Undergraduate students from around the Midwest will gather at St. Thomas Feb. 23-24 for an interfaith conference, “Interfaith Storytelling for a Vibrant Democracy: Engaging the Diverse, the Devout, and the ‘Nones.’”
St. Thomas’ Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning, Muslim-Christian Dialogue Center, and Office for Spirituality have teamed up with Augsburg University and Bethel University to establish the event.
“The idea is to promote interfaith leadership,” said Hans Gustafson, Jay Phillips Center director. “Another part of the goal is for students to reflect on their own stories and to be able to begin to think about their own story, where they’ve been, where they are now and where they’re going to go.”
A full slate on Saturday will feature several breakout sessions and a keynote from Chris Stedman, a noted atheist, about how interfaith stories can change the world. Friday includes a Dakota sacred sites tour with Healing Minnesota Stories.
Thanks to the support of Undergraduate Student Government, the cost for the conference for St. Thomas students is $5, which covers meals throughout the day on Saturday. The cost for non-St. Thomas undergraduates is $10.
The three universities received a grant to create the event from the Interfaith Youth Core. Registration and more details on the event are available here.
