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In the chapel (from left) Blaise Wallack, Katyana Melic,
Zachary Teicher and Hillary Mohaupt
Church of the Nazarene
Kansas City, Mo.
Sociology
Engaging people of different
faiths strengthens my own
faith and identity. While encountering
other beliefs, I’m
challenged to better understand
my own. The Multifaith
Council encourages me
to be a spiritual person at
Macalester by demonstrating
that religion is cared
about here, and by dispelling
the myth that people of
different religions can’t appreciate,
respect or acquire
some understanding from
the ideas they each hold.
What is also important is the
support I get from finding
people that, like me, appreciate
the value of spirituality
in everyday life.
 We often think of diversity as racial, ethnic, cultural, economic or geographical. At
Macalester we also explore the richness
of religious diversity. The Multifaith Council
draws different perspectives of spiritual
and religious commitment into dynamic
engagement, offering students a context
in which to explore the depth of their
religious and spiritual traditions coupled
with the practice of respectful and
thoughtful engagement.
—Lucy Forster-Smith, Chaplain
Center for Religious and Spiritual Life
Bahá’í
Singapore
Anthropology
Questions of faith are sometimes
hard to talk about and
students have often commented
on the need for
religious community. Our
hope in creating the council
was first, to create a community
where we could
address this need, and second,
to allow the discourse
surrounding faith questions
to reach beyond faith communities.
Discussion of faith
often leads to dialogue on
important global and personal
issues. We hope to
engage Macalester’s central
tenets of activism, civic engagement
and internationalism,
in which faith can play
a pivotal part.
Jewish
White Plains, N.Y.
Religious Studies
Cooperation and understanding
across various divisions
in the world, whether
ethnic, sociopolitical or
religious, will be key to
humanity’s survival. The
Macalester Multifaith Council
was founded to promote
dialogue and interaction,
and to support peaceful
coexistence among all students.
Students and the staff
of the Center for Religious
and Spiritual Life thought
extensively about the role
of an interfaith council at
Macalester and investigated
models at other colleges.
The new council replaces
the Chaplain’s Multifaith
Roundtable—a successful
but more insular body devoted
to discussions of how
students of religious and
spiritual groups interact.
Presbyterian
Rockford, Ill.
History
For years, Mac Catholics
and the Macalester Jewish
Organization have faced off
in a late-night game of capture
the flag; MJO and other
groups have prepared “break
fast” meals for the Muslim
Students Association; Mac
Catholics and Macalester
Christian Fellowship have
done service projects together;
Mac Bahá’ís and
Mac Protestants have made
pancakes together. The Multifaith
Council creates an
intentional space for more
of the same and on a greater
scale: the council creates a
space for organizations to
find their niche among students,
to collaborate with
other organizations and to
share traditions and ideas.
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engaging faiths