The university organized a lecture to discuss the significance of religious tolerance and how it unites America.

“Religious Tolerance in an Age of Intolerance” was organized on Wednesday, Nov. 14 at 4 p.m. in the Student Union.

Executive Director of the Interfaith Federation of Greater Baton Rouge Robin McCullough-Bade, the guest speaker, explained how the American dream is associated with religious ground and freedom.

“Long ago when people came to come to this new world, a lot of them left their countries because they did not have religious freedom,” said McCullough-Bade. “It was a very important thing to come and to start colonies to live in an area where you have the choice of what to believe.”

McCullough-Bade compared religious intolerance and peace to rock and water.

“In the battle between rock and water, water always wins, and when we face intolerance, when we face hatred and mass killings, it feels as if the rock has won,” said McCullough-Bade. “It feels as if the hardness of stone has had the final word. We have to trust in the water, which is love and life. ”

Devan Hariford, a senior nursing major, expressed how he was inspired by McCullough-Bade’s rock and water analogy.

“When she went to talking about the water, I think that was really inspirational actually, kind of reminded me of some old quote, ‘Be the change you want to be,'” said Hariford. “Also, being able to endure over the long run because, like she said, education can highly change people, and that does not happen overnight. If there is one thing I learned, it is that it takes some patience.”