Moving here just last year from warm and sunny North Carolina, I knew things were going to be different-- especially coming from a small Catholic school where there were only about 50 kids in my grade, all of who basically grew up together. Coming to public school for the first time was a whole different experience.
After making it through the dreaded freshman year, I was, for the most part, unscathed and adjusting nicely apart from the freezing cold (I grew up thinking 30 degrees was the coldest it could get). The one thing that has bothered me, though, is something one wouldn’t normally expect: being judged for my religious views.
You might think I was ignorant, coming from a school where everyone has the same beliefs and traditions, expecting it to be somewhat similar in a public high school. I wasn’t making this assumption at all, though. In fact, I chose to go to public school for the diversity, a place where everyone is unique and can learn from each other.
However, I did--and still do--expect people to respect my religious views, an expectation that has disappointed me.
I know my friends are kidding around when they joke about me being Catholic. I’ve apparently earned the nickname “Jesus Freak” after telling people how I spent 11 years of my life in Catholic school. I’ve received “nun-chucks”(nunchucks with plastic nun figurines as handles) and Jesus flashlights as birthday presents.
I can be a pretty good sport when it comes to this type of stuff, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t get old after a while. It can actually get to the point where I feel people are disrespecting my beliefs and trying to put me down for what I believe in.
At lunch one day, I sat down after buying a pepperoni pizza, and was just about to eat , when I remembered it was Friday (and Lent), which meant no meat. I groaned, frustrated that I had almost forgotten, and proceeded to pick the bits of meat off my pizza. The girls at my table noticed this, and I explained that I couldn’t eat meat because it was Lent. One of them actually laughed at me. They launched into a conversation about how stupid Catholic traditions and people who followed them were.
My friend (who is also Catholic) and I sat there, speechless. How could they make such rude remarks about something we both believed in and were a part of? I didn’t know what to say. I just sat there, eating my meatless pizza, wondering what I did to deserve the ridicule.
This reminds me of another time, when I was in class and we were doing group projects. I was put into a group with two people I did not know very well but who seemed pretty nice. After we finished our assignment, they started talking, and somehow the topic floated to religion. One of the girls was complaining how she and her boyfriend always fought, because they had totally different beliefs. She was an Atheist, and he was very religious. The other girl agreed, saying that people who believe in God or any high being are just “ignorant”, how she hated religious people because “they always try to force religion on you, and don’t like what you believe in.”
Once again, I sat in shock. I wanted to yell, scream, anything to express how I felt at that moment. Hello! Do you not notice me sitting right here? Do you not care about my feelings or beliefs or even my values at all? I guess not.
Aren’t their statements somewhat hypocritical? I mean, isn’t generalizing religious people as being ignorant an ignorant notion? What gives them the credibility, the right even, to say that what I believe in is a lie, and that I am a fool for believing in God?
To me, my religion is as personal as my race or gender. So why is it okay for people to use religious figures’ names in vain, but it’s “un-PC” to say something is “so gay” or to use a racial slur. If the latter two are offensive, then the other should be.
The worst is when people make assumptions and generalizations about religious beliefs. To me, this is as bad as any other prejudice.
For instance: One of my friends was telling me how she was going to a family reunion and was so excited to see one of her cousins, who happens to be gay. She turned and looked at me and said, “Oh, but I can’t talk about him because you’re Catholic, and I know you hate gay people.”
Um, when did I ever say I hated people because they were gay? Because I definitely don’t hate gay people. It just bothers me that she would assume something like that about me, based on a generalization about my religion.
I didn’t write this article to make people mad or to convert them or point them out. I wrote this article to make people think.
I mean, really, isn’t high school bad enough without having religious prejudice--or any judgemental thoughts for that matter? These are the years we need to support each other, the years we all need someone to lean on and be the shoulder to cry on. We are all going to go through good times and bad times. We don’t need the extra baggage of someone bringing us down about something we believe in.
graphic illustration by T. Wanbaugh
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