Religion 430...?

1.29.09

Because I am a masochist, I chose to take Christian Ethics this semester. I thought I got the religion bug out of my system last semester when I took three religion classes at once, but apparently not. I am in Kerns 02 every Wednesday from 3-6 p.m., sucking it up.
I found myself entirely out of my league after the first class. We discussed sources of Christian Ethics, few of which I ascribed to. Community, Bible, prayer... not so much my thing. I prefer to go it alone, I do not accept the Bible as a truth doctrine, and I do not believe in the power of prayer. This was a problem in last year’s religion classes also; it seemed I was speaking an entirely different language during some class periods.
Several of my friends have asked why I chose to take Christian Ethics instead of the UC section. I suppose the answer, besides being a masochist, would be that I believe I live in a culture saturated with the Judeo-Christian tradition. Even though I spent a good chunk of my life being antagonistic about it, I feel like it is my social responsibility to understand the people around me. Because I do not have any religious presuppositions, I can always learn something new without feeling like my own beliefs are threatened.
Though many times I end up with my jaw agape (a little play on words there: agape is also how you spell the Greek word for unconditional, godlike love) wondering how in the world people believe any of what they’re saying, I also find myself incredibly jealous of them. They have something to fall back on when reasons and explanations fail. I do not.
Part of my reasoning for taking Christian ethics and other religion classes at Capital is that I find faith incredibly inspirational, especially because I don’t possess it. It seems like magic. Ultimately, like magic, it proves unreal in my eyes. That doesn’t take away from its power, however. Faith is obviously a force that governs the lives of many people—people I would not have chose to know if it hadn’t been for my religion classes. I have learned a lot from them, most importantly that I cannot go around claiming they are completely deluded.
Another important lesson has been that not all of them are out to shove dogma down my throat. Most of them are—gasp—incredibly nice folks. Of course, I’ve had a few experiences where I’ve been told I was going to hell and that the person was going to pray for my soul, but those were not in the classroom.
Though at the end of last semester I was even more convinced that I believed the “right” thing, it seemed most people in the class felt that way. I’m not sure if this means we are all incredibly stubborn and wouldn’t change our beliefs for anything, or if it means we are comfortable enough in our beliefs to learn without needing to justify anything to ourselves.
Some of the most worthwhile classes I’ve taken at Capital have been ones like Christian Ethics and other religion classes I’ve taken. Seminary is still not in my future, nor is church-going or prayer-saying. However, having a better-rounded world outlook is completely attainable.