Love and Cooperation: McMurry’s Better Together Week
As our world gets closer together, it becomes important to increase our understanding of the different cultures and religions that exist amongst us. We are more similar than we are different, and it is through organizations such as McMurry’s Better Together Alliance (BTA) that help us to see that truth in the flesh. The Better Together Alliance is an interfaith organization working in connection with Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC) to promote cooperation amongst people with both diverse religious and non-religious beliefs.
In order to celebrate the interfaith movement, IFYC designates a certain week of the year as a “Better Together Week” where university interfaith groups across the nation promote themselves and host events centered around interfaith. McMurry’s Better Together Alliance was one such group and had three events during the week of February 17th.
Monday, February 17th, members of the Better Together Alliance participated in an interfaith chapel followed by tea and cookies. The service included various histories and lessons about some of the world’s religions presented by members of BTA. It served as a quick educational experience for those who may know little, or even nothing about certain religions or spiritual beliefs.
A service project on Wednesday, February 19th, saw members of BTA help out McMurry’s hardworking housekeeping staff by cleaning up Kimbrell Arena in the Hunt Physical Education Center. One of the important tools of interfaith is that service and cooperation can bring people closer together. So, what better way to do so than by assisting the underappreciated workers in our community?
Finally, on Friday February 21st a combination of fifteen students and faculty of McMurry embarked on a trip to Baylor University in Waco, Texas for the IFYC 2020 Interfaith Regional Gathering. The conference would go late into Friday night before eventually concluding Saturday afternoon. The Regional Gathering had students of different religious and spiritual beliefs from campuses all over Texas. Special speakers were brought on to talk to the masses, and unique events concerning interfaith were present to engage with even the most seasoned interfaith leaders.
William Watson, a member of Better Together Alliance and an attendee on the Waco trip, stated, “It was fun bonding with my fellow students, and it was nice to join other schools and to be able to discuss the importance of the mission of the Better Together Alliance. The special guest speaker, Charles Watson, was amazing, and I have a lot of respect for what he and his organization is trying to accomplish, and I would like to intern there next summer. The separation of church and government is something that I find very important, and I am glad that his organization is also advocating for that.”
This has been McMurry’s third time attending the IFYC Interfaith Regional Gathering which demonstrates McMurry’s eagerness to seek peace and love among the cultures of the world, even when it seems like there is only bitterness and hate.
McMurry has been doing interfaith work for many years now, and as each generation of students become more inspired and motivated, the future for McMurry’s interfaith movement only gets brighter.