For my Ethics class, we are required to visit office hours twice during the semester. I went to my second meeting today and two other students were in there. The room consisted of an outspoken atheist, a devout Christian, a "somewhere between the two," and an unknown. As it often does in philosophy classes, religion came up in our conversation. It started with the atheist recalling her experiences with Christians throughout her life. To keep her confidence I will not share specifics, but they were horrific. Long story short, her family was "kicked out of the church" for committing a sin. She attended a private school where some history subjects and sciences weren't taught because they didn't believe in it. There are so many things I, and many other Christians, could say to this church and this school, but I'll refrain.
The "somewhere in between" explained how he has never known a good atheist. He's never had anything but "poor experiences." Then again, he hates denominations. He hates the technicalities of religions. He believes it divides us. So he's concluded to be somewhere in between. This breaks my heart also.
I don't want yall to think that I sat there and kept my beliefs quiet the whole time, because I didn't. I quietly listened to them because it sounded like no one's ever listened to them before. I believe it's an extremely prevalent handicap in our current society. When a person gains enough courage to share their beliefs, the listening party simply responds with their own beliefs, then the cycle continues. Nobody is listening anymore.
This is when I spoke up. Not about my beliefs, but about theirs. I addressed the atheist's points first. She refuses religion because the people who mistreated her and her family fit the label "religious." The "somewhere in between" guy has chosen to stay in the middle because he has endured mistreatment from both parties. What I hate about society lies within this conversation. We allow these labels to divide us. Those excluded from the category, therefore lacking complete understanding, stereotype others due to the negative experiences they've had with a small fraction of the people who do associate with this label.
We have to remember that our experiences are limited and do not reflect an accurate sample of a particular group of people. Yes, our experiences shape us into the people we are. However, we cannot allow our experiences to limit our knowledge and understanding. Furthermore, we cannot allow our experiences to limit our drive for further knowledge and understanding.
Though parts of this meeting broke my heart, it is one of my fondest memories. An atheist, an unknown, a Christian, and a somewhere in between sat together in one room and had a conversation about their beliefs without getting angry. We simply talked and simply listened. It was a wonderful reminder that we're all still humans, no matter how different our beliefs may be.
