Better Together Day to encourage interfaith conversations

Grand Valley students are invited to join hundreds of students around the U.S. in a national movement to promote interfaith understanding and inclusion.

Grand Valley’s Kaufman Interfaith Institute is sponsoring Better Together Day Tuesday, April 14, in conjunction with the Catholic Student Association, Hillel, and Better Together.

To kick off Better Together Day, Hillel and Better Together are asking students to jump in a ball pit from noon-2 p.m. at the Cook Carillon Tower on the Allendale Campus with either strangers or friends to talk about “human questions,” such as issues of diversity, inclusion, religion, or stereotypes.

“We want to create a space for positive interaction between students of different backgrounds to get to know one another,” said Katie Gordon, Kaufman Interfaith Institute program manager. “When you are able to put a face to a faith that you may not know very well, it humanizes the religion and you come to understand it and its community better. This is an effort to increase understanding, acceptance, diversity and inclusion on our campus.”

From 8-10 p.m. in the Kirkhof Center, room 2215/2216, students are also invited to a presentation featuring students from diverse faith and non-faith experiences discussing their backgrounds in small groups while decorating lunch bags for Kids Food Basket.

“Better Together Day is an effort to prove that the voices of cooperation are louder than the voices of conflict,” Gordon said. “You never know what you can learn from someone else’s story. By participating, not only are you learning about the diversity that exists, but you’re coming to understand and appreciate it.”

Students are encouraged to take a pledge to meet people of different religious or non-religious backgrounds, talk about inspirations and share their stories during these events. If 100 students sign the pledge, Grand Valley students, faculty and staff will be awarded free registration for an Interfaith Leadership Institute conference August 7-9 in Chicago.

For more information about Better Together Day, call Gordon at (616) 331-5702 or visit http://gvsu.edu/s/S1.