The student body at Benilde-St. Margaret’s is a vast pallet of different religious beliefs and cultural influences. However, some students, whether they be atheists or students who consider themselves staunchly against organized religion, have put on an aura of arrogance and degraded religion in general.
Throughout my time at Benilde-St. Margaret’s I have considered myself an agnostic and a full supporter of individual spirituality over organized religion.
However, in these past few months I have seen students who, in the immature stages of their questioning the Catholic Church or going against it completely, have centered their intentions around degrading all religions, from Buddhism to primal religions.
They openly deface these religions at every point simply to flaunt their self-indulgent thoughts over religion.
Anyone is free to choose their own religion or belief, but the mature route to take is to keep it to yourself or at least engage in healthy discourse which is not motivated by one’s own infatuation with their supposed heoric and mature anti-religious beliefs.
Oftentimes when I have watched non-religoius students in religion classes take a stab at a religion, they say it not to foster a discussion that everyone else can engage in, but simply to throw in their opinion and let everyone in the class know that they are different. Unfortunately, they aren’t.
During teenage years, everyone questions religion at some point and goes against it even. Furthermore, teenagers hold only a small fraction of all the knowledge about religion and philosophy in general.
However, the people who try to make religion class a show-and-tell for themselves base everything on the assumption that they know more than the rest of the class, including the teacher and that they are the only ones who have really questioned their faith. This is arrogant, insulting, presumptuous, and most of all, a sign of immaturity.
For example, in my religion class, at one point a student made an off-handed remark that the Native American clothing that is used during ceremonies is a “costume.”
What about this statement sounds well thought out? What about this comment gives you any sense that person is mature, and most all, better than anyone else?
It actually does the reverse. It makes you look shallow in your actual knowledge and lowers your quality of input. These types of comments foster no constructive debate, and only embarrass us all. Whether one considers themselves an atheist or a conservative Catholic, degrading any and all religions in one’s path impresses no one and only hinders good debate.
As teenagers, we still have time before we know exactly what we can firmly believe.
Connor Gerdes • May 19, 2009 at 10:00 pm
I don’t mean to outright disagree with you, at the core of your argument we certainly see eye to eye in the idea that people should question their faith on the personal level, as well as respect others’ views.
But I’ve got a few problems, starting from the top… I wouldn’t call BSM anything near “a vast pallet of different religious beliefs and cultural influences.” I don’t have any statistics in hand, but my four years of observation certainly wouldn’t lead anything near such a conclusion.
“[Non-religious students] openly deface these religions at every point simply to flaunt their self-indulgent thoughts over religion.” I know what you’re getting at here, but you need to take into account that self-indulgent thoughts on religion is very much a two sided street — the secular and the nonsecular. I’ve seen some pretty disrespectful takes on certain religions in my world religions class from believers of another religion.
“Oftentimes when I have watched non-religoius students in religion classes take a stab at a religion, they say it not to foster a discussion that everyone else can engage in, but simply to throw in their opinion and let everyone in the class know that they are different. Unfortunately, they aren’t.” Being the one (or few) dissenting voice(s) in a class will likely be interpreted as “taking a stab” at religion. It’s hard for some to find the right words that will not alienate themselves from others, yet still firmly give their honest opinion. Your headline alone, “Dont flaunt your views against religion” reflects that tightrope idea. If you have religious beliefs in a religion class, you’re at some level encouraged to flaunt them. It’s the same two-way street, and certainly more difficult to deal with when in the minority.
Maybe some do revel in that solitude, and that’s a behavior I can only attempt to understand. I know how to straw-man the various forms of Christianity with relative ease, but I don’t get anything out of it short of time wasted.
The best word I’ve found at describing my own philosophical viewpoint is “freethought” — essentially that one’s beliefs should be formed on science, logic, and reasoning — not on traditions, dogmas, creeds, authority and the like. The only religion I truly have no respect for is Scientology, but that’s neither here or there.
As a last thought, I really don’t think your train of thought on the word “costume” being applied to ritual clothing is sound. The word can simply mean what someone is wearing, like “garb,” which if intended that way would make perfect sense (I don’t know if the tone was condescending or the like, but as written, it doesn’t work.) To attach the immature, better-than-you attitude, than go on to describe the one who said it as “looking shallow,” really only does the reverse for you, bud.
We’ve spoken a few times on religion and philosophy, and I hope I didn’t give off the kind of arrogance that you describe here.
-Connor Gerdes