2008 Woodie Awards
Being non-Christian does not mean being "lost"
Erika Prins, Staff Writer
Issue date: 2/27/07
Last Updated: 8/9/07
This is the story of how, since I've come to Whitworth, I have lost any semblance of religion/ faith/ belief in anything. I am putting this out there as one example of how being agnostic can be a well-informed decision based on strong convictions, just as being a Christian can be. It is not a judgment of Christians, and it is not my way of saying that Whitworth Christians turned me off to Christianity. On the contrary, I am far more tolerant of the many brands of Christianity than I was while struggling to figure out what Christianity should be.
Seeing discrepancies between different kinds of Christianity as I settled in at Whitworth started a long process of challenging my system of beliefs. I spent a year in Peru working for a very conservative Christian Non Governmental Organization (NGO) before coming to Whitworth, which had already pulled me out of the bubble of the suburban California Presbyterian church where I had found my faith. Upon returning, I immediately came to Whitworth where the religious culture was a far cry from both the strict fundamentalism of the NGO and the trendy Christianity of my home church.
At Whitworth, Christian beliefs seemed to underlie a perspective on the world that I could not relate to - one that excluded "Others." The same thing happens at my home church, but I did not notice it because I was not an "Other." At Whitworth, though, Christianity seemed synonymous with political conservatism and an attitude that a relationship with anyone who is not a Christian was useful only insofar as it served to convert them to Christianity. In fact, my peers questioned my faith because I had dreadlocks, interned for a Democratic candidate for Congress and supported my ex-boyfriend as he came out as gay. I left my church when they practically forced my ex to "choose" to be straight and invited an all-Republican set of political candidates to speak during church services.
I wanted to maintain my faith despite my frustrations with the Church and sought to distill the different versions of Christianity I had encountered down to only the fundamental, universal truth hidden under all the politics. My best resource in this process was my education - most of my classes had a strong theme of analyzing the role of religion in the subject matter.
Seeing discrepancies between different kinds of Christianity as I settled in at Whitworth started a long process of challenging my system of beliefs. I spent a year in Peru working for a very conservative Christian Non Governmental Organization (NGO) before coming to Whitworth, which had already pulled me out of the bubble of the suburban California Presbyterian church where I had found my faith. Upon returning, I immediately came to Whitworth where the religious culture was a far cry from both the strict fundamentalism of the NGO and the trendy Christianity of my home church.
At Whitworth, Christian beliefs seemed to underlie a perspective on the world that I could not relate to - one that excluded "Others." The same thing happens at my home church, but I did not notice it because I was not an "Other." At Whitworth, though, Christianity seemed synonymous with political conservatism and an attitude that a relationship with anyone who is not a Christian was useful only insofar as it served to convert them to Christianity. In fact, my peers questioned my faith because I had dreadlocks, interned for a Democratic candidate for Congress and supported my ex-boyfriend as he came out as gay. I left my church when they practically forced my ex to "choose" to be straight and invited an all-Republican set of political candidates to speak during church services.
I wanted to maintain my faith despite my frustrations with the Church and sought to distill the different versions of Christianity I had encountered down to only the fundamental, universal truth hidden under all the politics. My best resource in this process was my education - most of my classes had a strong theme of analyzing the role of religion in the subject matter.
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