Representatives from several student-run religious groups collaborated to plan Interfaith Week, a weeklong event showcasing religious diversity on campus.

The week operated using two different models: inviting others into a specific faith space, with events like Shabbat dinner, and within a neutral space to bring different groups together, such as was done with board game night.

Organizations that participated include Asian Christian Fellowship, WashU Hillel, Muslim Students Association (MSA), Catholic Student Center, Harambee Christian Ministries, UKirk, Lutheran Campus Ministries and Interfaith Campus Ministries Association (IFCMA).

Sophomore William Mackay of the Catholic Student Center, emphasized that each event was to provide students of various faith backgrounds with the opportunity to speak with each other in a variety of settings on topics that aren’t normally spoken about.

“I’d say that one of the overarching themes is really the opportunity for dialogue—honest and open dialogue about our individual faiths—because a lot of times, particularly in this political climate, there’s a lot of misunderstandings about some of them. And just generally, I feel as a society it’s becoming harder and harder for people to talk about their faiths openly. It’s sort of become a taboo subject,” Mackay said.

Despite a diverse audience that reflected the religious diversity and fellowship that was promoted by group organizers, all faiths present on campus were not represented during Interfaith Week.

“A lot of the organizations that are represented do not reflect all of the faiths that are present on campus. And I think that’s one of our shortcomings; I’ll be honest with that,” junior Ishak Hossain, vice president of MSA, said. “We’ve done our best to ensure that from an organizational standpoint that we’re trying to represent as best we can, but that doesn’t always reflect the individuals that practice a certain faith.”

The week kicked off with a talk by “Daily Show” correspondent and comedian Hasan Minhaj, sponsored by MSA, Azadi: South Asians for Justice and Solidarity and WU Students for Justice in Palestine, in Graham Chapel Sunday.

The talk was originally intended to be independent of Interfaith Week. However, event organizers decided to include it as part of the weeklong event after recognizing the relevance of Minhaj’s message on recognizing the social issues created because of religious beliefs, according to Hossain.

“Hasan Minhaj’s message that we need to look at both the political and faith-based issues that Muslims face is important for all religions to think about because we come back to this idea that faith and justice are intertwined so strongly that one faith group’s struggle is everyone’s struggle,” Hossain said.

Minhaj’s talk, along with a Faith and Justice event Thursday night, was meant to encourage a dialogue amongst students about faith’s role in our current political climate. Following recent events such as the desecration of a Jewish cemetery and President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration, junior Deborah Spencer, Hillel’s vice president of social justice, felt that it was important to incorporate central messages of tolerance and inclusion into this week’s events.

“We set out three themes to have all of our events fall under: education, celebration and dialogue. Really, as events in the world played out this semester—which have been so pertinent to not just faith communities but communities in general—the ways many people have coped with them is through their faith groups. That kind of played a role in the passion I felt should go into this,” Spencer said.

Other events included an Interfaith game night at Ursa’s, Ash Wednesday Ecumenical service and Shabbat dinner and lunch at Hillel and Chabad, respectively. The week culminated in a finale presentation featuring performances from More Fools Than Wise, Visions Gospel Choir and readings of the Quran by freshman Yaseen Ali.

Organizers of Interfaith Week intend for the event to be one in a series of collaborations meant to revitalize the dialogue between students of different faiths on campus.

“Interfaith week was never designed to be just a one-off thing. It’s definitely designed to be a great starting point in moving forward,” Hossain said. “And I think [it’s worth] looking at how we can leverage IFCMA’s work as adults with our work as students in seeing how we can collaborate our efforts or amplify what’s being started here.”

One of the event organizers’ long-term goals is to create a Student Union group made especially for collaborations between religious groups. Rather than students coming from their respective groups on an individual basis, individuals could operate within an Interfaith student group.

“There is a goal in mind that we talked about with IFCMA about possibly making an Interfaith SU group, so it would be SU funded,” Spencer said. “All [involved would be] part of this one Interfaith group, which would make it a more bonded group and also allow for funding to come from SU.”