How dating first made me question my religious views...

I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic school until I started college. Freshman year I dated someone who didn’t believe in climate change or evolution on the basis of religious beliefs. On top of questions about how I managed to start dating someone without knowing some of their religious beliefs, I couldn’t understand how someone could disregard scientific phenomena just because a preacher or religious organization told him otherwise. Now, clearly there are people who identify as religious and hold different views about science. Never the less, it wasn’t until then that I realized there are elements of this issue in any religion.  More than anything else I started to think about and question how many concrete teachings of the Catholic Church I believed and whether or not I viewed Catholicism (and religion in general) as a “good thing.”

What we believe when we are young has largely to do with how we are raised and what we are told by our parents, teachers, and people we look up to. Are we religious? Do we think rationally? How do we understand something to be true? Do we believe science? What do we consider science? What we are taught when we grow up, how we are taught to view what we are told, and authority we trust largely influences what we come to know as true. Our thought process and why we believe what we believe has context based on how we are raised.

As I continued to read Descartes after our first discussion in class, I had more of an understanding of the importance of the reoccurring assurance that there is a god and his writing as “science.” When taken in the context of the time, it makes more sense. Today, this might confuse us or make us laugh. Science advances. We are able to repeat, edit, and improve past experiments and theories. Politics change. Societal values, powerful institutions, governing policies, etc. change as societies advance.

Thinking about religion, science, and politics together has helped me identify concrete things that I believe about this world and how, I believe, religion can’t always support these beliefs on the basis of tradition and the political nature of religious systems. Since I left Catholic school, I have come to view religion as being political, hypocritical, and divisive. :(  Ironically, these were not my views while in Catholic school and the teachers I had when I was younger have greatly influenced the values I hold today. I do want to end by saying that I believe there is value for a person to learn to have faith, be a part of a strong community, form good morals, and form some kind of personal spirituality. These were all things that I was given by religion and will continue to influence me. Being able to identify beliefs I hold has made me more passionate  and excited to continue to learn, share, appreciate, discuss with others, and give back as a person- even if it isn't through religion.