Since I read the readings about religion in the Adams textbook last week, it was what I blogged about last week. However, with our discussions in class yesterday about religion, so many more thoughts came up. And seeing that I wasn't the only one in the class who had mixed feelings made me feel a lot better about the inner struggles I have been facing.
It is not very easy for me to be able to express myself in class, in front of people that I really do not know. But on Wednesday when we were discussing about religion, I just really felt the need to express myself. After I heard Nikki talk about how she is Catholic yet she is against many of the religion's beliefs, I felt a sudden relief. I finally heard another person who is Catholic that thinks just the way I do. At that moment I felt the need to let everything out and let the class know what I had been holding in for a very long time.
The questions towards my religion and more towards the church have been going on for a while yet they have recently popped back in my head. Not only with the Adams reading and with the class discussions, but if I think back a little to some of the fist readings in the Zinn's book, religion had a big part in that. When the Spanish came to America, they attempted to turn all of the indigenous people into Catholics, they wanted to spread the word. But if they were so religious, why did they torture the indigenous people? Doesn't God teach us to love our brothers? Professor G mentioned how they built the beautiful missions along the western and southern coasts, yet while building them they tortured so many people. And then reading Adams book about how Christianity is a privileged religion in the United States makes me think about the ideas that this country was built on. Through torture, slavery, segregation, sexism, and all of the wrongful things this country has done, this just upsets me. And I am Catholic, I cant imagine how does who aren't feel. I love God, and I love the beliefs of the Catholic religion, yet there are a lot of things that the church has done and that the church believes that I am completely against. What was said in class really moved me and made me feel a lot better. After expressing myself professor G told me that even if I don't agree with bits and pieces of the church that it was okay. That there are somethings I'm going to agree with and some things I am not.
After struggling so much with all of these thoughts, I can finally say I feel so much better! Before I felt as if I was doing something wrong. I felt I was being a bad person going against all of the beliefs that I grew up with. And although I know that I will probably never be able to talk about this subject openly with my grandma, I can honestly say I feel really great about myself! Who knows, maybe I'll sit down and talk to a priest one on one about all of my thoughts and questions. I feel like I have the courage to do that now. This class has done so much for me that I am so excited to see what the rest of the semester is going to bring us all!
Catalina,
ReplyDeleteI am glad you were able to share in class, although somethings were hard to hear in some ways I enjoyed hearing all of the differing views. I think an important aspect of the whole religion discussion was that of not making it binary, meaning you believe all or nothing. I too disagree with some points about my religion but that does not mean it is any less important to me. I think we can relate this concept to many of the topics we have discussed in class such as the issue of Wal-Mart. I'm glad that you can still have your beliefs and be comfortable to disagree with parts.
Thanks for sharing!
Just to begin with, this was a great post:)! I think everyone gets a little boggled with the idea of religion and especially discussing it. I'm continuously overwhelmed with emotion when it's discussed and it's also still a challenge for me to deal with.
ReplyDeleteCatalina,
ReplyDeleteThanks for opening up about your thoughts as well. It was also nice for me to hear that I am not the only one who feels that way. Like you, i've also questioned some of our Catholic beliefs once I moved away from home and stopped practicing as much as I did before. But like everyone said, you don't have to agree with everything. It doesn't make me love Catholicism any less, but it does make me more comfortable to know I am not alone.
I can definitely understand where you're coming from when it comes to struggling with religion. I am a believer of the idea that you can pick and choose the concepts you agree and disagree with. I really admire that you take the time to think about issues i.e. sexism, segregation, and slavery. If more people were to question the morality of such situations instead of blindly following a religion, maybe slavery and other such atrocities wouldn't have taken place. I know that you commented on my post saying you wanted to learn about other religions too and I really appreciate that. I want to learn more about other religions too, and I think that if there were more like us there would be much less bigotry and hatred toward others.
ReplyDelete