In order to assist the religious needs of non-Christianstudents, the Religious Life Council has created a new group tohelp develop awareness of the different religions existing onSimpson’s campus.

The new group is called Interfaith Relations and is led bysenior Jessica Ruby. Ruby was studying abroad in Ireland when shewas asked to be the leader of the group.

“One of our concerns is that [non-Christian] students don’t havea space to practice their religions,” said Ruby. “A dorm room isn’tenough, so we want to provide them with the space and the tools fortheir practices.”

This is the first time RLC is sponsoring a non-Christiangroup.

Currently, the group is in the process of collecting informationfrom the surveys they put in campus boxes last Tuesday. Ruby saidstudent input about non-Christian religions is important inunderstanding where the group stands.

Junior Shristi Upreti said the surveys inform the group whatreligious needs should be addressed.

“We are trying to know what groups [students] would like us torepresent,” said Upreti. “We want [non-Christian] students to feelspiritually comfortable.”

One of the common myths Interfaith Relations would like toadmonish is that Simpson’s student population is totally Christian.Students generally assume the only people from non-Christianreligions are international students, which is not the case.

“The group would like to see Simpson students getting togetherto celebrate our campus’ religious diversity,” said freshmanBahishta Yaqubi.

As a goal, the group would like to create an awareness of thedifferent religions on campus, as well as create a common groundfor students to freely and openly speak of their faith and practicetheir religious traditions.

“More than accomplishing goals for the group, our goal is tohelp [non-Christian] students to accomplish their goals,” saidYaqubi. “That’s why the group was created: to meet the needs ofthose students.”