World Religion & Religious Pluralism
This is a picture of the Muslim prayer room in the Marvin Center fourth floor. Islam is a world religion which is according to the textbook is a religion that is based on written sources, has many followers, is regionally widespread, and is concerned with salvation. It is based on the written text of the Quran and has definitely spread worldwide especially in regions such as the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia. In the prayer room, people come to do their five daily prayers, worship, and read the Quran. Other than these activities, there are some rituals that people follow. A ritual is patterned behavior that has to do with the supernatural realm and some examples would be taking their shoes off, and before praying, they must go through specific steps and put water on their hands, face, arms, hair, and feet. Hence, there is a small washing area near the entrance. I think that the existence of this room shows the acceptance of diversity and religious pluralism here at GW. Religious pluralism is the condition in which two or more religions coexist either as complementary to each other or as competing systems. In addition to the large Catholic and Jewish communities, there are also many interfaith worship groups in which people of all different religions can come together to experience fellowship together. The plurality of all the religious organizations on campus portrays the open and welcoming attitude that people have here in terms of religions.