While some students woke up Sunday morning with a basket of chocolate awaiting them and others donned their best outfits before attending church, I woke up as if it were just any other ordinary day.
If there was one thing that I got out of this weekend, besides the traditional basket of goodies, it was the reminder of my current religious status, which is of yet undecided. Some people would say if I'm smart, I would get baptized. Others say, "What's the use?" But I constantly vacillate between the two sides of spectrum, as my eternal fate hangs in the balance.
OK, so I'll save the melodramatic undertones for the responses I may likely get for writing this perspective, but I won't spare you the truth. As a baby, I wasn't baptized. My parents told me later that this was because they wanted me to decide on a religion on my own terms when I became mature enough to do so. But as I grew up, I could tell my mom wanted me to get baptized. And in conversations, my dad's philosophical skepticism and my mom's memorized catechism teachings left me clueless as to what I should do.
My hesitation to choose a religion is not for lack of trying to find the right fit. I have spent time reading fictional stories, personal accounts, parts of religious texts, and even academic literature about religions - from the Upanishads to the New International Version Bible and from the Wiccan creed to the Noble Eightfold Path. I have meditated, held séances, and recited rosary prayers. I might just be over-thinking the whole thing, but I figure that at least that is better than not thinking about it at all.
I've ruled out a few religions for one reason or another - some clash with my Western upbringing to a degree I can't relate, while others simply just don't feel like a good match for me. It's weird to think, really, that a religion matches a person - like clothing and accessories. And in fact, I do think that is how some people think about religion, and they fall for the commercialization of it all.
Despite the televangelists who spread their word weekly to millions of people tuning in to see the blind and deaf get miraculously healed, or the new-age churches that cater to a younger, generally less devout population, or the politics of liberalization that surround the debate of reforming doctrines for multiple religions ... despite all of that, I always work to remind myself that what is most pure, the least commercialized and merchandized part of religion, is faith. Religion is so much more than the superficiality of modern-day culture, and it saddens me to see that some people boil it down to that just to get their message across to as many people as possible. Faith is something that cannot be bought and sold, or blessed by a religious icon for $10. It is not transient or fleeting.
Faith is the foundation of what I believe in. Faith that, although I haven't settled on the image or name of a specific deity, I can still pray and hope it will be heard by whatever spiritual power reigns supreme. And faith that whatever god I eventually recognize will be merciful and forgiving of my 20-plus-year quest. I have faith enough some days that I feel fine casting my fate to the wind - not giving up, but letting go and realizing I can't control everything. That it will somehow end up turning out the way it is supposed to, whether that is a good or bad thing, and I will have enough willpower to get through it. Faith enough that I will never be alone, because I will always be protected by something, someone, somewhere.
I think there's a large religious movement among the younger generations, and my cluelessness is just a representation of a greater trend towards agnosticism and atheism. A study released in 2005 by the Brookings Institution found that within Generation Y - consisting of Americans born between the years 1980 and 2000 - 20 percent of respondents don't identify with a specific religion or don't believe in god. This is nearly double the number of those who fall into the same category in the previous generation (11 percent). A study conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press in 2006 found that the same trend is true for western Europe as well.
Don't get me wrong - I don't endorse the idea of an entire generation walking around without a moral authority to subscribe to outside of secular powers. I just recognize this as a reality, and pose it to either religious leaders or my agnostic and atheist peers to make a case for their sides. As it stands, religious debate - outside of the Catholic Church scandal and the infrequent comments of some radical religious leader - is nonexistent. And with the current political climate, and differences in religion which cause clashes worldwide each day, I would hope more people would be discussing the issue.
After all, religion is a strong force, and one that is often emotionally charged. Religion is a bond between people who don't know each other in person - a bond that is powerful and potentially dangerous. When religion is misused, it can become "an opiate of the masses," as Marx suggested. It can divert from the original goals of its founders to become a new subset, perhaps one that is violent.
Enjoy what you're reading?
Signup for our newsletter
The power of religion can't be ignored - it can unite and divide. And both the differences and similarities between religions must be respected. Religion is that knowledge that there is something greater than you. It is that awesome, humbling experience that gives you the chills, makes you want to see the world and wonder how it all came to be, and makes you fear what you can't control all at once. It is the unexplainable dreams, the heartfelt emotions, and the part of life that is yet untouched by scientific method (despite the best efforts of modern technology and academia).
I have yet to find that religion that is the best "match" for me. But have faith that I, along with a large percentage of my generation, will figure it out eventually.
Read More
How one professor and her classes are preserving Oxford’s Black history
By Sean Scott | March 20, 2024Jazma Sutton, an assistant professor of history, teaches The Black Midwest (HST 350Q) and Black Women in America (HST 450D) classes. In both courses, she has students working with the Smith Library of Regional History and Miami’s archives to document and preserve Black history in Oxford.
Miami faculty members recount Freedom Summer in new documentary
By Luke Macy | February 25, 2022After seven years of work, “Training for Freedom,” a documentary highlighting Oxford’s involvement in the Freedom Summer of 1964, premiered on PBS Western Reserve on Valentine’s Day.
“Documenting the COVID-19 Pandemic”: History in the making
By Alice Momany | August 29, 2021In March 2020, Miami University’s archives launched “Documenting the COVID-19 Pandemic,” a collection focused on life during the COVID-19 pandemic.