Bahai Students Aim to Educate

"We would like UNC to be thought of for more than religious tolerance, but cooperation also," she said.

Lee is secretary of the Bahais of UNC, a group of members of the Bahai faith. The group is in the midst of hosting a series of meetings to promote religious tolerance.

"We want to get people from different religious backgrounds to share their experiences," Lee said.

She explained that the ideas for these meetings spawned from UNC's summer reading assignment, "Approaching the Qur'an," which contained excerpts from the holy book of the Islamic religion.

Members of all religions were invited to three series of meetings in which participants will discuss the different aspects of religion.

Even though the meetings are hosted by the Bahais of UNC, the group maintains that the meetings are religiously neutral.

"This is a workshop of worship," said junior Victor Ahdieh, co-chairman of the Bahais of UNC. "We are in no way trying to impress our beliefs (on anyone)."

The interfaith meetings have been held Monday through Wednesday nights for the past two weeks. A final week of meetings will take place next week, Monday through Wednesday nights at 7 p.m. in Dey Hall.

Bahai is a religion that supports all religions, said sophomore Renee Cloer. She explained that the Bahai religion originated in 17th century Persia and that it teaches respect toward other religions.

Cloer, a member of the Bahais of UNC, said that she enjoyed the meetings and that she was happy with the turnout.

"It is a forum for dialogue," she said. "It's nice because (the people) know they're able to speak openly."

Lee said the Bahais of UNC will evaluate the series of meetings before deciding whether to hold more meetings later in the year.

But to keep the discussion going through the end of the semester, the Bahais will be hosting an interfaith gathering later this month.

The coffeehouse event, called "One World, One Night, One Spirituality," will be held at 8 p.m. on Nov. 23 in the multipurpose room of the new Student Union.

"It's going to be performances (such as) song, dance, spoken word from people of all different religions about their spirituality and what their faith means to them," Lee said.

"It will be a celebration to harmonize the different faiths," said Tim Marr, professor of American studies and the Bahais' faculty adviser.

"We're going to bring together a number of different individuals from different religions to share (experiences)."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.