Brendan Hunter will visit a mosque this coming week. Last month, he went to church and in November, he went to a synagogue.
The 12-year-old self-identified Lutheran isn’t having a faith crisis or searching for a new place to worship. What he seeks is education and a better understanding of others with varying beliefs, something he has found as one of ten Brandon Middle School students in a Religious Diversity Journeys Club.
‘It’s better to have more knowledge about all religions than just your own,? said Hunter. ‘There are more religions out there than the one you know of. There’s like a whole separate world of religions and you want to see all you can. We’re not extremely religious, we don’t go to church every Sunday, but I want to know what the Jewish believe and what Buddhists believe.?
The Religious Diversity Journeys Club is new to BMS this year, and 10 Brandon students are participating along with seventh grade students from 10 other metro area districts including Berkley, Birmingham, Clarkston, Dearborn, Southfield, Troy, Walled Lake, Waterford, West Bloomfield, Troy, and the Muslim-American Youth Academy (a private school). The InterFaith Leadership Council runs the program, which was begun in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.
The program is run not as a class, but as an extra-curricular activity in which 25 students from each school are accepted after applying to be in the club. Only 10 students from Brandon applied, with all accepted. Students in the program visit one different house of worship per month from November through March to learn about the history, culture, traditions and holidays of the religion practiced there. The program wraps up in April with a trip to the Detroit Institute of Arts.
The religions students are educated on include Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism. There is no proselytizing or attempts to convert students.
‘The intent of the program is to really give kids the opportunity to break down stereotypes,? said Meredith Skowronski, program director for Journeys, administrator of InterFaith Leadership Council. ‘We offer the opportunity to understand they are real people that care about them and give them a deeper understanding of what is happening in our community and what it is about. They come away with a warm sense of ‘Wow, people are very different from me, but they are still neat people and people I want to get to know and good people.??
For several years, the program ran in only four or five districts per year, but the non-profit organization jumped to 11 districts this year (with 300 students involved) and hopes to branch out to 18 districts next year. The places of worship they have reached out to have been very receptive to having students come in to their buildings to learn about the respective religions.
‘It’s one of the favorite things we do at Temple Israel,? said Rabbi Arianna Gordon. ‘It’s a great opportunity for kids who don’t know much about Judaism and all the different traditions, rituals and background. Metro Detroit is very diverse and we all tend to get stuck in our own bubbles and it’s good for kids to experience the world beyond themselves… They all are really fascinated to learn more. I know they appreciate being able to meet multiple rabbis and learn about what a rabbi does.?
The Brandon students in the Religious Diversity Journeys club attended Temple Israel on Nov. 18, accompanied by about 140 other students in the program (another 150 students visited another area synagogue that participates). At Temple Israel, Gordon gave them an overview of Judaism and different denominations within the religion, as well as explanations of the various Jewish holidays and lifecycle events. The students ate traditional Jewish foods for lunch and witnessed a mock Jewish wedding (with a BMS student participating as the mock groom).
Journey Timmermans, a BMS student participating in the program, was surprised to see the rabbis didn’t wear robes, but street clothes. Even more surprising, she said, was that two of the rabbis were women.
‘I learned there is thing thing called the Torah, it’s the first five books of the Bible and it has things in the Torah you can’t do? like drinking milk and eating meat together,? said Timmermans. ‘They had the Torahs stored in a golden ark with a mosaic of the Red Sea parting behind it. It was interesting to see they store it that way? they can’t touch, mostly because they are made of parchment and each is decorated with bells. It was long, a huge scroll that he had a hard time picking up, written by hand and very old.?
Hunter said the ark holding the Torah reminded him of the one he saw in the movie, ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark.?
The Jewish food and dietary rules also made an impression.
‘Bye-bye, cheeseburger,? said Hunter. ‘The most delicious part of every American’s day.?
‘They were so intrigued by the weird food,? said Theresa Legg, one of three BMS teachers who are taking turns going on journeys with the students. ‘At the end of the day, they’re still kids. I’m just hoping they get a greater understanding of different cultures in the area. We said if you choose to move out of Ortonville, go to college or move elsewhere for a job, that they have a greater understanding of the different people they encounter and maybe not carry stereotypes that people have…I want them to know that other people might look different, but they are still people, just with different beliefs.?
On Dec. 10, the students visited Christ Church Cranbrook in Bloomfield Hills to learn about Christianity, participating in various activities, including a scavenger hunt in the sanctuary, and bracelet making. Rev. William Danaher, Jr. explained the significance of the advent candles while students were seated in pews near the altar just two weeks before Christmas.
Skowronski thinks the program is working as intended for students of all different faiths. She recalls a conversation she overheard in the bathroom at a mosque when a Jewish student said to a Muslim student, ‘I always wondered how you tie your hijab.? The girl proceeded to take off her head scarf and demonstrate how it was done.
Children aren’t the only ones getting enlightenment. Skowronski notes that parents of students who chaperone trips fill out a survey at the end of each journey. She recalls survey responses after a visit to the mosque one year.
‘Several parents wrote that they learned today that not all Muslims are terrorists,? she said. ‘It’s really sad, but it speaks to the power of why we do this.?
Hunter said the experience of being in the Religious Diversity Journey Club will change him as a person.
‘Mainly, you want to show them respect in their religion’s way,? he said. ‘There is no right way of religion. They might think something is right and I might think something else is right, but there’s no real right. There is only their beliefs and my beliefs.?