Panel addresses religious liberty on national, global scale
Tags: Religious Freedom, Religious Liberty, Panel, Religion

The University of Maryland invited two activists to talk with students about preserving religious freedom in the U.S. and worldwide in Stamp Student Union on Tuesday, April 21.

“The way that I preserve religious freedom is through the practice of my faith and by ensuring that everyone else is free to practice their own religion,” said Nadia Hassan, a speaker at the event.

Hassan, the government and interfaith relations coordinator for the Islamic Society of North America, and Virginia Loo Farris, a foreign policy advisor for the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops, shared their testimonies in front of several dozen listeners.

Hassan said she has seen plenty of religious oppression in the U.S. She grew up in Orange County, California, where she was surrounded by friends of multiple faiths.

“We always enjoyed a pluralistic existence in my town,” she said.

But after 9/11, Hassan said she encountered hostility and judgement based on her Muslim faith.

“My loyalty and my patriotism were being questioned, and it was coming under attack because of what happened on 9/11,” she said. “It was a real shock for me, after all those years, to encounter such hate and bigotry.”

On Feb. 13, 2011, hundreds gathered outside a community center in Yorba Linda, California, to protest an Islamic Circle of North America fundraising/charity event to support local homeless women.

Outside the community center, Villa Park Councilwoman Deborah Pauly announced, “I know quite a few Marines who will be very happy to help these terrorists to an early meeting in paradise,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

Pauly’s comments sparked controversy in Villa Park and inspired Hassan to help organize the Villa Park Peace Coalition “to counteract hate in Orange County,” she said. She received phone calls from people of all different faiths and walks of life voicing their support.

“When we can shift our focus outward and acknowledge and affirm the rights of others, then this will help us to do things,” said Hassan. “It will help us to strengthen the mutual trust between interreligious and nonreligious groups in the society and it will allow us to work together in service to others for the benefit of humanity.”

Farris, the second panel speaker, shared statistics of global religious oppression. The Pew Research Center found that in 2013, 77 percent of the world’s population lived where levels of governmental or societal religious oppression were high or very high.

Several leaders of the campus community attended Tuesday’s panel, including members of the Catholic Student Center.

“I think there isn’t a lot of discussion about religion on campus,” said Jennifer Olson, the graduate coordinator for Interfaith Programs and Spiritual Diversity at University of Maryland. “There’s often discussions about a lot of different types of diversity. I don’t hear as much discussion about religion.”

Beatrice Torralba, a University of Maryland alumna who majored in government and politics, moderated the discussion.

“This dialogue is definitely very important,” Torralba said. “It’s an issue that is still happening now. It’s an issue that is happening in the United States [and] abroad.”

A handful of people, including on-campus Catholic missionary Mary Linn, stayed late to talk with Hassan more about her faith. Linn said this type of thing “helps people to recognize that you can’t paint all in black and white.”