REXBURG — The population of Eastern Idaho is highly saturated with members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And sprinkled throughout the area are also faithful, devout and wonderful people of various other faith traditions.
Ryan Gardner, a religion professor at BYU-Idaho and the faculty advisor for the Interfaith Leadership Society, says the goal of the society is to foster and grow a culture of acceptance and community between students and communities of other faiths.
Gardner says the idea for the society sprung from the popularity of the world religions courses. These courses are some of the most popular in the Religion Department.
“Over the years, I think I’ve developed a sense that while it’s great to learn about other peoples’ religions and get a sense of their world views, it would be even better if we could help students develop the vision, and the knowledge, and the skills to bring people from different religions together to work on common goods for our communities and our society,” Gardner said.
At first, the society’s application was rejected, but with help from other university faculty, it was ultimately approved.
“The mission of the society is to help students develop the knowledge, skills, attitudes — or I would say vision — to help them become leaders who can bring together people from different religious backgrounds to work on common good,” Gardner said.
To do just that, the society holds meetings and takes trips to different religious buildings and institutions. The society tries to focus on a different religion each semester. This gives students the chance to experience a bit of these faiths for themselves, Gardner says.
“Another semester, we did Islam,” said Gardner. “We went to the Muslim Center there in Pocatello. It was just a phenomenal experience.”
According to Gardner, as people learn about other religions, it increases their own faith.
“We can learn to appreciate, and respect and love those of other faiths without compromising our own beliefs,” Gardner said.
The Interfaith Leadership Society meets every second and fourth Wednesday in the John Taylor Building room 276. Students call also find the society on Instagram and Facebook by searching for BYU-I Interfaith Leadership and on the I-Belong page of the school website.