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World Religions Face to Face

Having the opportunity to come face-to-face with young people from other faiths has opened the minds and hearts of students at the Australian Catholic University. Dr Antoinette Collins, Lecturer-in-charge at the School of Theology, worked collaboratively with Anthony Steel from the Institute for Advancing Community Engagement to develop a more engaging delivery model for the unit World Religions.The result of this collaboration is a course thattransforms the way information is presented to students. The title of the course reflects these changes. The primary aim of World Religions Face-to-Face is to bring about more meaningful interaction between students and members of the major religions including Australian Indigenous Spirituality that are studied as part of the course. Quite simply, it puts a human face on faith!

World Religions Face-to-Face brings practitioners and students together to discuss and explore what it means to be a member of a faith in this present time. Through the Meeting World Religions Face-to-face Forum small groups of students speak directly with each representative of the religions being studied and a young adult member of the faith community. When students meet and engage with young people from other faiths, they often find mirror images of themselves!'The students felt very comfortable interacting with someone closer to their own age, who 'spoke their language' – once again affirming the value of recognising our shared humanity', commented Anthony Steel. A most significant result of this experience was expressed by students who indicated that because of their encounter, they now had a more positive approach to dealing with difference. It was described by one student as 'valuable, both personally and educationally...'

The Meeting World Religions Face-to-face initiative is primarily directed at enhancing students' learning and increasing their engagement in the learning process, however emphasis on reflection and mutually respectful dialogue is powerful in bringing about attitudinal and behavioural change. Insight into the values of other faith traditions and comparative consideration of their own values enables students to identify commonalities across the various faith traditions. As a result of their face-to-face encounter with young people from other faith traditions, the students are better positioned to become agents of change in their present communities and in their future professional roles.