shawmutt Posted February 24, 2013 Posted February 24, 2013 Nope, not my faith. I've considered myself an atheist for many years now. I'll probably get around to typing my story on the topic in a couple days. My crisis has to do with other's faith. I've been working at the same place for 9 years now, and my boss tells me in order to advance I need to go back to school and finish my bachelors. I have two young kids, a wife, a home, and a full time job. I don't have any way of attending a traditional college, time and money are very short. Online courses are available, but at a premium. Work reimburses a small amount, but no where near what I would need. There's a local college that offers accelerated degrees. Classes are one night a week, four hours a class, and each course is a five week course. This is a legit school, well recognized in the area, and many of the people I work with have degrees from this school. The issue is that it's a private Catholic university. That's not the crises. I have already started attending, and there are a few mandatory religious classes I have to take. In fact, my first class is Foundations of Christian Theology. The idea is that I'm just going through some mythology courses, learning the sociology of Christians, etc. Being Catholic is not a requirement for the church--according to the website: "Do I have to be Catholic to attend...? Absolutely not. It’s true that the education you will find ... is founded in the Catholic liberal arts tradition, but we don’t expect every student to be Catholic. Around 70 percent of our students are Catholic, but more important to us is a willingness to be open to your and others’ beliefs, and recognize the value of ministry and community service efforts that stand at the heart of our vibrant liturgical life." There are no requirements for anything like church attendance or service. No prayers before each class or other such overt religious nonsense. Here is the crisis. I have to a write weekly "reflection" paper--the one due next week is a paper on a religious experience that was brought on by a crisis. The paper that is writing itself in my head is about my atheism and how I deal with crises as an atheist. I thought it would be easy to just stay on the sidelines, muscle through the religious stuff, and get my business degree. I'm not even at week two and I'm failing--it's just not me to sit down and shut up. I did well during the lecture part--even though I wanted to argue at points I kept my mouth shut. Part of me thinks being open about my atheism is educational suicide. Part of me thinks this will make the class go easier and might even open interesting discussions. Given the circumstances, how open would you be about your atheism?
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