All too often nowadays, religion is mentioned only when something goes wrong. Professor Sarita Tamayo-Moraga's RSOC 9 class, a linked class with Unity RLC's Imagine Interbelief Floor, has begun a project to shift this conversation. Professor Tamayo-Moraga's class follows the suggested model from Interfaith Youth Core Founder Eboo Patel, which uses service as a common ground from which then to discuss difference. 

 

The class was supposed to accompany a refugee community, but the plans fell through at the last minute, requiring the class to take a different approach to service. "I told them instead we would do virtual service by creating a website that would cheer people up instead of depress them about interfaith issues," shared Tamayo-Moraga. "Unlike the dominant media which portrays religious difference as an inevitable prelude to conflict, we would provide alternate stories that don't get as much attention. Specifically, I asked them to find stories that counter negative religious stereotypes and especially the negative religious stereotypes of religious minorities." At a time when so much of what is reported is negative, it's important to have some people letting us know what's right with the world.

 

The result is this blog that will be added to throughout this quarter and by subsequent RSOC 9 classes. Little projects like this are what will begin to change the rhetoric around religion nationally and Professor Tamayo-Moraga's class is doing its part to provide a glimmer of hope.