The Saint Mary's Student Diversity Board is sponsoring its Religious Awareness Week in an effort to increase the religious awareness on campus.
The events began Monday and will conclude Sunday with Mass at 9 p.m. in Regina Chapel.
"Religion is an important issue that people are so passionate about," said SDB Religious Awareness Week chairwoman Nila Ahmad.
Ahmad hopes that people will be exposed to religions about which they were previously uninformed when they walk through the Hall of Religions, located in the main hallway of LeMans. The Hall of Religions features posters that inform students on many different aspects of various religions.
SDB said it is presenting the ideas of as many religions as it could, but it was unable to include information on all types of religions. The board is covering religions on which they could find adequate, inoffensive facts.
This weekend SDB will be visiting Masjid-al-Noor Mosque, Sinai Synagogue and Regina Chapel in order to experience the services of different faiths. Free rides will be provided to the Mosque at 12:30 p.m. Friday and to the Synagogue at 9:45 a.m. Saturday at LeMans Circle.
On Tuesday night the SDB held a panel discussion about the separation between religion and state. This was a slight change from last year's religious belief information session. This year's panel discussion was aimed at initiating discussion and explanation among students.
Last night, SDB provided a humorous outlook on religion by showing the movie Keeping the Faith.
Today Saint Mary's students will have the opportunity to win various prizes by being one of the first five to respond correctly to an e-mail trivia questionnaire. The questions will deal with the first three events of the week.
The Religious Awareness Week's events will conclude with a reception after Sunday's 9 p.m. mass at Regina Chapel.
"I hope that people gain an awareness about different religions and begin to ask questions rather than have a misunderstanding on certain beliefs," Ahmad said
