On a campus constantly searching for new ways to embrace diversity, religious groups still deal with issues of stereotyping, ignorance and a lack of collaboration between faiths.
There are 16 registered religious clubs on campus, 12 of which represent various Christian faiths. The others include a Muslim (Muslim Students Association) and a Jewish group (Hillel). There is even a club for the non-religious (The Cal Poly Brights) and a club that focuses on objective discussion of all religions (Cal Poly Theisms).
Students say communication between the groups can benefit spiritual individuals in profound ways.
“If you’re going to claim that you’re a certain religion, then you should be able to understand other religions,” kinesiology senior Rachel Krumheuer said. “That way you don’t have this blind faith in something without knowing if you think it’s true or not.”
Krumheuer is a member of SLO Crusade, Cal Poly and Cuesta’s branch of Campus Crusade for Christ, a group that does not show strong participation in interfaith events.
SLO Crusade is not alone in this. InterVarsity Christian Fellowship leader Karl Gurney said coming together with other religions can be hard, especially since there are not many opportunities.
“I see it as valuable though,” Gurney said. “(Interfaith events) could be a vehicle to come together to smash assumptions, educate people and enable people to love one another.”
Certain on-campus groups work within their communities to plan interfaith events in hopes to eradicate assumptions and misconceptions specifically seen on Cal Poly’s campus.
For example, the Muslim Students Association (MSA) is hosting a game night later this month for all of Cal Poly’s religious clubs.
“A lot of people have spoken to us saying that to erase discrimination, we should get to know others in a friendly setting,” MSA president Maryam Nasim said. “Rather than learning about Islam in a classroom setting, actually knowing someone of our faith is the best way to erase stereotypes.”
Nasim said she sometimes sees evidence of ignorance in classroom discussions.
“I have noticed that a lot of people are not just uninformed but misinformed,” Nasim said.
And misinformation can often reinforce false stereotypes, she said. This was a common belief within the religious groups on campus.
Gurney said Christians are often stereotyped as being judgmental, hypocritical and unwilling to listen to different viewpoints.
“There are differing levels of legitimacy,” he said. “But when I talk to people I want to know a person for who they are regardless of what they’ve done in their past. We all make mistakes, and we want to know any criticisms of us so that we don’t have to be defined by them.”
SLO Crusade students agreed, and said sometimes Christians’ motives are questioned, especially when they are talking to others about Jesus Christ.
“As Christians, we know that (spreading the message of Jesus Christ) is not done well by a lot of other Christians in the world,” Bible study leader and Cal Poly alumna Ali Miller said. “So it can be hard to approach people with the motive to just love them and show them the love that we know God has for them, when other people have done that wrongly.”
This does not completely discourage them. SLO Crusade still gathers for “sharing” every Tuesday and Thursday morning, by attempting to start spiritual conversations with students on campus.
Liberal studies senior and SLO Crusade member Amanda Mervich said although some students do not want to talk, most are willing and leave the conversation encouraged.
Spiritual conversation has the potential to guide those who are non-religious or confused, or to help strengthen religious beliefs that a person may already have, according to SLO Crusade members.
But sometimes this does not apply, as general truths of most religious organizations are seen as superstition to the Cal Poly Brights.
The Brights is a club for nontheist (those who do not believe in a personal god), nonreligious students and their allies.
“Nonreligious people are often viewed as hateful and untrustworthy,” Brights president Austin Mello said. “Our goal is to show that people without superstition such as faith can be good, moral people.”
Mello said the Brights are always looking for ways to work together with students of different spiritual beliefs, but he often finds that other groups are not receptive.
In addition, the Brights said campus events aimed at including every diverse group and belief system were often the ones they felt most uncomfortable in.
For example, Week of Welcome (WOW), which is supposed to cater to every possible interest incoming freshmen might have, whether it is in a religious group, professional organization or other special interest clubs, was a time when most Brights members said they felt left out.
“WOW had a religious panel speak to us, and they said they had representatives from all religions,” computer science sophomore Kelly Daniels said. “But there was no one representing anything close to this point of view.”
The Brights were not the only ones who reported feeling discrimination or discomfort because of their beliefs. SLO Crusade students said there were times when they also felt this way.
“In class one time, they were using the Bible as an example of how Christianity promotes man-dominated society; it was really misinterpreted,” social sciences senior Sarah Wietbrock said. “The whole class jumped on it. It was a situation where I felt that if I would’ve said I was a Christian, it would’ve been looked down upon.”
But SLO Crusade is the largest religious organization on campus and part of America’s religious majority (77.8 percent of American adults identify as Christians), according to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.
On the other hand, only 0.6 percent of Americans identify as Muslim, according to the Pew Forum, which might translate into Muslim students at Cal Poly being a minority as well. And according to a Time Magazine poll, more than four out of 10 Americans said they have an unfavorable view of Islam.
Yet, Maryam Nasim said she has never felt directly discriminated against at Cal Poly and neither has freshman MSA member Amr Mabrouk.
Mabrouk said since he arrived at Cal Poly at the beginning of this year, he has always felt accepted.
“I pray five times a day, so I have no other choice but to pray in my dorm,” Mabrouk said. “People have asked me what I’m doing, but I’ve never felt offended or stereotyped in any way.”
Though these students said prejudice is not affecting them, Cal Poly and the San Luis Obispo community still have room to grow in the areas of knowledge and religious education.
These ideas are the guiding principles behind “A Taste of Islam: A 6-week Introduction to the Faith of Muslims,” a lecture hosted by five San Luis Obispo religious organizations open to all members of the community.
The classes are led by Rushdi Abdul Cader, a practicing Muslim, religious studies professor Stephen Lloyd-Moffett and Rev. Jane Voigts of the San Luis Obispo United Methodist Church.
“We wanted to have an opportunity for the community to come together to learn about Islam with no agenda other than to help people understand,” Lloyd-Moffett said.
He said unbiased education about the faith of Islam is something everybody, including the Cal Poly community, needs.
“I have a fundamental belief that most people are well-intentioned,” Lloyd-Moffett said. “Yet when I hear what people say about Islam, it’s a mixture of fear and ignorance.”
Lloyd-Moffett said he felt those with the knowledge to teach Islam, like Voigts, Abdul Cader and himself had a responsibility to eradicate this ignorance.
The classes are being taught with a combination of lecture and study of “No god but God” by Reza Aslan, a book about the origins, evolution and future of Islam.
In addition to learning about Islam, Voigts said there is also a firm emphasis on fun and friendship. The classes take place Thursdays right before Farmers’ Market, which Voigts said is the perfect place to go hang out with new friends after the lectures.
“It’s as much about learning Islam as it is about building community,” Voigts said. “Hopefully, we will be building community across religious lines.”
More information about “A Taste of Islam” is available at www.sloumc.com.