ABSTRACT

Finding Common Ground (FCG) is an inter-belief dialogue program hosted in the Multi Faith Facility of Swinburne University of Technology. FCG is a voluntary program that offers Swinburne students a safe space to discuss their religious faith, or alternative value base, and to learn from those of others. Two iterations of this program were evaluated in 2018. We argue that nurturing healthy religious expression and cultivating respect for diverse religious and other belief frameworks is essential in today’s multi-religious and pluralist world. Furthermore, we suggest that such exploration in the diverse (secular) university context is addressing something of ‘an elephant in the room’ in student life and learning in contemporary universities. We also recognise the reality of unhealthy expressions and fundamentalist assertions that fuel wider community aversion to a focus on overt religious conversations that tilt towards controversial debate and polarisation. This article principally analyses the experience of one student participant ‘Antoni’ to highlight significant themes reflected in the overall student responses: why FCG was a ‘safe place’ for dialogue, and how it cultivated empathy and humility, inter-faith community and pastoral support, healthy religious outlooks (rather than ‘spiritual bypass’) and personal formation.

摘要

寻找共同点 (FCG) 是在斯威本科技大学多信仰设施举办的信仰间对话计划。FCG 是一项自愿计划，为斯威本学生提供一个安全的空间来讨论他们的宗教信仰或替代价值基础，并向他人学习。2018 年对该计划的两次迭代进行了评估。我们认为，在当今多宗教和多元化的世界中，培养健康的宗教表达和培养对不同宗教和其他信仰框架的尊重至关重要。此外，我们建议在多样化（世俗）大学环境中进行的这种探索正在解决当代大学学生生活和学习中“房间里的大象”的问题。我们也认识到不健康的表达和原教旨主义断言的现实，这些言论和原教旨主义断言助长了更广泛的社区厌恶关注公开的宗教对话，这些对话倾向于有争议的辩论和两极分化。本文主要分析了一名学生参与者“安东尼”的经历，以突出反映在整体学生反应中的重要主题：为什么 FCG 是对话的“安全场所”，以及它如何培养同理心和谦逊、跨信仰社区和教牧支持，健康的宗教观（而不是“精神上的绕道”）和个人养成。