 | Dr. Surinder Bhardwaj, Kent State emeritus professor, gives students a tour of the Shiva Vishnu Hindu Temple in Parma, Ohio. Photo by Bob Christy, '95 |
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Bridging the Cultural Divide
Kent State project promotes peace,
teaches religious tolerance
(continued) Teaching tolerance Odell-Scott and Bhardwaj seem to have done a remarkable job of earning the trust of Northeast Ohio’s religious leaders. Each semester, students from Odell-Scott’s Comparative Religious Thought class and Bhardwaj’s Ohio Cultural Diversity Workshop visit multiple cultural and religious areas, including Islamic mosques, Hindu and Buddhist temples, Jewish synagogues and Sikh gurdwaras, as well as ethnic Christian churches.
“Students get accustomed to recognizing the diversity that exists around them, and these visits provide them with an opportunity to interact and engage with a different community from their own,” explains Bhardwaj.
Meredith Shoop, a student in Odell-Scott’s course, visited a Sikh gurdwara in Richfield, Ohio. The members made her and the other students in the class feel very comfortable, she says. “As a student, you’re given the status of someone who needs to be educated,” she explains. Shoop, an agnostic who was raised in the Christian Church of Unity, says it is important for her to visit places where religions are practiced. “There are things I couldn’t have learned in a classroom, like the sound of their music or the experience of entering their temple where worship takes place,” she explains. Dr. Ramaswamy Sharma, temple manager of the Greater Cleveland Shiva Vishnu Temple (Hindu) in Parma, Ohio, says his organization welcomes visits from the students: “We try to reach out to the external community, so allowing students to visit our temple and observe our services is one way we can do so.” It is important for students to have firsthand experience about how Hinduism is practiced, adds Sharma. “It allows them to see the religion through their own eyes without interpretation from others, like in textbooks,” he says. While students benefit from these trips, so do the religious organizations that open their doors to them. Sharma says that the interaction with students gives members of his organization “insight about society at large.” On a personal note, he adds, “It also gives me a very spiritual satisfaction when I share my knowledge with them.” The Venerable Ashin Wareinda, a monk from the Wat Lao Siriwathanaram Buddhist Temple in Akron, Ohio, says, “When I am talking with students, it is like a friendship, and both of us learn from each other.” I experienced this firsthand myself, when I visited Wareinda at his new temple in Akron. As I left my shoes at the door and walked in, he immediately made me feel welcome and was open to any questions I had about his faith. After my interview was finished, I couldn’t help but ask Wareinda what he enjoyed most about being a monk. He answered, “When I talk to people and teach them about the Buddha and his teachings, like now — with you — is when I am the most happy.” And I thought, “This is what Bhardwaj and Odell-Scott mean when they speak of engagement and learning to respect the uniqueness of one another.” Sharing and communicating like this are what inspire Odell-Scott and Bhardwaj to continue their work with the Ohio Pluralism Project. Odell-Scott recalls a particularly memorable experience that helped confirm his conviction in the effort. On the one-year anniversary of Sept. 11, someone threw a log through the glass door of the Kent mosque on Crain Avenue. “It was very disconcerting to the Muslim community,” says Odell-Scott. “It was very disturbing to drive by the next day and see the damage.” Others in the neighborhood felt the same way. According to Odell-Scott, David Jackson, a 1982 Kent State alumnus, wanted neighbors in the area to collect money to help fix the door. He also wanted people to sign a card so the members of the mosque would know that what happened was not representative of how the neighborhood and Americans in general felt towards Muslims. Four middle school students and one Kent State student went door to door, collecting $500 in less than a week. "Jews, Christians and others representing the diversity of the Kent community all responded with concern,” says Odell-Scott. The leaders of the mosque accepted the donation and said they would use the money to fix the door and match the amount donated to buy books on the topic of religious tolerance between America and Islam. Odell-Scott says the leaders of the mosque declared this was the “true” America. “It said a lot about the Kent State community and made me very hopeful,” says Odell-Scott. Peaceful acts of engagement between different religions and cultures are the goal of the Ohio Pluralism Project. Odell-Scott and Bhardwaj hope the project continues to build bridges of communication for students, families and communities. Bhardwaj adds, “We have an opportunity to develop a model for the world on how different religions can engage peacefully. Our project is a little part of it, but at least it is part of it.” The friendship between the two men plays a small part as well. As Bhardwaj told me: “Who would have thought a boy from a remote Indian village and a boy from the bayous of Alabama would ever meet to discuss issues of freedom, human dignity, colonialism, oppression, slavery, caste and religious pluralism — all with stark honesty and yet with respect of the other’s religious traditions?” For more information, visit Dr. Odell-Scott and Dr. Bhardwaj's Pluralism Project Web site. | 
