Religion From A College Student's Perspective
Well, maybe that title is a little misleading. My religious views definitely aren't the norm among college students, well at least among secular college students from what I've observed. Here I want to discuss two topics: my own Catholicism and why I fail to understand why different religions can't tolerate one another.
Catholicism
I am a born, baptized, raised, and confirmed Catholic. I haven't really known any other religion and only in Beloit, a town where the First Christians and Lutherans rule supreme and Catholics somewhat hide, was exposed heavily to Protestant denominations. My church in Hays was outstanding but St. John's of Beloit wasn't that great. I was having trouble staying awake during Mass, particulary when I had to go to work shortly thereafter. Fortunately there is hope, and I have found it here at the St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center. The priest here, Father Vince, does an excellent job of relating Christian beliefs to the everyday life of a college student. I have become involved in the choir, singing and playing my clarinet at Mass every Sunday night, and am planning on going to Europe next May and June with the choir on a Jubilee 2000 pilgrimage to Rome and the Vatican, the Czech Republic, and Poland.
For a while I was starting to wonder if what I believe was conflicting with Catholic doctrine. By listening to Father Vince every week I have realized that I am more Catholic than I knew, and the Church is where I belong. I know I would not fit into many evangelical churches. Even though Christians share most of the same ideas, there are certain areas where we differ (sadly) and it turns out that I adopted the Catholic positions on these before I knew they were Catholic (thanks to my priest in Beloit not being all that great).
For instance, many evangelists (I use this term as opposed to most mainline Protestant faiths, which I wouldn't consider evangelical) believe we are in or soon will be in the end times. They try to make the Book of Relevation here and now. Well, Catholics disagree with this notion, which rises at the end of every century. We believe that God and only God knows when the Day of Judgement will be, and it is wrong for any of us to try to predict it. It could be tomorrow or a million years from now; we have no evidence to tell. Y2K has just as much chance as being the Apocalypse as July 26, 1981 did (my birthday, ha ha ha).;
Another area with most Catholics and Protestants on one side and a few radicals on the other is evolution, as detailed in my article about the Kansas State Board of Education. Go there to read about it so I don't have to repeat myself.
The final issue I will cover gets its own section, detailing my beliefs that I was so excited to discover fall more or less in line with official Catholic doctrine. Before that I should mention that I don't quite agree with every Catholic belief; I think priests should be allowed to marry (although thanks to medieval history I understand why that rule was implemented; times have changed though) and have no problem with women being priests.
The Rodney King Approach to Religious Toleration
I simply cannot stand intolerant Christians (of any denomination, Catholicism included). People are different, that's what makes the human race so grand, and not everyone is going to think along the same lines. First let me detail the official Catholic doctrine on the subject of other religions, then I'll give my own beliefs, which are quite similar.
Contrary to the beliefs of some denominations, Catholic dogma states that any member of any religion can go to heaven. If they are pure of heart they are saved through Jesus whether they know it or not. Catholicism respects most other religions (especially Judaism of course) as valid approaches to the Divine.
In short, I believe that most major world religions have merit. If 800 million Indian citizens are Hindi, there has to be something to that religion. Of course there are some cults that have no real faith to them (often some power and money hungry leader is behind them). We must remember, though, that at one time Christianity was a cult. Early believers were thrown to the lions. Many modern-day Christians implement the same phrase, albeit metamorphically. It is so wrong to judge someone on their choice of religion (if they follow one at all); I detest it. I have no problem with trying to convert people, but the way to go about it is not "Hey you, your religion is dumb. My way is the only right way." Believe me, much greater results would be yielded with something like. "Hi, I'm a Christian. Here's what I believe. If you'd like to join us you're more than welcome but if not that's ok." Probably only half of my friends believe in God. I don't have a problem with that; it's their choice. (Not meaning to pick on my own faith here, there are intolerant members of every religion).
I also can't stand it when some Christians try to portray Christianity as the perfect religion that has never done anything wrong. Um, no. Crusades anyone? How about the Roman and Spanish Inquisitions? The subjugation of American Indians by the Spaniards and others in the name of God? People killing in the name of God is truly sad; I just wish Christians would understand that we have done it just as much as say, the Muslims (another faith that we share most of the same beliefs with).
I look forward to the day when everyone respects everyone else for their choice of religion or lack thereof. Will it happen? Catholics and Lutherans recently signed a treaty detailing many common beliefs--a first step toward unification of Christianity. It is indeed an exciting time to be alive and Christian...or Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindi, atheist...