Article February 4, 2002 Issue

INTERFAITH ROUNDTABLE PROMOTES DIVERSITY

Wendy Winegar

The Olympic ideal seeks to cultivate international understanding and generate peace among nations—to break through physical and mental barriers and perform in the words of the Olympic motto, "swifter, higher, and stronger." And because of the international nature of the Games, the Olympic charter requires that religious services representing five major world religions—Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism—will be offered to the athletes in the Olympic Village on the campus of the University of Utah.

Responding to this requirement, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC) created the Interfaith Roundtable in 1997, designed to develop the chaplain and religious service programs for the participants.

The work of the Roundtable has cultivated an appreciation and respect for each person's commitment to God. Through private donations, $2 million was raised to renovate the 150-year-old Fort Douglas Chapel on campus. As the religious center of the Olympic Village, it will provide church services as well as provide a place for the 32 Olympic chaplains to meet with athletes on an as-desired basis. The chapel will remain permanently as an interfaith center at the university after the Olympics are over.

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