2008 Woodie Awards
God, are you there?
Guest Commentary
Netti Summer, Pre-Doctoral Psychology Intern
Issue date: 10/1/07 Section: Viewpoint
Moving away from home for the first time opens the door to a lot of choices. Sometimes those choices include doing a bit of soul searching. One's religious beliefs may suddenly be challenged, questioned, or unenforced by parents for the first time. You may discover different types of religions, spiritualities and beliefs that you never knew existed. It can all be very intriguing. I know I was quite surprised my freshman year when I found out that my roommate was Muslim. I knew she was from Malaysia, but I didn't know a lot about her other than she seemed nice from the letters we had exchanged. One day at the beginning of the semester, I surprised her when I came back to the room earlier than usual and interrupted her prayer time. We were both kind of embarrassed and not sure what to say, but then we just started talking about what we believed and how we pray differently.
In the university environment, you may become more aware of the choices that your parents and family made in regard to religion and spiritual beliefs, what choices you have made for yourself, and as a freshman becoming aware of new choices. This does not mean that you need to change; you may reaffirm the choices that you have already made. As a freshman, you may learn about religious and spiritual beliefs that you've never heard of before, like Hindu, Muslim, Catholic, Jewish, Mormon, Protestant, Agnostic and Atheist.
I didn't know what many of the different religions believed, how the religion was practiced or what days of the year were important celebrations for that particular religion. I also discovered that there were people who were Agnostic and Atheist, and I had no idea what that meant. Now I know that someone who is an Agnostic is not sure that a God really exists and doesn't believe that anyone can prove it. Someone who is Atheist doesn't believe in God at all. I believe that everyone is entitled to his or her personal beliefs, but sometimes this causes conflict. Many people avoid talking about religion and spirituality because it's very personal and they don't want people to challenge their beliefs. Some people want to convert others to their religion because they believe that their religion is the right one. This can cause a lot of negative reactions because we don't like to be told that we're wrong for what we believe.
I think one of the best parts about being at the university is meeting diverse people and learning from our differences.
At ISU you can take a global studies course that deals with religion and ask questions in a place that encourages open discussions. I really enjoy learning about religions from all over the world. I grew up Catholic, had a roommate who was Muslim, and married a man who is Hindu. There's so much to learn and I feel really lucky that I've found friends and classmates who I can freely talk about religion and spirituality and ask questions that I have about our different beliefs. So as you question and learn, you get to make choices about your very personal beliefs, and the more you learn the more you choose again what is important in your life.
In the university environment, you may become more aware of the choices that your parents and family made in regard to religion and spiritual beliefs, what choices you have made for yourself, and as a freshman becoming aware of new choices. This does not mean that you need to change; you may reaffirm the choices that you have already made. As a freshman, you may learn about religious and spiritual beliefs that you've never heard of before, like Hindu, Muslim, Catholic, Jewish, Mormon, Protestant, Agnostic and Atheist.
I didn't know what many of the different religions believed, how the religion was practiced or what days of the year were important celebrations for that particular religion. I also discovered that there were people who were Agnostic and Atheist, and I had no idea what that meant. Now I know that someone who is an Agnostic is not sure that a God really exists and doesn't believe that anyone can prove it. Someone who is Atheist doesn't believe in God at all. I believe that everyone is entitled to his or her personal beliefs, but sometimes this causes conflict. Many people avoid talking about religion and spirituality because it's very personal and they don't want people to challenge their beliefs. Some people want to convert others to their religion because they believe that their religion is the right one. This can cause a lot of negative reactions because we don't like to be told that we're wrong for what we believe.
I think one of the best parts about being at the university is meeting diverse people and learning from our differences.
At ISU you can take a global studies course that deals with religion and ask questions in a place that encourages open discussions. I really enjoy learning about religions from all over the world. I grew up Catholic, had a roommate who was Muslim, and married a man who is Hindu. There's so much to learn and I feel really lucky that I've found friends and classmates who I can freely talk about religion and spirituality and ask questions that I have about our different beliefs. So as you question and learn, you get to make choices about your very personal beliefs, and the more you learn the more you choose again what is important in your life.
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