Jan Fuller publishes essay on multi-faith efforts at Elon

In a column for the (Burlington, N.C.) Times-News, the university's chaplain shared reflections on the ways Elon University promotes and celebrates multi-faith efforts.  

University Chaplain Jan Fuller shared with readers of the (Burlington, N.C.) Times-News her encounters with multifaith programs at Elon in the Feb. 8, 2014, edition of Alamance County’s daily newspaper.

Read the full column here.

The column was inspired by a recent visit to an interfaith leadership institutes with several students and staff members.

From the column:

“‘Interfaith’ is — I know — a difficult word and concept for some. It might be construed as blurring the lines between differences, mashing everybody into the same mold, ‘it doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you believe something’ mentalities. These are not interfaith engagement. We call it ‘multi-faith’ at Elon, and we make the distinction not to blur the lines, not to ask everyone to be similar. We seek to honor and engage various ways of orienting around religion and meaning making systems.

In her conclusion, Fuller writes:

Imagine what we might accomplish together if we cooperate in action, rather than separate by belief. We might together, instead of changing each other’s minds, end hunger in Alamance County, make a dent in poverty or homelessness in the U.S., or end Malaria in Africa. However far off it seems, this is the goal of multi-faith engagement — nothing short of changing the world. Every now and again, in the Numen Lumen Pavilion at Elon, this seems possible.