Elevating Interfaith Dialogue: Barbara McGraw, Professor of Social Ethics, Law, and Public Life

When Saint Mary’s Professor Barbara McGraw returned from a  yearlong sabbatical last fall, she had one goal in mind: To take up President Obama’s Higher Education Interfaith Community Service Challenge.

“Religious pluralism is my passion,” said McGraw, a professor in the School of Economics and Business Administration and founder of Saint Mary’s Center for Engaged Religious Pluralism.

Throughout the year, McGraw and a team of student liaisons have partnered with other campus organizations for a series of interfaith discussions and service days. Rising to meet the President’s challenge, every event is meant to elevate the conversation about interfaith service and engagement. Past events have included a Saturday of Service with the local Sikh community and a panel discussion among Christians, Muslims, Jews and Hindus about shared religious values, including nonviolence, respect of human rights, and concern for the poor. In April, the Center will lead a campus-wide celebration of the Hindu spring festival Holi, its vibrant colors representative
of the diversity of beliefs and traditions held by SMC’s students, faculty and staff.

“There is widespread support across campus and a whole coalition of people involved in this
effort,” McGraw said, noting the work of student volunteers including Catholic Institute for Lasallian Social Action liaison Elise Tran, Resident Hall Association liaison Shelia Garcia, Mission and Ministry Center liaison Alexandra Carroll, and Intercultural Center liaison Terell Nelson, as well as students Kaitlin Roth, Cabrilla McGinn, Declan Wolfe and Hoi Wong.

“We can do a lot of disagreeing about who God is, theology, what happens in the afterlife,” McGraw said. “But there’s a whole lot we can agree about to work together to make the world a better place.”