Students from the TCU religious community came together Saturday February 4th for an Interfaith Bus Tour of Fort Worth.

Rachel Rudberg, president of TCU Hillel, a Jewish organization, said the impact of the tour was getting to experience so many different cultures and backgrounds. Rudberg said through the bus tour, the group was able to have open dialogue which lead to a better understanding of different religions and what each religion means to each person.

“I feel like most TCU students and faculty are tolerant of other religious beliefs, but no one really knows much about them,” Rudberg said. “I think this bus tour was great because it answered a lot of the basic questions most people have about other religions.”

Associate Chaplain of TCU Britt Luby said the purpose of the event was to introduce students, faculty and staff to the diverse religious landscape of TCU.

“Listening to the news, it’s clear that religion is a hot topic,” Luby said. “The tour gave the TCU community a concrete way to learn about people who may believe differently than themselves.”

About 45 students and seven faculty members rode a bus and visited three different religious sites: Congregation Beth-El, First Christian Church Downtown and the Islamic Association of Tarrant County.

Nasrallah Alkhabi, a student leader on the tour, said his favorite part of the tour was gathering with students from different backgrounds and learning that the similarity between all the religions was peace.

“Religion is only for peace,” Alkhabi said. “Not for violence. Some students were surprised to find out some religions are not being represented well in social media.”

For more information on how get involved in interfaith dialogue, you can go to the TCU Interfaith Initiative page.