In the Union Den, decorated with cacti and native rocks, U students from different faiths gathered together Wednesday night to discuss their spiritual connection to Utah’s wilderness.
The conversation was a part of a larger network of dialogues hosted by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance to help different-faith communities within Utah join to become a voice for the protection of Utah’s wildlands.
Dave Warner, president of the Latter-day Saint Student Association, recalled a Friday night he spent last year at the movies.
“I remember waking up the next day and not feeling right,” said Warner, a senior in Spanish. He visited his cabin, located in Big Cottonwood Canyon, and took solace on the porch. “I focused on this aspen tree and the way the wind was blowing through it,” he said. “I thought this tree is way better than anything that I saw in this movie. I remember feeling edified. God created this for us to see and be happy.”
Carl Shea, an intern for SUWA, facilitated the conversation, which the environment advocacy group and the Interfaith Council organized.
Participants answered three questions during the discussion: “What do Utah’s wild places mean to you spiritually?”, “How does your faith tradition call on us to care take the natural world?” and “What did you hear from yourself and others during the conversation?”
Terri Martin, the wildlands dialogue coordinator for SUWA, said the natural environment provides a key foundation of spirituality for many Utahns. SUWA designed this series of dialogues to help people with different faiths identify and discuss that spirituality, she said. SUWA has held conversations with 10 community faith organizations in the Salt Lake Valley during the past year, including two meetings with members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the United Church of Christ, the Jewish community, members of the Turkish and Muslim communities and the Utah Catholic Diocese Peace and Justice Commission.
“People who want to protect Utah’s wilderness are defined as secularists,” Martin said. “That’s not true.”
Mitch Davis, a senior in environmental studies, asked the group, “What’s the purpose of the wildland?”
“My faith is based on the belief that God’s number one priority is for us as his children to have joy,” said Liz Oldroyd, a senior in art history and the LDSSA director of community service.
Ali Ibrahim, a junior in marketing, said, “My prophet said, “wherever you go, you’ll be accountable.’ If I kicked this cactus, later, this cactus could be a witness against me and say, “Ali kicked me for no reason.’ Everything has value in life, whether it be an ant, a human or cacti.”
Nick AndrewTerri Martin, a member of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, led a discussion about spiritua connections to Utah?s wilderness.