Soul Searching

‘Intersecting Paths’

Religious Round Table

Jessica Bohanon ’11 (left) and Haleigh Erb ’10

Jessica Bohanon ’11 was baptized a Baptist at 7, began questioning her religion at 10, and concluded by the end of elementary school that she wanted to be a Jew. In high school, she bought The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the World’s Religions, fasted twice, took three 24-hour vows of silence, and nearly converted to Islam.

Now it’s not only her major that’s undecided.

“I seem to be caught in the middle” of several religions, she says, adding that she’ll probably end up combining aspects of each into her own practice. “I’ve watched other people affirmed in their faith and thought if I work harder and read the Bible more, I’d get that feeling too. But I’ve never felt that connection that everyone else has.”

Bohanon, from Wichita, Kan., attends the College’s weekly Religious Round Table to help her on her quest for spiritual permanence. The multifaith student group, which numbers from 15 to nearly 30 depending on the week, meets Sunday nights to discuss the nature of good and evil, the idea of heaven and hell, and other spiritual topics.

In April, more than 50 students attended the Round Table’s 10th Annual Celebration of Religious Diversity. Held in the Interfaith Chapel, the gathering began with a Muslim call to worship and a recitation from the Qur’an. Later, small lectures focused on the importance of food during Passover, the history of the Apostolic church, and the tools used in modern pagan rituals. Protestant hymns told stories of peace, patriotism, and world unity.

“One thing I’ve gotten out of my four years of this is that we’re not that different,” says Dev Master ’08, president of the Hindu Student Association and Round Table copresident.

Haleigh Erb ’10, from Durham, N.C., came to the celebration to learn more about other faiths—knowledge she says will be helpful when she eventually becomes a missionary overseas.

“Everyone is searching for deeper meaning in their lives, for what is truth,” she says. “The fact that we can share our beliefs with each other is really cool.”

The hourlong event included opening remarks from President Joel Seligman and gave students a broader forum for sharing the tenets they live by.

“It’s really nice to have the opportunity to present information without having to worry about immediate flak, since it’s against Wiccan beliefs to proselytize,” says Jason Powell ’10, president of the Pagan Students’ Community, who made a presentation during the diversity celebration. Powell, from Rumson, N.J., adds that his personal beliefs are “tricky to define” because he incorporates Celtic Druidism and Native American Shamanism—among other things—into his Wiccan practice.

At a postcelebration reception, several students thanked him for clearing up some of their misconceptions about what pagans believe.

Perhaps not surprisingly, say Round Table regulars, despite the differences, everyone ultimately is focused on the same goal.

Master, who grew up on Long Island as a Hindu and attended a Quaker high school (and whose best friend is Muslim), explains his take on the communal quest for spiritual knowledge:

“I like to say it’s like a mountain. Everybody has machetes and they’re clearing their own path to the top. The top can be anything—enlightenment, oneness, grace, God, whatever you want to call it.

“And the paths can intersect. There are no rules against that.”