Jesus Week and Islamic Awareness Week spurred two OU students to add a Religious Freedom Week to the schedule and launch a new religious freedom group that would be called Student Interfaith Council.

Rachel Kraft, management information systems junior, and Jesse Asbury, University College freshman, organized Religious Freedom Week.

"There are a lot of groups that don't have a religious week this week, so we thought, 'Hey, let's make this all-inclusive,'" Kraft said.

The theme of Jesus Week, "One Way," helped Kraft and Asbury create their own theme, "Many Ways For Many People," Kraft said.

Joe Meyer, Jesus Week volunteer co-chairman and science education sophomore, said he thinks Religious Freedom Week is good, but he said he doesn't agree that there are "many ways."

"We believe what we believe, and they can believe what they believe," Meyer said. "We believe ours is the truth and that is why we chose the theme 'One Way.' We as Christians think that Jesus is the only way."

Adeel Khan, president of the Muslim Student Association and psychology sophomore, said he supports Religious Freedom Week.

"We think it's great," Khan said. "It's good for the OU campus because I think ... in a world that is becoming increasingly divided and all too often violent, that we should really learn tolerance with one another."

Over the past week, Kraft and Asbury have put up posters promoting Religious Freedom Week and passed out more than 1,200 pamphlets, or "tracks," which contained information on different religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, paganism, atheism, Islam and Christianity.

The tracks are meant to inform, not to promote or discourage any particular religion, Kraft said.

Kraft said the students who are participating in Religious Freedom Week are in no way condemning Jesus Week or Islamic Awareness Week.

"We've tried to say all week that we're not trying to bash them," Asbury said.

He said Student Interfaith Council will accept people of all religions.

"We're willing to accept anybody who shows interest," Asbury said. "We look past the differences and rejoice in the similarities."

Students had a variety of reactions to the religious freedom group's efforts, Kraft said. Kraft said the group has received support from various groups on campus, including Islamic and Christian student groups.

While most students have been accepting, there have been others that have not welcomed the religious diversity group, Asbury said.

"As the week's gone on, we've got some voices of dissent," Kraft said. "We've had some signs torn down. Every day we've had somebody preaching to us."

About 15 students and Norman residents joined Kraft and Asbury's religious freedom group Thursday night at a drum unity circle around the fountain on the South Oval.

Kerri Bales, an OU alumnae, attended the event with her husband and daughter, Johanna, 3.

"We want to make sure that people know that there is more than one way," Bales said.

It is a struggle to choose another religion besides Christianity when living in the Bible Belt, she said.

"It's really hard to feel welcome in a roomful of people that, even though they're being kind to you, think you're going to burn in hell because you're a normal person," Bales said.

However, Bales also echoed Kraft and Asbury when she said she doesn't want to "bash" Christians.

"We would never want to tell Christians that they are terrible or wrong," she said. "We want to accept them just like we want them to accept us."

Meyer said he does not mean to condemn or judge people when he talks to them about Christianity.

"Any time we approach someone with the message of the Gospel, it is not to judge them or condemn them," he said. "We want them to know we care about them. We want them to know that unless they have a relationship with Jesus Christ on the day of judgment, they will perish."

Meyer said he knows some Christian groups do not open up to outsiders very well, and for that, he said he was sorry.

"We are supposed to show the love of Christ all we can, but there are going to be times when different groups of people claim to know God and love Christ, but do not show that love the way it is supposed to be," he said.
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