Reframing Religion

By Emme Bernard Staff Reporter

On Christmas Eve, hundreds of candles light the dark night at Harvester Nazarene. Junior Katelyn Guth stands among the many holding candles in unison. On this day, they light candles to enter the Light of God. They stand together under a strengthening value and religious ideology.

Inside the mass, people break down into friends and families. Groups that have become stronger because of their religion. Outside the mass, society finds its own source of religion and spirituality whether in the similar format or none at all. More specifically, families can be divided by their religious upbringing (sharing religious beliefs, differing beliefs, or none at all).

Guth, like many of those around us, was brought up in a family that had ties to a specific religion. And although nurture may play a prominent role in many people’s religious beliefs, one is able to explore their own path independently.

“When I was younger it was always my parents who took my sister and me to church, so it definitely started with my family,” Guth said. “But as we got older, it became more of an individual decision to go to church every week and to build my own relationship.”

Religion bleeds into aspects of her life outside church or other services. The art of religion is how it affects almost every aspect of how you live your life and how you plan your future.

“Our faith helps to guide our lifestyle because of certain things we prioritize, like going to church, tithing, and fellowship with each other and our church family.” Guth said. For Guth and many others who follow a family-based religion, religion has made a major impact on how close knit the family is and the way they think.

“It affects the way we view the world and each other, the beliefs we share and the opinions we hold.” Guth said.

On a similar note, Sophomore Shubham Sonavane shares the same religion with his family, Hinduism. As a minority religion to this area, Hinduism believes in the cycle of samsara (life, death, reincarnation) and that all living beings have a soul. They also worship a god that takes the form of millions of deities.

“The best part of sharing my religion with my family is that we get to enjoy many Hindu traditions together such as Diwali, Holi, Sankranti, and more,” Sonavane said.

Hinduism comes with many different traditions. St. Louis even hosts an event called garba that many attend.

“My favorite memory is when me and my family went to garba, a dance event during october that almost every Hindu in St. Louis attends,” Sonavane said.

Overall, Sonavane has experienced the wonders of Hinduism since his family introduced it to him around the age of three. Although it is not common in our community, we have events that allow those that are Hindu to come together.

“I [am] very happy my parents [introduced me to religion] because it allowed me to share a culture with many of my friends and establish a community even though we are obviously minorities in this area” Sonavane said.

Family comes in all types of different dynamics especially when it comes to religion. While religion can bring family together, it can also be an undisclosed topic, for their views differ. Junior Natalee Shipley has experienced the partition of parental religious views and the views of their children. While she was raised in a Catholic household, she finds her views have diverged from those of her parents mostly because of how Catholicism takes stances on certain political topics.

“I realized I always tried to convince myself I fully believed in everything when I actually had some doubts,” Shipley said. “I think that when I actually realized I disagreed with the church’s political stances, I realized I couldn’t follow a religion that I didn’t fully align with.”

Although Natalee grew up in a single religon household, her views on religion still shifted regardless of her parent’s views.

“I think they definitely shaped my religious views in the beginning of my life, but now I feel free to make my own decisions on how I want to live my life,” Shipley said.

Additionally, some families are religiously tolerant and never had one religion they identified with. Junior Sam Dobbins, though they attended Parish School Religion(PSR), has never felt their family was identified by one religion.

“ I think nowadays my family and I don’t really talk about religion or really bring it up because I think we’ve all drifted away from it,” Dobbins said.

While identifying with a more atheist ideology, Sam hasn’t faced backlash from their parents and is able to find their own path when it comes to the topic of religion and/or spirituality. This freedom does come with its benefits and detriments.

“One of the best parts is that I can feel there’s not a religion necessarily holding me down,” Dobbins said. “But the bad part is that sometimes I feel outcasted because I don’t have a religion and society sometimes makes it seems like everyone should belong to a religion,” Dobbins said.

Religion is a major part of our society and has been for a long time, yet not everyone has the same level or interest in this type of belief and worship. Religion has become widely social because it brings people together, and many religions take stances on many social issues. One of Sam’s reasons for drifting away from Catholicism is because of the religion’s stances on social issues.

“I think that if I was still Catholic I’d feel very very out of place and would be uncomfortable. Especially with the way that the LGBTQ+ is sometimes portrayed or treated,” Dobbins said.

Because Sam wasn’t nurtured in a religious family, they found their own path and were greatly influenced by society. Together Katelyn, Natalee, and Sam represent types of family dynamics around the idea of religion.

“Religion can bring families together or tear them apart, but in the end it is just a way to view life and what comes beyond,” Shipley said.