<< Front page News April 23, 2004

Queer Faith Week stresses religious tolerance

According to the Princeton Review’s survey of colleges and universities, Oberlin ranks among the top institutions in the nation that “ignore God on a regular basis.” Faith-based organizations are some of the most active on campus and present many different aspects of religion and religious issues that affect the world today.

This week, Queers and Allies of Faith and other student organizations brought a series of programs to the community in Queer Faith Week. Queers and Allies of Faith is an organization that seeks to support queer students of faith on a personal level while stating publicly that “being queer and religious is not an oxymoron.”

Junior Rachel Wylie, active in the planning of Queer Faith Week, described her goals for the role of Queer Faith Week and queer faith support.

“I want people to know that there are safe faith communities for them, both in local churches and in on-campus groups like Taize, ECO and QuAF, among others,” Wylie said. “For me, church is about welcoming everyone. I hope that Queer Faith Week can express to LGBQ and/or T folk that there are communities that welcome them.”

The public side of being queer and religious in Oberlin was addressed Monday in a panel titled “Queer-Friendly Pastors in Oberlin.” Local pastors included David Hill of First Church, Brian Wilbert of Christ Episcopal Church, Mary and Steve Hammond of Peace Community Church and Don Rollins of Unitarian Universalists of Oberlin. They discussed their presence as welcoming churches within the context of the views taken by particular faiths. Many shared personal and moving stories in a very powerful evening.

The Wednesday, Thursday and Friday events of Queer Faith Week, Queer Taizé, Thursday’s Interfaith Prayer and Queer Shabbat respectively represent opportunities for queer students to lead worship services. The Taizé, held at 8 p.m. in Fairchild Chapel, was a time of song, silence and prayer, with queer readings. Prayer concentrated on a deep felt wish for “healing and unity.”

Shabbat is held every Friday afternoon in the former Talcott Dining Hall. This week, Queer Shabbat will take place at 5:45 p.m. in the same location.

Saturday’s event is one that QuAF co-chair Rick Hoffman calls “extremely important.” It involves Oberlin College students being trained by an outside activist group, Soul Force. The training will take place in Cleveland from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and will focus on protesting discrimination within the United Methodist Church May 5 to 8.

Queer Faith Week closes with a unifying discussion sponsored by ECO called, “How does your faith tradition address GLBTQ issues?”

To learn more about Queer Faith Week events, or for information on Queers and Allies of Faith, check out www.oberlin.edu/stuorg/quaf. For information on other campus-based faith organizations see www.oberlin.edu/stuorg.


 
 
   

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