“I’m Christian and I’m a candidate for ordained ministry in the (United) Methodist Church,” he said. “Personally, it just helps me to have more of a full understanding of everyone else’s understanding of God.”

The CIC is a major governing group of ASMSU that focuses on interfaith dialogue and service without trying to convert or challenge others, said religious studies senior Rebecca Farnum, president of CIC.

“The purpose is to promote relationships between people of differing faiths, (working) to integrate a religious aspect into student life and (encouraging) interfaith cooperation and understanding,” she said.

“This includes issues that (registered student organizations) face in programming and funding (in addition to) individual concerns with religious freedoms and opportunities on campus.”

Religious student groups, such as the Religious Studies Discussion Group, speak about religion without much of a religious perspective on campus, said religious studies senior Sara Lone, president of the group.

“My group has more of an objective perspective, like the scholarly study, the academic study of religion and how (religion) affects the world in the sociological religious movements in the world,” she said.

“These kinds of things are really important for people to understand nowadays because it helps them not only understand (others) and their society, (but) be a little open-minded.”

The group discussed the various conceptions of God — including god, goddess, deity and others — in various traditions, Farnum said.

“We’ll explore whether or not we really think the Jewish God is different than the Christian God, and we’ll explore the role of gods and goddesses in non-monotheistic religions and speak about whether or not the distinction between monotheism and polytheism is clear-cut,” she said.

Discussions are meant to remove the boundaries of what people think or believe about religion or a specific faith, Lone said.

“It’s easier for (students) to question, to wonder (at the
discussions) with questions and not just get lectured at,” she said.

“We’re going to talk about it, and figure out what we think and what do we not think. In the real world, religion is something that you aren’t supposed to talk about, like politics. Well, we are talking about it.”