The Nevada Sagebrush

Community and student religious leaders meet with interim university President Marc Johnson on Friday to discuss an interfaith chapel. Ben Miller/Nevada Sagebrush

Though the establishment of an interfaith chapel at the University of Nevada, Reno could violate the First Amendment, administrators agreed in principle Friday to begin looking for space for the project.

Such projects have run into controversy in the past when they blurred the lines between church and state, said Allen Lichtenstein, general counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada.

A multi-million dollar chapel at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. drew criticism when opponents said the institution was forcing one particular belief on all its cadets.

“It absolutely pushed one particular religious viewpoint, not only to the exclusion of others but to the point where cadets were persecuted if they didn’t believe in that certain message,” Lichtenstein said. “That’s always a risk or a problem if government gets involved in religion.”

The prospective UNR chapel received international attention after the Associated Press picked up the story on Jan. 28, as well as various local news outlets.

Though many details of the project remain unclear, interim university President Marc Johnson said he believes designating a permanent location for the project would open the door for intercultural understanding based on religion.

“There’s so much religious strife in the world,” Johnson said. “It would be nice to train ambassadors for peace rather than people who don’t understand different religions here. So I think there’s a good educational mission here.”

Johnson said administrators are considering designating a space in the empty Getchell Library building for the chapel when it opens in several years. The building is in a long-term renovation process.

Lichtenstein said the status of the project in regards to the Constitution depends on many variables ranging from how inclusive it is to whether it receives funding from the university. Ultimately, he said it might be safer for the group to seek an off-campus or near-campus location.

Rajan Zed, a Hindu leader in Reno and Director of Interfaith Relations for the Nevada Clergy Association, said the patrons of the chapel would most likely raise any necessary funding themselves and would seek to provide clergy to accommodate any request as well as open the room for secular purposes.

President of the UNR chapter of the Women’s Federation for World Peace Sarah Canak, who first proposed the idea, said she views the chapel less as an issue of separation of church and state and more of a concern about freedom of religious expression.

“True freedom would be encouraging everyone to express themselves,” Canak said. “Instead of saying ‘Oh, well, we’re afraid that the state will not be able provide this for everyone, (so) we’re just not going to have it for anyone,’ we provide a space for people to do this.”

However, questions remain as to where the chapel will go. Director of the Joe Crowley Student Union Chuck Price said at a meeting with the Friends of the Interfaith Chapel on Friday that rooms in the union are in demand and are hard to set aside for consistent purposes.

Canak said she would like having a permanent location in an existing space. However, she would support a new structure being built to house the chapel.

It is also unclear how much money the project will need. Johnson said at the meeting that he would consider hiring security for the chapel to ensure the safety of its patrons. Members of the group agreed that they would like to have at least chairs and a bookshelf in the chapel. They said they were unsure of whether they would decorate it with various religious symbols.

“If you’ve ever been to a chapel inside a hospital or airport, there’s no religious insignia up on the walls because (they) really want to make sure it’s interfaith,” Canak said.

For now, Director of Diversity Initiatives Reginald Stewart said he will continue to meet with members of the group to discuss what their needs will be. That conversation will ultimately determine where the space is located and how it is run, he said.

Ben Miller can be reached at bmiller@nevadasagebrush.com.

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