” Spiritual organizations around campus came together on Wednesday for the Spiritual Diversity Fair. The fair, sponsored by Associated Student Government, brought all of the spiritually oriented and faith-based organizations on the University of Akron Campus together.”
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Spiritual organizations around campus came together on Wednesday for the Spiritual Diversity Fair.

The fair, sponsored by Associated Student Government, brought all of the spiritually oriented and faith-based organizations on the University of Akron Campus together. From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., each of the organizations at the fair presented what their organization is and what they do to students passing by in the Student Union Concourse. The fair is the first ever event of its kind to take place at UA.

We think it is important that students at Akron have a holistic experience, spiritually, during diversity week, Chief of Staff of Associated Student Government, Mike McGuire said. We think it is valuable and isn’t really explored too much in depth, so we decided to have the event.

Groups in attendance were mostly Christian based organizations. The fact that the groups are mostly Christian is a reflection of the country and the university population, McGuire said.

The groups represented were Christian Zips, Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints Student Association, Muslim Student Association, New Beginnings, Newman Catholic Campus Ministry, New Season Gospel Choir, One Family Under Guard, Under God, the American Indian Student Organization and Emmanuel Fellowship Church. Several spiritual organizations, which are also available on campus, were not able to participate in the spiritual fair.

Akron Chinese Christian Fellowship, Campus Crusade for Christ, Campus Focus and HILLEL, a Jewish student organization, were not in attendance.

The religious organizations were not forcing their beliefs on anyone. Each group wanted to get their information out and let people know their purpose.

We want to let Muslim students know we exist and that we are there to help them find places to worship, Hana Rashwan of the Muslim Student Association said.

The Muslim Student Association is a relatively new organization on campus. It exists for the benefit of Islamic students at the University of Akron. There are a lot of misunderstandings about Islam in general and the Muslim Student Association wants to disprove these misconceptions. Islam, in Arabic, means peace, Almotasem Justaniah said.

Another new group was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We are really excited to get to know anybody and everybody who wants to know more about Jesus Christ, Elder Farmer, a full-time missionary of the group said.

Emmanuel Fellowship Church, a non-denominational Christian church, was also represented at the fair. The church is located on North Arlington Street. We have a large LGBT congregation although we are open and affirming to anyone interested in being a part of the Christian community, Janet Black, a deacon at the church said.

Religious organizations at the fair wanted to get their information out there and that is exactly what the Spiritual Diversity Fair did. Students gained a holistic, spiritual experience from the fair.

It was an excellent opportunity for all the different organizations and diverse organizations on campus to come together to identify for the whole student body that they are working together for one common cause. It was time for students to know that diverse religious organizations exist, Vice President of Associated Student Government Emmit Green said.

Call news writer Andrew Shroades:

330-972-7362

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