The Interfaith Fellows Program trains up to 25 undergraduate students to become more knowledgeable about different religious traditions and more skilled at communicating with people from other religious backgrounds. We want to equip our fellows so that they can play an important part in working out the mechanics of religious pluralism and interfaith discourse within civil society. We see our fellows becoming an interfaith avant-garde who might serve as leaders in an ever increasingly interconnected global world. We seek to provide them, and the other students whom they involve in campus interfaith events and programming, with the knowledge and skills to surmount the barriers of religious difference and to become interfaith leaders in whatever career trajectories the future might hold for them.
Read the 2020-2021 CRGC Interfaith Fellows’ Journal here.
For Print copies, please contact David Schulz at daschulz@wisc.edu.
During their yearlong fellowship the fellows will:
- Honor their fellow students’ religious background, culture, and values, and respect their otherness.
- Approach different religious traditions both intellectually and experientially.
- Explore, interpret, and understand different religious ideas, acts, and practices towards social justice.
- Become more self-aware of their own religious beliefs and values.
- Gain awareness of major religious traditions and their crucial role in global developments.
- Identify additional opportunities for interfaith engagement that would help sustain the CRGC’s efforts towards more interfaith awareness and collaboration on campus.
- Coordinate on-campus events to bring interfaith conversations to the wider public.
- Write about their experiences in the group or in other interfaith contexts in blog posts.
“The CRGC fellowship helped me see the world from the viewpoint of someone other than myself—from the viewpoint of a Muslim, an atheist, a Jew, an agnostic, and so on. I was able to understand not only modern issues but day-to-day life as seen by other people and I think that’s really valuable in our world today, where many people are increasingly intolerant of others’ views.”
— Chloe Hattenhauer (2019-20)
“Growing up and learning about religion through textbooks, this experience has taught me that it truly is the people, families, and unique faces that make up the religions we read so much about. The fellowship has helped me realize we are so much more alike than different and has shown me firsthand the power of interfaith dialogue.”
— Hannah Silver (2019-20)
“This fellowship has helped me learn and reflect on myself immensely. I was able to make connections and have conversations with people of differing faith backgrounds that I probably wouldn’t have gotten to have in any other setting. Regardless of your faith background, this fellowship has a lot to give.”
– Ali Qureshi (2019-20)
“I am very grateful for being an interfaith fellow this year. I learnt many things like understanding how people my age view the world and how we share many values. The experience also opened my eyes to the many opportunities there are for interfaith collaborations that may have a positive impact on the world we live in.”
– Hassnaa Mohammed (2019-20)
The application for 2022-2023 has closed. Please check back in April 2023 for next year’s application!
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