Reflection About Religion

As a child, I was very quiet, observant and obedient. I would attempt to excel in everything I did in order to make my parents proud.Up until I was a teenager, I followed their will without excessively questioning their decisions. I was raised to have faith in God, go to Church and do as I was told. I spent 12 years of my life going to Church with too many unanswered questions. I didn’t know why I had to attend church, I didn’t understand how this so-called God we believed in was so powerful and why he wouldn’t make world peace possible if he was as amazing as he was perceived. None of it made sense to me. During school my favorite books to read consisted of primarily non fiction books about animals and the world in general, mythological, and books concerning the supernatural. I have always been intrigued by unexplained stories, but in the end, although I acknowledged the slight possibility of supernatural existence, I also understood the difference between facts and mere theories. During summer, my reading list consisted of fables and biblical stories. To me, everything I

Growing up I was always told religion was false and that I was above my friends who were Christians because I believed in science. My mom was raised by Catholics, but when she graduated High School, she vowed to never be religious again. My father enjoyed feeling more elite over the “religious plebeians” that worked for him. I remember having an argument with Victoria Henderson in 3rd grade because I believed in The Big Bang and she was a creationist. Everyone took Victoria’s side, and I learned it was better to just not talk about religion. In high school, I began reaching out of my comfort zone, and also questioning what my parents had ingrained on me as a person. My first religious experience was dating a boy named Luis who was Catholic, as my mother was raised. He was only allowed to date Catholic girls, so I

Everything happens for a reason. This saying is one of the most popular things that people say in today's world, especially after huge life changing events. These “life changing” events could be anything from a new child being born to a bombing in the Koreas. To really find out about my family history and further investigate this saying I interviewed my mother; Rebecca, and grandfather; Tom. In these interviews we talked about two huge events that have impacted history. These events are the Kennedy Assassination and the bombing of the World Trade Centers on September 11th, 2001. My family has been impacted by both events in numerous ways and I learned that these types of events not only cause mass hysteria, but also bring us closer together, and really force us to be grateful for what we have.

I was raised as a Roman Catholic. This meant waking up early on weekends, going to church every Sunday and the days of obligation, and attending catechism, no matter how much I protested. It also meant being unhappy. I detested most of the rules. I did not believe in an almighty God that could give me free will, but wanted to limit my actions. I also could not stand to believe in someone who could kill one of my best friends and continue the world like nothing had happened. All I wanted was to be able to live, not just survive. Six months after I was confirmed, I stopped going to church. After that I did not know what to believe. God was supposed to be watching over me. Instead, I felt He had forgotten my name.

We often struggle as humans with the saying that, “everything happens for a reason.” It is a saying that has applied to my life for many years. It has given me strength when the darkness of a series of events stole so much from me.

When I was a child, I was a devout Catholic. I went to church every week and prayed before I went to bed. It wasn't until I was a teenager when I started to question the faith. I started reading more and more about religion, and why I pray and go to church every Sunday, Christianity in particular. I soon realized that it was fabricated by man, but with good intentions. One major problem I had is that it stifles the intellectual mind and has a particular definite way of looking at things.

Most of my youth had been spent much like Carl Jung, as a loner of sorts from other students. I was a quiet kid and kept much to myself. As a youth, I did feel that God had a presence and importance in my life. I did not feel the larger connection to worship and deeper spirituality. In childhood, subconsciously I had begun mixing my actual perceived believes and actual Christianity to form my actual practiced religion. “Religious experience according to Fromm is an experience of unity with the All, grounded on our relatedness to the world” (Fuller A. , 2008). To explain, I would take whatever made sense, such as a God figure. I would also understand that everything had a spirit and that included inanimate objects. I did feel that people were capable of sinning and it was something that was not good. Our mother did her best as a single parent and frequently relied on our Grandparents for support. Due to spending so much time with our Grandparents our beliefs shifted to mirror Christianity.

Growing up, my parents never talked about God, or church, or Christianity. I did not know who God was, nor did I know anything about Christianity. I did know, that all of my friends believed in this so called ‘God” and would go to church every Sunday, and identified themselves as Christian. I did not know what any of this meant, but at first I acted like I did, so that I wouldn’t be seen as different.

I am not catholic. Yet, I attend a Catholic school. I do not belong to any religion. Yet, I do feel a presence of a higher power. Although at times I still do wonder if God actually exists. He may or may not and I sincerely have no idea at this point in my life. There is no certain event in my life that defines me, as my life is still unfolding. I (hopefully) have many years left of life to live and to discover who I am since I’ve barely scratched the surface of who I am becoming. I have seen first hand how short life can be for any given person so I do try to live life to the fullest. My parents are both avid Christians as well as most of my family. Religion was introduced early to them both and they go to church on a semi-regular basis. I tend to tag along occasionally since I am allowed to make my own choice to attend. However, when I was younger I fully believed in God. I went to church every sunday and went to Christian camps every summer. But as I grew older, it felt like I outgrew God. The idea of God

I was never a religious person as I grew up. Most of my life I lived in a home with people who were not faithful to a religion. My father is the only one who has ever tried to convert to Christianity. I went to church with him for a while, but my mother would constantly be upset with my father for giving his tithe. I was torn between two people who were suppose to make me feel safe. I had siblings that were never around when I needed them. This feeling of abandonment impacted me greatly. I wanted to know who to go to. I wanted someone to talk to. There was times when I prayed to a God that I wasn't even sure existed. I questioned my faith and all those around me. I could not handle my impatience. When God did not answer my prayers, I put matters into my own hands. I made terrible mistakes.

One thing I learned over break was that everything happens for a reason. Yeah, we've all heard it many times but it's something just goes through your brain and then out, not really thinking about it much. Once you become to think about it though it actually becomes this amazing concept. Everything happens for a reason. That if that's the way god made me and

“Everything in life takes place for a reason, no matter how hard or how unfair it may be something better will always come out of it.”

I was raised Catholic, at the insistance of my parents. After many years of drinking and partying, I got very bored and thought, Is this ALL there is to life?!?! I thought, If there really IS any truth to a life after death, I should at least TRY to find the answer. I started to do some research on science and religion to see if I could come up with any TRUTH about the meaning of life. In school, I was taught that mankind was evolving and getting better, but it didnt appear that way to me. It SEEMED as though modern science had proven that God didnt exist. As I did more research on my own, I found out that this just isnt the case. I learned that the Universe and ALL matter have a DEFINITE beginning.

When asked the question on my definition of religion, I decided to look at it in a way that goes beyond just my religion. Religion goes much deeper than being something that we just believe in, it is a relationship or a part of a person’s culture. My purpose of religion is something for me to try and understand what my goal in life is, as well as building a relationship with a higher being. Religion gives people that higher being that they can look to for guidance and comfort. I feel that you can also express your culture through religion as well as explain some of the reasons for some of the things that you have done in your life.

During the course of this class, I have learned a lot about different religions. I still have an unprejudiced view of religion. However, I did not suspend my belief to have an understanding of religion. I have been able to learn of other religious beliefs without feeling threatened of my own. I found there are many different practices in other religions, some I agree with and some I do not agree with. I have come to except others, ways of worship without getting upset. I have become humble in my conclusion now that I have a better understanding of others beliefs. The world seems to jump to conclusions and be judgmental about other religions. Postponing ones judgement on a religion is a difficult thing to do. Being raised and taught a certain religion and set of beliefs is distilled in to one’s mind. I, on the other hand, reserved my personal judgement until I have learned more about it.