As the summer winds down,

Welcome to the URC's Interfaith Blog! We're your place to ask questions, get comments, and explore ideas about religion and spirituality's place in current affairs, campus life, and community issues.

With the tragic shooting at a Unitarian Universalist church in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Pastor Rick Warren's talk with Senators McCain and Obama about their faith, it's increasingly clear that dialogue between different religious communities and between people of faith and secularists is growing more and more important in our nation and world. And you can be a part of that.

As Bruins, you're in an exciting place for religious work and interfaith dialogue. UCLA is host to 35,000 students, thousands of faculty and staff, and sits in Los Angeles, one of the largest cities in the world. UCLA history professor S. Scott Bartchy says in the syllabus for his introductory history of religion class that "the United States has become the most religiously diverse nation in the world – with the Los Angeles area itself being without question the most religiously diverse place in the history of humanity."

With all the opportunities (and questions) that such diversity offers, we at the URC hope that you can come to us with your questions, concerns, and ideas on how to make UCLA and the surrounding community a safe and welcoming place for members of every faith community, as well as those that don't identify with any religious organization.

Whether your interests revolve around religion and the 2008 election, moral values and college life, or questions about the holidays your friends are celebrating, come to us--with your questions, your ideas, and your feedback. We hope that your search for truth at UCLA is a fruitful one!