Syracuse University students to share their Spring Break interfaith study experience in Turkey on website

Syracuse University students to share their Spring Break interfaith study experience in Turkey on websiteMarch 05, 2007Kelly Homan Rodoskikahoman@syr.edu

A group of 18 Syracuse University students from different faith traditions who will be traveling together to Turkey over Spring Break to study the co-existence of Muslim, Christian and Jewish peoples will chronicle their experience through written journal entries, audio clips and photographs posted on a special website, http://hendricks.syr.edu/turkey.

The website is now live, offering background on the trip, the group’s itinerary, and information on the students — seven Muslim, six Christian and five Jewish — and the individuals accompanying them: the Rev. Thomas V. Wolfe, dean of SU’s Hendricks Chapel; Muslim Chaplain Ahmed Kobeisy; Lowell Lustig, executive director of SU’s Hillel; the Rev. Kelly Sprinkle, Protestant chaplain; and Ginny Yerdon, Hendricks Chapel’s special events coordinator.

New material will be posted upon the group’s arrival in Turkey on March 9. The website will be updated daily through the group’s return to Syracuse on March 16.

The idea for the trip, “Three Faiths, One Humanity: Interfaith Travel Study Experience to Turkey,” was conceived by Wolfe. “We want to put a human face on the issues of how diverse faith communities have historically shared and continue to share life together,” he says. “On campus and beyond, we hope our experience will increase awareness of the three faith traditions’ contemporary issues and spark renewed dialogue towards understanding and cooperation.”

The group’s itinerary includes tours of mosques, churches, synagogues and other sites in Istanbul and Izmir that have significance within the faith traditions. Group members will also meet with interfaith groups and members of each faith tradition to hear their perspectives on how they co-exist with members of different faith traditions.