by Lyz Liddell
Director of Campus Organizing, Secular Student Alliance
FBB Challenge the Gap Advisor

Interfaith. It's complicated, it's controversial, and it's growing like wildfire on college campuses throughout the United States. The recently announced President’s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge has brought this new trend to a point, and the freethought movement has been hot with discussions about whether or not we should participate.

In many of these new and growing interfaith programs, including the President's Challenge, a hand has been extended to secular student groups. But it's a hand we've been reluctant to accept - whether through disagreement about goals, concerns about being misrepresented or misunderstood, or misgivings about the nature of the programs.

Having worked with several interfaith programs for the last year, I feel strongly that this invitation to participate in interfaith programs is an opportunity that is too valuable to be missed. I'll outline the reasons for my perspective, and I hope you'll consider getting involved in an interfaith program on your campus.

What's in a Name?
The first argument I always hear when I bring up the idea of nontheists participating in interfaith is about the name. Nontheism isn't a "faith," so why would we be participating in something called "interfaith?"

Read the full article at the SSA website

In 2007, the American Buddhist scholar-monk Bhikkhu Bodhi called attention to the narrowly inward focus of American Buddhism, which has been pursued to the neglect of the active dimension of Buddhist compassion expressed through programs of social engagement. After a few rounds of discussions with his students, Bodhi resolved to form a Buddhist relief organization dedicated to alleviating the suffering of the poor and disadvantaged in the developing world.

"Among other attractions to BGR, including its strict non-proselytizing policy, we were struck by the parallel between their founding story and ours," said Dale McGowan, executive director of Foundation Beyond Belief. "We created FBB in part to pull humanism out of its tight focus on science and rational inquiry, to put the powerful compassion that is such a natural fit for the humanist worldview to work in the service of a better world. Buddhist Global Relief was likewise born out of a desire to see that worldview translated into action."

"It's hard to imagine a better way to challenge the gap between religious and nonreligious people than to support a religiously-based organization acting on the same impulse that we are."

The mission of Buddhist Global Relief (BGR) is to provide relief to the poor and needy throughout the world regardless of nationality, ethnicity, gender, or religion. Bearing in mind the Buddha's statements that "hunger is the worst kind of illness" and "the gift of food is the gift of life," BGR especially focuses on providing food aid to those afflicted by hunger and lack of food security. Its long-range goal, however, is to combat all the manifestations of poverty that detract from the inherent dignity of human life.