<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" > <channel> <title>religious studies Archives - The Utah Statesman</title> <atom:link href="https://usustatesman.com/tag/religious-studies/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /> <link>https://usustatesman.com/tag/religious-studies/</link> <description>USU's Student Newspaper</description> <lastBuildDate>Thu, 20 Apr 2017 21:33:15 +0000</lastBuildDate> <language>en-US</language> <sy:updatePeriod> hourly </sy:updatePeriod> <sy:updateFrequency> 1 </sy:updateFrequency> <generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1</generator> <image> <url>https://usustatesman.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/cropped-screen-shot-2017-10-19-at-4.33.29-pm-32x32.png</url> <title>religious studies Archives - The Utah Statesman</title> <link>https://usustatesman.com/tag/religious-studies/</link> <width>32</width> <height>32</height> </image> <item> <title>USU’s Interfaith Initiative works to bridge religious gaps through interfaith conference</title> <link>https://usustatesman.com/usus-interfaith-initiative-works-bridge-religious-gaps-interfaith-conference/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Bobbee Russell]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 20 Apr 2017 21:33:15 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[All]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Campus News]]></category> <category><![CDATA[News]]></category> <category><![CDATA[anthropology]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Bonnie Glass-Coffin]]></category> <category><![CDATA[communication]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Interfaith]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Interfaith Initiative]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Interfaith Youth Corps]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Religion]]></category> <category><![CDATA[religious studies]]></category> <category><![CDATA[University Inn]]></category> <category><![CDATA[USU]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Utah State]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Utah State University]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://usustatesman.com/?p=22013229</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>Utah State University’s Interfaith Initiative will host a conference Friday and Saturday at the University Inn focused on helping participants…</p> <p>The post <a href="https://usustatesman.com/usus-interfaith-initiative-works-bridge-religious-gaps-interfaith-conference/">USU’s Interfaith Initiative works to bridge religious gaps through interfaith conference</a> appeared first on <a href="https://usustatesman.com">The Utah Statesman</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Utah State University’s Interfaith Initiative will host a conference Friday and Saturday at the University Inn focused on helping participants understand religious differences and encouraging all faiths. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Over 100 students from 10 university campuses in Utah and southern Idaho will attend the conference.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The conference’s sessions will help attendees view relationships and communication through “an interfaith lens,” said Bonnie Glass-Coffin, the founder of USU’s Interfaith Initiative and an anthropology professor at USU. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Glass-Coffin said the challenge is to provide students — as tomorrow’s leaders in a multi-religious world — with the vision, knowledge and skills to navigate religious diversity in ways that build cooperative relationships across potential faith divides in service to a common good. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Hannah Bundy, a junior communication studies major, said she feels the conference will be a safe space for students of religious and nonreligious backgrounds to feel like they have a place to talk about subjects out of their comfort zone. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC) is a national organization that promotes positive religious diversity on college campuses. The interfaith leadership lab at Utah State University is sponsored by IFYC. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This interfaith leadership lab is one of many that have been hosted on college campuses nationwide. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Seth Marsden and Bundy are the two students helping Glass-Coffin complete tasks for the event. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Marsden and Bundy have collaborated on a handful of tasks, such as designing the poster that is displayed around campus. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> “Both of them have been instrumental,” Glass-Coffin said. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Marsden, an undeclared freshman, said he likes interfaith work. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">He took on the task of putting together roommate lists for all of the students who are staying at the University Inn and making sure they’re settled. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Marsden also communicates with partners from other campuses. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Bundy has been involved with designing graphics and lawn signs and posting on the conference’s Twitter account. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">—</span><a href="mailto:b96russell@gmail.com"><span style="font-weight: 400;">b96russell@gmail.com</span></a></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">@bjr24601</span></p> <p>Photo by Ethan Babcock</p> <p>The post <a href="https://usustatesman.com/usus-interfaith-initiative-works-bridge-religious-gaps-interfaith-conference/">USU’s Interfaith Initiative works to bridge religious gaps through interfaith conference</a> appeared first on <a href="https://usustatesman.com">The Utah Statesman</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>Logan Islamic Center introduces event series to welcome visitors</title> <link>https://usustatesman.com/logan-islamic-center-introduces-event-series-welcome-visitors/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Katherine Taylor]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 16 Feb 2017 04:16:47 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[All]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Diversity]]></category> <category><![CDATA[anthropology]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Islam]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Logan Islamic Center]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Religion]]></category> <category><![CDATA[religious studies]]></category> <category><![CDATA[USU interfaith alliance]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://usustatesman.com/?p=22012025</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>The Logan Islamic Center is opening up their doors and welcoming locals to get to know the basics of Islam…</p> <p>The post <a href="https://usustatesman.com/logan-islamic-center-introduces-event-series-welcome-visitors/">Logan Islamic Center introduces event series to welcome visitors</a> appeared first on <a href="https://usustatesman.com">The Utah Statesman</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Logan Islamic Center is opening up their doors and welcoming locals to get to know the basics of Islam with a new monthly event called “Let’s Talk.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Though the first event, held Feb. 13, coincided with news coverage of the executive order banning travel from several muslim-majority countries</span><b>,</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> event organizers said it was unrelated. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“This has nothing to do with the current sociopolitical situation we have here in the U.S.,” said Andreas Febrian, president of the Logan Islamic Center committee. “I personally don’t care about that. A lot of people have concern, but life will go on, and God has a plan. So why worry?”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">According to Febrian, the problem the center hopes to address isn’t a hostile community, it’s actually the opposite: an outpouring of visitors from Utah State.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> For some classes, students are asked to visit a mosque. While the Islamic center welcomes visitors to their services and encourages the students’ curiosity, the large and unpredictable number of visiting students was overwhelming. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Our target participant is actually USU students. It’s been a little out of control, not knowing when they are coming,” Febrian said. “we decided to invite them all to come and have a more organized event.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The event featured several speakers, including Shane Guymon, a recent convert to Islam. For Guymon, it’s an opportunity to share the side of Islam that he saw as a new convert.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“There are a lot of misconceptions about Islam, but that’s not the Islam that I found. It’s beautiful, and I want to hopefully share that,” Guymon said, elaborating on which aspects of the faith were most meaningful to him. “Just the love. The love of god and the love of others is a vital key to Islam.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Guymon and other event organizers taught about basic concepts of Islam, including the five pillars of Islam and the concept of jihad, which is often misunderstood. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“It’s the same set of principles that guide everything that you do in your life,” said Ayman Alafifi, who spoke at the event. “The way you behave toward your fellow muslims and non-muslims — human beings.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Speakers later answered questions from visitors. Some asked about prayer, others about why muslim women cover their hair or how muslims perceive their relationship to God. Each was answered, and Guymon showed the group one of the first prayers he learned. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While teaching the group, Guymon paused, faltering for a moment as the crowd hushed. Fellow speaker Mubarak Ukashat reminded him, saying the first word of the next phrase. There were pauses like this throughout the night, when the mosque grew quiet as questions were asked and misconceptions were addressed. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">According to USU professor Bonnie Glass-Coffin, who spoke at the event, these moments are pivotal to interfaith understanding. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“If you are going to bathe in the waters of interfaith cooperation, you have to be ready to get wet,” she said, quoting Eboo Patel, founder of the Interfaith Youth Core. “Now more than ever before, we need to get to know our neighbors of all faith traditions.”</span><br /> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">— katherinetaylor@aggiemail.usu.edu</span></em></p> <p>Photo by Katherine Taylor</p> <p>The post <a href="https://usustatesman.com/logan-islamic-center-introduces-event-series-welcome-visitors/">Logan Islamic Center introduces event series to welcome visitors</a> appeared first on <a href="https://usustatesman.com">The Utah Statesman</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>Donations from LDS church and others fund future of USU Mormon Studies program</title> <link>https://usustatesman.com/donations-lds-church-others-fund-future-usu-mormon-studies-program/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Joshua Hortin]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 31 Jan 2017 04:03:21 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[All]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Campus News]]></category> <category><![CDATA[News]]></category> <category><![CDATA[academics]]></category> <category><![CDATA[culture]]></category> <category><![CDATA[donations]]></category> <category><![CDATA[funding]]></category> <category><![CDATA[LDS]]></category> <category><![CDATA[LDS Church]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Logan]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Mormon]]></category> <category><![CDATA[mormon studies]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Religion]]></category> <category><![CDATA[religious studies]]></category> <category><![CDATA[USU]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Utah State]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Utah State University]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://usustatesman.com/?p=22011619</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>The Mormon Studies program at Utah State University recently received two large donations totaling $1.5 million from the Church of…</p> <p>The post <a href="https://usustatesman.com/donations-lds-church-others-fund-future-usu-mormon-studies-program/">Donations from LDS church and others fund future of USU Mormon Studies program</a> appeared first on <a href="https://usustatesman.com">The Utah Statesman</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Mormon Studies program at Utah State University recently received two large donations totaling $1.5 million from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and another anonymous donor. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The $1 million sum gifted by the LDS church will be used toward the endowment for the Leonard J. Arrington professorship of Mormon history and culture. An endowment is a fund owned by the university which generates interest, and the interest can be used to support a professor or program.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">The anonymously given $500,000 sum is intended to match future donations, meaning that the anonymous donation is worth up to an additional $1 million for the program as long as partners of the program continue to provide support. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">80 percent of the matching donation will also help fund the professorship endowment and 20 percent will help fund the Leonard J. Arrington Mormon History Lecture Series.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The professorship of Mormon history and culture is the “first of its kind in the world at a secular university,” said Philip Barlow, a professor of religious studies and history and the current Leonard J. Arrington professor of Mormon history and culture. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Regardless of personal religious affiliation or non-affiliation, “the study of religion is terribly important because our culture, our society, is deeply affected by religion,” Barlow said. “Mormonism is an extraordinary case study for how new religions form and adapt.” </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">No matter what a person’s attitude may be toward the LDS religion, “it’s fabulously interesting — more colorful, more complex, more controversial and more ample in sources than any other religion I know of with a comparable lifespan,” Barlow said. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Barlow emphasized that Mormons and non-Mormons alike benefit from Mormon studies.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The study of Mormonism shouldn’t be just for Mormons, any more than the study of Russia should be just for Russians. Yet church members gain from formal study because when you’ve grown up in a movement you can know a lot from the inside, but there are many aspects invisible to you because you assume them,” he said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Scholarly research “</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">has tremendous value in promoting self-understanding for Mormons,” said Chad Nielsen, an amateur Mormon historian and graduate student in biological engineering. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Looking at Mormonism within a broader context provides more room for building bridges of understanding between religious groups that may otherwise be at odds with each other,” Nielsen said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Barlow hopes the donations will fund the professor who follows him long after he has moved on.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">USU plans to establish the endowment to fund the Leonard J. Arrington chair of Mormon history and culture at $3 million, Janelle Hyatt of Utah State Today reported. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Barlow hopes the endowment will be complete in two or three years, but said “it’s impossible to know for sure.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“It depends on the partnership of those who are interested in seeing the program succeed,” he said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ultimately, the funds provided by the endowments enable not only focused courses in the study of Mormonism, but provide scholarships for students and bring conferences and speakers “that enrich the intellectual life of the university and community.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Nielsen likewise viewed the donation positively.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“It’s another sign that the Church accepts that taking a scholastically rigorous approach to understanding Mormonism is a good thing. I am optimistic that as more graduates of Mormon Studies programs become available — thanks in part to the LDS church’s contributions to Utah State University — they will be put to good use.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Barlow is on leave from USU during 2017 while serving as the Neal A. Maxwell Fellow at the Maxwell Institute at Brigham Young University, where he is researching and writing a book on the idea of a war in heaven before Earth’s creation. He will return to Utah State on March 16 to host a conference on Joseph Smith and translation. When he returns full-time to the university in 2018, he will offer new courses on global perspectives of Mormonism and the roles of religion in film.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">— joshua.hortin@aggiemail.usu.edu</span></p> <p>Photo by Sam Brown</p> <p>The post <a href="https://usustatesman.com/donations-lds-church-others-fund-future-usu-mormon-studies-program/">Donations from LDS church and others fund future of USU Mormon Studies program</a> appeared first on <a href="https://usustatesman.com">The Utah Statesman</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> </channel> </rss>