Many people on campus know I’m a Catholic and a strong believer in God, while others on campus simply do not know. For those who do know how strong I am in my faith, it’s probably because you have been around me enough to realize that every once in awhile I will bring it up in conversation, when relevant. It isn’t that I don’t discuss my faith more due to fear of backlash, or because many of my friends are Jewish or atheist. On campus, I feel very comfortable being able to say I am a Christian. For someone who is so strong in their faith, it often takes others by surprise that I do not bring it up more. I do this for reasons which I have pondered extensively, and I have developed my approach to addressing my religion as a Christian over the past year here at Kenyon.
Before coming to college, I grew up in an environment where practically everyone I knew was Christian and went to church, and if they didn’t belong to a church they often still believed in God. I never questioned aspects of my faith, simply because I was never put into the position where I was around others of a different faith. However, I’ve now had the ability to view my faith from an outside perspective and have gotten a better understanding of how non-Christians view Christianity and Christians at large.
Over the course of the past year, I have truly narrowed down the aspects of my religion that I love and the components in which I feel need to be addressed. It’s not that I am questioning my faith by doing this, but it is healthy to continue to examine one’s own beliefs. It is frankly that I have been able to observe what others view the “goods” and “bads” of Christianity. Often what I have found is that non-Christians can respect and often like many though certainly not all of the teachings of Christianity. It’s the culture of Christianity that non-Christians at times disagree with.
After moving away from a very Christian area, I must say that I agree that the culture of Christianity at large is something that at times gives it a bad name. Because Christianity is a religion that seeks to convert individuals to their religion, often I think Christians are perceived as “forcing their religion” on others. Often without even realizing it, we as Christians can unknowingly make others feel as if we are pushing our religion onto them. We view a Christian life as “the right way to live our lives.” While certainly as a Christian I agree that living life under Christian teachings is important, and should be my goal as a Catholic, I believe it is something that I should do within my own life.
However, I don’t need to put the ways in which I live my life as a Christian on display. My religion is my religion, and I don’t need to post a picture of coffee and a bible on social media to prove that. One’s religion should be important to themselves and is not something that needs displaying on social media. By posting pictures with our bibles and coffee, we are taking away from the fact that we as Christians should be strong in our own faith and not worry if the world knows that we are practicing Christianity by reading the bible.
In addition, we shouldn’t flaunt our Facebooks and Twitter pages with bible verses. Certainly, you have the freedom of speech and have every right to post whatever you desire. However, as Christians, we aren’t realizing that by doing this we are turning people off from our religion. Social media was designed to keep in contact with other individuals, not as a forum to post about religion. Even as a Christian, it is a little upsetting for me to see someone on social medias entire page be bible verses. I am happy that this individual is strong in their faith, but what makes me upset is that we are turning others away from our faith by doing this. Inadvertently we are making non-Christians view individuals who do this as “pushing” their faith onto these individuals’ social media followers. As a non-Christian, it certainly would make me a little uncomfortable if the only things people posted were things about Christianity. By doing so, this does not make Christianity appealing and can be a bit much at first glance.
Looking at my friends’ social media pages who are very active in church or are in religious groups at their college, who are very strong in their faith and who try very hard to live their lives as Christians, also unknowingly are turning non-Christians away from Christianity. Often their pages are only filled with pictures of their friends from their church group. This is understandable; they share many of the same interests. However, just as if a college girl’s entire social media page featured only pictures of her with her sorority, those who are not in a sorority would think “that’s so weird they only hang out with these people, why don’t they hang out with anyone else.” The same thing happens with both Christians and non-Christians looking at these groups.
I’m not saying that every person in these groups only hangs out or dates from within these groups. I think we can all agree that anytime individuals only surround themselves with people from only one group, it does not make that group appealing to non-members. For these reasons, these groups are not making Christianity appealing to college-aged kids. I believe this is part of the reason as to why more people aren’t involved in Christian groups on college campuses at large. Again, I’m not saying that a couple of pictures on a social media page of the individual and their friends from these groups are the problem. I have a lot of respect for individuals in these groups and their love for God, I simply am making a general observation. Not every group is like this, I’m not painting every member of these groups as this, I am simply making a general observation. I really do admire those who make their faith a priority and believe that these groups do a lot of good.
I think also as Christians we get so wrapped up in viewing “how good of a Christian” one is by their church attendance. Yes, one should go to church and it should be of importance of a practicing Christian. However, I think as Christians and even non-Christians alike when asked “when’s the last time you’ve been to church?” or “you should go to church more” it appears as those asking the question are judging those of whom the question is being asked. I think we should be less worried about how others practice their faith, and instead, focus on living our lives as best we can as Christians. When one practices their faith and is strong in their faith, the happiness caused by the presence of God in their life will be obvious. That happiness caused by God is what we should hope appeals others to our faith. However, we are turning those away by asking questions as to how Christians live their lives.
My approach to Christianity on campus is that I should try to live my life as best I can according to Christian teachings. If I do so, I can only hope that others will admire the way that I live my life according to morals and my love for others. If someone wants to know about my faith, I’m happy to talk to them. I love talking about my faith, but never want others to get the perception that I am pushing my beliefs on someone else.
I can remember back to when I was going through confirmation classes,that we discussed how we should approach the topic of Christianity to non-Christians. I was blessed to have this knowledge prior to coming to college. If you’re having a rough day, I will say that “I’m praying for you.” And I truly mean it.
This is what I’ve gathered since moving away from home and from my own observations. It doesn’t mean that my approach is the right approach, nor does it mean that I know it all. This is simply how I choose to conduct my faith on campus. I think as Christians at large, we need to do better.
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