, Katy Shepard, Jon Catherwood-Ginn, moderated by Mohammed Ba-Aoum. April 21, 5:30-7 pm. Click on the link to register.
Workshop: Compassion Turned Inward, Antidote for Stress and Anxiety
Dr. Bishal Karna (Nazareth College) will help undo misconceptions that keep us from being compassionate to ourselves and, drawing from world religions, provide a set of attitudes and practices to help us get started in our journey of self-compassion. Hosted by Synergy: Interfaith Collective at Virginia Tech, in partnership with Interfaith VT and sponsored by Interfaith Youth Core. Click to register.
Previous editions
Access the previous editions of the Interfaith Circle Newsletter.