Press Releases

March 5, 1999
Trip to Taiwan Offers Comparative Religion Students an Opportunity to Explore Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism

Contact:
Jane Finalborgo
(516) 287 8313
Fax: (516) 283 4081

For the first time next fall, Friends World's Comparative Religion and Culture Program at Long Island University will include a ten-week stay in Taiwan, offering students the unique opportunity to experience the living presence of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. Taiwan is one of the only places on earth where exposure to the practice of these three religions is possible.

Students in the one-year program will also observe and experience religious rituals, meditative practices, festivals and holy sites in India and Israel. Comparative Religion and Culture (CRC) is offered through Long Island University's Friends World Program.

"I am extremely excited about the new possibilities the stay in Taiwan creates," said Robert Glass, Director of the CRC program. "The National Palace Museum in Taipei, one of the great museums of the world, has the best collection of Chinese treasures in the world, many of which have never been allowed to leave the country. In addition, Taiwan has a rich collection of "living treasures" -- people who have mastered, and still teach, many of the traditional Chinese arts such as Tai Chi, herbal medicine, acupuncture and Chinese astrology." Fu Jen University in Taipei will be host for the program in Taiwan.

CRC is a 24-36 credit program designed for students in any discipline who wish to use religion as a point of entry into understanding culture. Students travel in a small group with a faculty director to the source of the world's great religious traditions. They spend three ten-week terms in Taiwan, India and Israel with side trips during free time to Thailand and Nepal. Exploring such themes as sacred space, text and scripture, ritual and prayer, students may participate in an Indian Yoga camp, observe the traditional Jewish Passover or visit the community at Gandhi's ashram.

Living among the people, participating in their religious ceremonies and rituals and seeing their shrines and holy sites affords an insight and understanding not possible through classroom study or research alone. In addition to the study of Confucianism and Taoism in Taiwan, students will investigate Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, Buddhism and Islam in India; in Israel, study is based in Jerusalem, a city holy to the three great monotheistic faiths -- Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Students at other colleges and universities are welcome to participate in the program. For more information contact Stephanie Pollack, 516-287-8475 or visit the web site at www.southampton.liunet.edu/fw/program.htm.