Hi-tech & interfaith

Lutheran, The, Nov 2003 by Hunter, Elizabeth

Lutherans lead talks among three MIT faith groups

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is renowned for high stress, maxed-out schedules and cutting-edge science and technology. Last year Lutherans at the Cambridge, Mass., school took the lead in crossing religious frontiers. They gathered three faith groups for conversation and camraderie over meals that satisfied Jewish kosher and Muslim halal requirements.

Johanna Kiefner, an ELCA campus pastor, calls it a "trialogue"-a three-way dialogue among Muslim, Jewish and Lutheran/Episcopal students. With a grant from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, Kiefner and the coordinators, ELCA members Heather Gregg, a political science graduate student at MIT, and Kathyrn Lohre, a student at nearby Harvard Divinity School, held three student-led discussions in the fall and three service or worship events in the spring. Each of the six events drew 30 to 50 people-what Gregg calls a sizable turnout at MIT.

Discussions focused on Lutheran and Episcopal worship, Jewish traditions, and an introduction to Islam.

"After Sept. 11, one of the [trialogue goals] was to break down stereotypes between religious groups," Gregg said.

Students often wrestled with language as they described their faith to those outside their tradition. "You can't use the lingo-atonement, salvation-they won't understand it," Kiefner said. "[Instead students produced] very beautiful statements of faith from non-theologians."

Lohre said panel discussions frequently reflected variations within a faith group, revealing "the stereotyping that we do even within each tradition."

They also discovered similarities among the three faiths, Kiefner said, adding: "Across religions, there are teenage rebellions, social cliques, people coming or not coming for some of the same reasons."

Joshua Katz, a Jewish student at MIT, concurred: "The most meaningful part of the trialogue was the continual sense of 'That's so cool! We do something just like that in our religion.' While all three religions are Abrahamic faiths, more often than not, people are brought up understanding the differences between our religions."

For example, participants learned that "while each religion may have a different method of repenting, all three shared it as a common value and a necessity for the continuation of human good," he said.

Second semester a Lutheran-Episcopal guided worship service was not well-attended by people of other faiths. Some felt it broke with their strong monotheistic traditions, but it led to "a really great discussion about what we do and don't feel comfortable doing," Gregg said.

But Muslim student Bilal Kaleem said the service was a fascinating "chance to understand firsthand what it is that moves [worshipers] in such a personal and powerful way."

Kiefner senses enthusiasm for continued dialogue, saying, "There's an openness to see beyond the symbols of our particular faith, to see each other as children of faith."

Hunter is a section editor of The Lutheran.