Spartan Daily Vol. 161 No. 29

NAMED BEST CAMPUS NEWSPAPER IN CALIFORNIA FOR 2022 BY THE CALIFORNIA COLLEGE MEDIA ASSOCIATION AND CALIFORNIA NEWS PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION

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VOL. 161, NO. 29 | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2023 | SERVING SAN JOSÉ STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1934| WWW.SJSUNEWS.COM/SPARTAN_DAILY

ILLUSTRATION BY TRACY ESCOBEDO & JOANNA CHAVEZ

Religion on Campus

Experiences

Faith

Organizations and communities at SJSU

The SJSU community tells its stories

Deep dive into religion and its uses

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PAGES 7-9 & 16

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EDITORIAL

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2023

Faith and religion are a personal experience.

Religion is a sensitive subject, and the various experiences both negative and positive within differing faith communities make having an open dialogue about the matter challenging.

This is because everyone’s experience with faith and religion is unique.

We’d like to begin this issue by explaining how faculty in San José State’s religious studies department choose to teach their courses and the messages students are taking away from the curriculum.

In addition, some members of the editorial board confront their own struggles with religion and how it has shaped the respective beliefs we are comfortable supporting.

interpret as they please, and in this issue, we want to reflect the diversity of faith on our campus.

We focus on a variety of religious organizations and centers on and around campus and what members of these groups value the most and how their involvement has enhanced their connection with faith.

We explore the intricacies of religion’s roots, the role faith plays in everyday life for college students and how beliefs influence individuals.

There is value in every religion and spirituality. Oftentimes these ideologies are intertwined with culture, environment and identity.

Our intention is to respectfully cover the various religions, faiths and beliefs that bring solace to so many people in our community.

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Faculty focus on human connection

By Brandon Nicholas SENIOR STAFF WRITER

San José State University offers a humanities bachelor’s degree with a concentration in religious studies, a discipline requiring students, professors and lecturers to set aside bias regarding their religion of practice in order to understand the theologies of religion around the world.

It is estimated that approximately 234,760 students enrolled in undergraduate religion classes in Fall 2017, about 2% of all four-year students in the United States, according to an American Academy survey. From 2013 to 2018, the number of bachelor degrees in the academic study of religion fell 31%, from 5,012 to 3,479.

San José State University’s Department of Humanities offers a concentration in comparative religious studies where students focus on scholarly interpretations of global religious traditions, according to its website.

Arthur Zárate is an interdisciplinary scholar of religion and humanities assistant professor at SJSU whose research explores the relationship between Islamic theological thinking and secularity in twentieth-century Egypt, according to his bio on SJSU’s website.

Zárate’s classes, which include Middle Eastern Traditions and Islam, Politics and the West, aim to introduce students to the diversity of human religions and e x pre s s i ons while highlighting how religious traditions interact with each other, according to the same website.

“I teach the academic study of religion,” Zárate said. “I think that the question of what my religious background is doesn’t really have any significance when it comes to teaching about religion.”

Growing up in a religious household, he said his parents were Buddhists of Tibetan

tradition and considers himself to be a practicing Buddhist. He also said some of the practices include daily rituals such as praying at a shrine at home.

“The particular form of Buddhism that I’ve become a part of is also something that has been heavily shaped by American culture,” Zárate said. “When my parents became Buddhists, it was at a time when there were a lot of encounters between Americans and Eastern religions.”

He said his familiarity

do not concern the human aspect of religious studies.

“Students in my classrooms learn about the human side, and that’s a thing that is completely relevant to every aspect of your life,” Zárate said.

“You are always dealing with other human beings, and to be able to appreciate other people’s ideas, beliefs and histories is important to get along in this globalized world.”

Religious studies senior John Wagas is currently enrolled in Zárate’s Middle Eastern Traditions

find common beliefs while acknowledging the differences, whether its courses exploring Islam, Buddhism or Judeo-Christian scripture.

“I’ve recognized the commonalities, but also recognized that there are distinctions between us that don’t necessarily divide us,” Wagas said.

“But they do help us better appreciate the uniqueness of everything.”

Throughout middle and high school, he said he questioned his faith but tried to find the meaning and purpose behind his

‘Oh, I didn’t know that.

I’m sorry.’ ” Zárate said he encourages students to talk about the similarities and differences of world religions from a human perspective by inviting them to share their personal experiences, but not limiting the discussion to one story.

Being the first in his family to attend graduate school, Zárate said he enjoys teaching firstgeneration students because he believes that it is part of his duty to help people who are in similar situations.

He also said firstgeneration students tend to come to class with a rich and deep understanding of their cultural background from immigrant communities.

“I want to hear about where they came from, Marianne Delaporte Kabir and when we’re talking Religious studies lecturer about religion, I think it’s valuable to hear those asynchronous course. beliefs, even applying the perspectives,” Zárate said.

“For me, at the heart same critical thinking to “I want them to use that of it, is engaging in other world religions. cultural knowledge that religious conversation He said the religious they have in their classes.” in the first place,” Wagas studies professors he’s He said he tries to help said. “People who are encountered at SJSU students both honor their not religious spiritually, put their heart and soul own practices and people who were raised into their courses and communities, as well as religious who fell off approach students with an developing an appreciation from religion, people open mind. for other cultures and who are still religious ...

Religious studies religious disciplines. this great accumulation lec turer Mar i anne Zárate said it is of what is the Bay Area Delaporte Kabir currently especially important for demographically and teaches two asynchronous students whose religious representation is lacking in the classroom to uphold their traditions in order to help others learn and appreciate their cultural background.

“These classes are set up so students can learn about the world while Arthur Zárate not being indoctrinated Humanities assistant professor into any perspective,” Zárate said. “It’s an approach that encourages personally and being able courses at SJSU: Religion her students, Kabir said critical free thinking to foster that discussion is in America and Bible it allows for a healthy about religion.” the touchstone of it.”

History and Literature. learning environment Wagas said he “I am a Catholic,” Kabir where students can appreciates that professors said. “It’s integrated into express their faiths and and lecturers don’t my life outside of campus how it might relate or expect students to have because I attend church contrast to the material a rich understanding of on Sundays and I enjoy being taught. world religions because reading theology and “Usually, students are each religious studies listening to gospel music.” pretty good themselves,” course is dedicated to a Kabir said an Kabir said. “I feel like certain discipline. interesting aspect about there’s a maturity level Follow the Spartan Daily He said he was able te aching religious where students will say, on X (formerly Twitter) to incorporate elements studies is that students ‘Hey, this sounds like @SpartanDaily from other religions and approach the course this,’ and someone says

One of the exciting things that you get to do in religious studies is trying to get everybody to take a step back and open their minds and hearts to different faiths.

with Buddhist studies and knowledge of Islamic humanities helped when teaching courses that fall into the Humanities Honors Program.

The Humanities Honors Program is a series of globally-focused courses that examine the knowledge of mankind throughout histor y, including literature, philosophy, culture and social institutions, according to its website.

“One of t he fundamental components of the academic study of religion as opposed to if you go to church and learn the perspective of the church ... that’s what we would call the, ‘Insider perspective on religion,’ ” Zárate said. “I approach religion as an outsider secular approach.”

Focusing on the human aspect of religion, Zárate said his classes aim to study the behaviors and beliefs of a group and the institutions mankind has created as religious people.

He also said he strays away from determining if religious teachings are true or false when l e c tu r i ng b e c au s e those obser vations

with some emotional connection to a particular religion, or sometimes against religion.

She also said people tend to possess a blackand-white approach when it comes to religion and reminds her students to seek out the good and bad traits of all major world religions.

“One of the exciting things that you get to do in religious studies is trying to get everybody to take a step back and open their minds and hearts to different faiths,” Kabir said.

While she remained a devout Catholic, Kabir said her curiosity for other faiths has helped her understand religion from a global perspective as she tries to implement that into her classes.

“There’s all these amazing varieties of faiths, and historically, it’s interesting to learn how they have developed and changed and impacted each other,” Kabir said. “This is a secular university, so we teach it from a secular viewpoint.”

She said the discipline of religious studies is very different from math or science because it is a sensitive subject for students who practice differing faiths.

By implementing a level of trust among

Students in my classrooms learn about the human side, and that’s a thing that is completely relevant to every aspect of your life.

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Religious studies courses cover history

By Vanessa Real STAFF WRITER

An ongoing theme with San José State University’s religious studies courses is the focus on the historical backgrounds and deeper meanings of the respective religions covered, rather than a step-by-step curriculum on how to practice a given faith.

“Academic study of religion is about understanding people and culture around the world, which has great applicability in diverse fields including social service, international business, inter nat ional relations, health service and education, to name a few,” lecturer Mihwa Choi said.

SJSU offers a Comparative Religious Studies Concentration, where students are to complete the core courses in humanities while focusingg on scholarlyy interpretations of the world’s religious traditions, ions, according to an SJSU webpage. page.

There is onee required course to cover the comparative religious gious studies concentration’s required major preparation. on.

The course, Gods, Guns, Gurus, Grails ails – World Religion, is described as a survey of major world religions and their structures and nd patterns of each faith ith according to SJSU’ U’s Religious Studies ies Concentration Catalog.

Todd Perreira, ra, religious studies ies lec turer and current teacher cher of the Gods, Guns,

Gurus, Grails course said he is committed to helping his students understand why religion is so crucial to understand on a deeper level.

“It (religion) matters because the world we find ourselves in is an everchanging world,” Perreira said.

“Hinduism and Buddhism can no longer be constrained by geography. Through migration, globalization and the various platforms of social media, we’ve shifted to a new paradigm: it’s all religions ons in all places at all times.”

Philosophy freshman Ira Zweig said shee is taking Death, Dying ng and Religion, also taught nd said

by Perreira, and rives to even if she arrives class feeling sleepy, de awake she leaves wide because of the engaging

are the

open-ended, and that class encourages each

Lecturer Mihwa Choi teaches Legacy of Asia, covering the

Religion. She said a huge challenge she faces is the fact that a lot of people don’t know what religious studies is actually about at SJSU, and believes more people should take a religious course.

Gilmore said that the overarching goal of the academic study of religion is to try to help people better understand the content of various religious beliefs and practices.

“The lack of knowledge about Todd Perreira Religious studies lecturer religions is not the fault of any of our students, rather I think student to develop and civilizations of India, China, it is the result of there is simply consistently reevaluate their Central Asia and East Asia, not a lot of education about own interpretations and and Censors and Icons: religions in most K-12 public stances on death.

Arts and Religion. schools,” Gilmore said. “I really Industrial design She said this course do think that everybody would freshman Selina describes ways of life, forms be better off if everyone had Cho, who of governance, artistic and to take at least one religious is als also in intellectual developments, studies course while they P e r r e i r a ’s technological innovations and were in college.”

D e a t h , human interaction.

D y i n g Choi said her Censors and Icons: Art and Religion Follow the Spartan Daily course traces the history of on X (formerly Twitter) civilizations by examining arts @SpartanDaily and religions beginning with Paleolithic, Mesopotamian GRAPHICS BY ALICIA ALVAREZ and Egyptian arts. nature of each and Religion course said she She also said the course class. thoroughly enjoys the class looks at how the Persian, because it opens a forum for Greek and Roman empires conversations about death and utilize religious arts and “This class d dares to ask its role throughout Judaism, architectures. fundamental questions Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, “It is very exciting with respect tto which I Hinduism and the Lakota Sioux. to teach religions have infrequently been Cho said she is a spiritually- and Asian cultures infreque able to discuss or learn in practicing Christian and said as at SJSU because the past,” Zweig said. “Each she has grown in her faith, the many students have week going into int class, I flaws of organized religion have already been exposed have had my prec preconceptions become apparent to her. to the subjects through of what quantifies, “Professor Perreira’s class is various venues such as their quantifies classifies and justifies de death and a place for me to understand own ethnic backgrounds, dying challenged, and this where it all came from – how social circle, pop culture and has forced me to reorient we start and how we end,” Cho multicultural environments of my own philosophical said. “I never once questioned the region,” Choi said. phi perspectives on it,” the before or after, but through Humanities Lecturer Lee Zweig said many man of the his course I have thoroughly Gilmore said she currently topics discussed in class enjoyed asking those questions.” teaches Magic, Science and

Through migration, globalization and the various platforms of social media, we’ve shifted to a new paradigm: it’s all religions in all places at all times.

Muslim students find community on campus

By Dylan Newman SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The Muslim Student Association (MSA) is a recognized student organization at San José State that brings students together through faith, specifically in the religion of Islam.

With no official membership required, the group on campus has roughly 200 regular student event attendees.

The group was founded in 2014, however Muslim student groups have been formed at SJSU since the early 1980s, according to previous Spartan Daily reporting.

Maryam Ayadi, business administration senior and president of the Muslim Student Association at SJSU, said one of the club’s missions is to be the voice for Muslim students on campus.

Ayadi said to support this mission the group hosts networking, social, educational and spiritual events for any student to attend.

“I know that other clubs, they have official memberships and they have fees and things like that, our goal is not really like that,” Ayadi said. “You don’t have to have high levels of commitment to join.”

Subha Khan, business administration senior and secretary for the organization, said the Muslim Student Association helps provide a space for Muslim students to pray, because it is a part of the Islamic faith to pray five times a day.

Khan said the club also works very closely with the

DYLAN NEWMAN | SPARTAN DAILY

Speaker Ustadh Ihab Badr discusses religious teachings with members of the MSA at an event last Thursday.

MOSAIC Cross Cultural Center to secure a place for students to make their prayers.

The MOSAIC Cross Cultural Center is a student resource center that offers resources and advocacy for students on campus, according to a university webpage. The center has its own department at SJSU and has a shared space for cultural events and clubs.

SJSU collects enrollment data by demographics including gender, age and ethnicity, but not by religion, according to the university’s analytics webpage. Ayadi said there could be nearly a thousand Muslims who attend SJSU, each requiring their own space daily to pray.

“This space is not a luxury, it’s a necessity,” Ayadi

said. “(MOSAIC) has been really helpful.”

Ayadi also said the Muslim Student Association has partnerships and receives aid from groups across campus including the Student Wellness Center, Associated Students and the university’s administration staff.

Khan said one of the goals for the club is to secure additional and larger spaces for prayer to accommodate all of the university’s Muslim student body.

“There’s Friday prayer for Muslims, and that's called Jumu’ah,” Khan said. “It’s kind of a big gathering prayer ... one of the ways we're mainly serving our members and our students is to get more prayer spaces for them for their evening prayers – for people who have classes

later in the day.”

Ice cream socials, bake sales and bonfires with other Muslim Student Association branches from other universities are some of the events MSA holds to further create a sense of community among its members.

Many of the students who participate in MSA events are not of the Islamic faith and simply have friends who practice it, according to Khan.

“We have members who are Latinx, we have members who are of the African American community, we have members of the East Asian community, we have members that are Ukrainian, even,” Khan said. “We try to invite non-Muslims and people of other religions and faiths to come together.”

The Islamic faith is practiced worldwide, but originates from what is eurocentrically known today as the “Middle East.”

Ayadi said students in MSA will benefit from resources the South, West Asian and North African (SWANA) Initiative receives.

The SWANA Initiative is another student group on campus whose depoliticized term for ‘Middle East’ includes more countries and is devoid of colonial and eurocentric ties, according to a Sept. 2 Instagram post from the group.

She also said the majority of MSA’s students fit into SWANA’s demographics.

“Whether it's mental health resources, financial resources,

things like that, anything that SWANA receives definitely helps (the Muslim Student Association),” Ayadi said. “If SWANA were to receive a space, that would be amazing.”

Daanyaal Qureshi, senior industrial and systems engineering major and events coordinator for the Muslim Student Association said club members at SJSU represent the Muslim community around the Bay Area, California and beyond.

Qureshi said what the Muslim Student Association provides and is able to achieve will act as a reflection of the greater community as a whole, and will leave a direct impact on the students as they make friends and graduate.

He said the club makes him closer to the campus community bonded by faith in Islam and connects him to every Muslim at SJSU. “It provides me with a sense of comfort,” Qureshi said. “Being a part of the board for the (Muslim Student Association) allows me to help build on top of what we have and create a space and environment where all Muslims can feel like they have a sense of community to rely on as a source for socialization and support in multiple areas.”

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NIKITA BANKAR | SPARTAN DAILY

The Newman Center Catholic Campus Ministry, which holds events throughout the year for its members, sits on the corner of East San Carlos Street and 10th Street.

Students bond at Newman Center

By Nikita Bankar STAFF WRITER

As a student-run organization at San José State, the Newman Center Catholic Campus Ministry promotes not only the importance of devoting oneself to religion, but the value of community and friendship.

The Newman Center was founded in 2011 and is affiliated with the Diocese of San José Catholic Schools, according to its Facebook.

Students, who are part of the SJSU Newman C at h o l i c St u d e nt Association, devote their time to sharing their faith with fellow students, alumni and faculty, according to the same site.

Lily Cabello, animation sophomore and public relations officer at Newman, said the facility aims to offer an open and welcoming space for those who have trouble finding a community in college.

“We are open to both Catholics and nonCatholics, so if you are looking to just learn about the faith, make friends, study or hang out, we are the place for that,” Cabello said. “We want to help people build friendships and feel comfortable.”

Cabello said she also spends a lot of time at

the center, which gives her the chance to build new connections while also meeting with other officers to plan upcoming events.

The Newman Center has numerous collaborative events throughout the year, according to its website. During an event called “Lock In,” members stay over at the facility and have an opportunity to get closer to one another, according to the same site.

During the Spring Retreat, members also engage in talks and activities around a theme selected by the officers at a retreat center, also according to the Newman Center website.

my heart happy seeing everyone having fun and growing in their faith.”

Pau ly Pimentel, kinesiology teacher-prep senior and member of the Newman Center, said his connections with others at the center has kept him frequenting the center for the past four years.

“During my freshman year, everything was on Zoom because of the pandemic,” Pimentel said.

“I was looking for a way to meet people since I was stuck at home, and (the New Center) had Zoom meetings that year, so it was a great way for me to connect with others who shared the same beliefs as me.”

Center),” Pimentel said.

The center holds Mass at 5:15 p.m. Monday through Friday, and at 6:30 p.m. on Sundays, according to its website.

Mass is the Church’s way of fulfilling Christ’s command at the Last Supper, and has always been the central form of Catholic worship, according to Learn Religions, a faith and religion-based publication.

Pimentel said before Mass, there is a form of worship called “adoration.”

“Adoration is a moment of silence for worshipers and adorers to be in the presence of God,” Pimentel said. “After that, we have a

I get to have such deep conversations with them that I don’t usually have with other people in my classes. It’s not just friendship, it’s love.

Joshua Milstead

Newman Center Treasurer

Cabello said having events and bonding with members, friends and family is one of her favorite things about being a part of the center.

“I really love being able to grow and contribute to a place that people enjoy,” Cabello said. “It makes

Pimentel also said he has become more social with others at SJSU because of his time and participation at the center.

“I probably wouldn’t have been able to talk to other people on campus had I not joined (the Newman

sacrament, which is where people who feel the need to confess their sins.”

Newman also has rosary at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, which is a long prayer through the intercession of Mother Mary to give prayers to the Lord, according to its website.

On Tuesdays at 7 p.m., Catholic Talks take place, an event where Catholics and non-Catholics come together to discuss a variety of topics within Catholicism.

Rachel Xalxo, aerospace engineering junior and the previous public relations officer at the Newman Center, said she joined because she needed to be with people who shared the same faith as her.

“One of the reasons I still attend is because of all the Catholics who are there, as well as the non-Catholics who are discerning becoming Catholic,” Xalxo said. “It was such a ‘Yes, I finally found it’ moment when I entered freshman year.”

Among those in the Bay Area who reported they are affiliated with a religion, 26% of those surveyed reported they are Catholic, while Protestants, both mainline and evangelical, made up 23% of those surveyed, according to a March 16, 2015 article from CBS. Ten percent of those sur ve ye d rep or te d they belong to a nonChristian religion, while 4% reported they were Jewish, 2% reported they were Muslim, 2% were Buddhist and another 2% were classified among an “other religion,” category according to the same

website.

Joshua Milstead, engineering technology and business sophomore and Newman treasurer, said the retreat influenced him to become an officer.

“The retreat, which happened off-campus during the spring semester last year, really inspired me to both serve my community and serve God,” Milstead said.

Milstead said one of the main goals of the center is to create a safe space where people can be themselves.

“Our second main goal is to grow in faith together, and for our members to encounter Christ,” Milstead said.

“Both goals shape our club as a whole.”

Milstead also said he has made lifelong bonds and deep connections with the people at the center, which he loves.

“I get to have such deep conversations with them that I don’t usually have with other people in my classes,” Milstead said.

“It’s not just friendship, it’s love.”

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PHOTO COURTESY OF HINDU YUVA

Members of the religious organization Hindu Yuva SJSU stand and sit for a photo in front of a slideshow aiming to share information on how to protect Dharma in North America.

Hindu Yuva offers sense of community

By Navin Krishnan

discipline, self-confidence and selflessness.”

Hindu Yuva SJSU has an event Hindu Yuva, a religious to welcome new students called and cultural chapter that was “Suswagatam,” which directly established at the University of translates to “lone welcome” Washington to combat issues in Sanskrit, the primary they face as young Hindu language used in Hinduism, practitioners, developed a branch at San José State in 2008.

Hinduism dates back 5,000 years ago in India and is the oldest documented religion in the world, according to the Hindu American Foundation.

Hindu Yuva SJSU is an organization consisting of students who look to unite the broader Hindu community and students from around the world to celebrate the philosophies of Hinduism, according to the Hindu Yuva website. according to Hindu Yuva’s most Hindu Yuva SJSU is also aims recent newsletter. to educate Hindu youth at San This slogan is emphasized in José State and looks to shed ed a four-day event called “Gone light on the stigma they face ce to Dharma,’’ where students as a group, according to the he from campuses from across the same website. country come together to learn SJSU Artificial Intelligence ce about the auspicious slogan. graduate student Ankita Arvind nd The event also includes a yoga Deshmukh said Hindu Yuva va session where students explore SJSU arranges numerous events ts different techniques as and festivals on campus. amateur yogis and “Through these events, s, learn about Hindu members definitely experience ce folklore, according to y,” the same source. a transformative journey,” ge Deshmukh said. “(An average Deshmukh said she ls participant) definitely feels al a connection to a spiritual es root, but it also creates interpersonal skill.” al Prasad Khandat, a regional a, coordinator for Hindu Yuva, us said the club uses a non-rigorous n and friendly introduction into the world of Hinduism to rn educate anyone willing to learn about methods of wellness. du learned to embrace Khandat said one of Hindu Yuva SJSU’s main priorities is Hindu Yuva SJSU as to carry on the traditions of a way of connecting with Hinduism away from India. her Hindu roots. va “The purpose of Hindu Yuva “As an international is to create a platform and to student, I felt like I totally te found a home away from preserve, practice and promote at home,” Deshmukh said. “I laws and principles,” Khandat p became a member of Hindu said. “We aim to develop ip Yuva because I was drawn to its character and leadership rs presence on the SJSU campus skills and all of our members f- and opportunity to connect emphasize values such as self-

STAFF WRITER

with individuals who shared similar values and beliefs.”

Deshmukh said the concept of “Dharma” or principles crafted by years of practice of their religion, seems to be lost in an ocean of rich culture.

This concept is derived from

American Foundation.

“Hindu Yuva derives its inspiration from ancient knowledge and understands the task ahead of them,” Khandat said. “Hindu Yuva provides this platform to bring together Hindu college students and

through Hindu Dharma and the Hindu way of life,” Kanani said.

In addition, Kanani said the organization emphasizes personal development and creates a sense of unity, cultural awareness and service to others.

Khandat said the purpose and influence created for this ancient, but timeless set of philosophies is growing.

He said connections formed through Hindu Yuva SJSU can aid students in succeeding spiritually.

Kanani also said his exp erience at SJSU Ankita Arvind Deshmukh was definitely boosted through Artificial intelligence graduate student his experience with the organization.

“It not only helped me with my resume, it provided me with the ancient scripture in Sanskrit young professionals.” a sense of belonging within and is considered a “cosmic law,” She said along with the the group, these different a c c o r d i n g to the Hindu club’s emphasis on Dharma experiences ignited my desire and culture, members have a to give back to the community,” Ka commitment to the Sanskrit Kanani said. term ‘Seva,’ or “selfless service.”

Khandat said Hindu Yuva SJS Vinit Pankaj Kanani, SJSU provided a valuable ne treasurer for Hindu Yuva network of peers and leaders wh eventually became his SJSU and artificial intelligence who me graduate student, said the mentors and always engaged wit the local community with organization’s goals go with vo beyond creating a safe volunteer work. shelter and nurturing In 2022, the organization spr environment for spread across 50 university cam Dharma and Seva. campuses, becoming the largest Hi Kanani said Hindu Hindu student organization in No North America, according to its website.

“Hinduism has been practiced thr throughout Asia for a thousand ye years.

Today, Hinduism is a glo global religion representing vir virtually every racial, ethnic an national background and and liv living on every continent,” Kh Khandat said.

I became a member of Hindu Yuva because I was drawn to its presence on the SJSU campus and opportunity to connect with individuals who shared similar values and beliefs.

ABOUT

EDITORIAL STAFF

The Spartan Daily prides itself on being the San Jose State community’s top news source. New issues are published every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday throughout the academic year and online content updated daily.

The Spartan Daily is written and published

by San Jose State students as an expression of their First Amendment rights.

Reader feedback may be submitted as letters to the editor or online comments.

EXECUTIVE EDITOR MATTHEW GONZALEZ MANAGING EDITOR JILLIAN DARNELL PRODUCTION EDITOR ALICIA ALVAREZ NEWS EDITOR IRENE ADELINE MILANEZ ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR ALINA TA A&E EDITOR ALEXIA FREDERICKSON SPORTS EDITOR MAT BEJARANO

SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR BOJANA CVIJIC OUTREACH EDITOR CHRISTINE TRAN PHOTO EDITOR ALEXIA FREDERICKSON COPY EDITOR GILLIAN BROWN SENIOR STAFF WRITERS BRANDON NICOLAS NATHAN CANILAO STAFF WRITERS DYLAN NEWMAN NAVIN KRISHNAN NIKITA BANKAR MELANY GUTIERREZ JULIA CHIE ANGEL SANTIAGO VANESSA REAL

Yuva SJSU also focuses on personal development, personal well-being, development, spiritual promoting a sense of unity and cultural awareness.

“Hindu Yuva’s purpose is to bring together Hindu youth on college campuses across North America and create opportunities for them within college the communities

AALIYAH ROMAN FERNANDO CARMONA JACOB CHAVEZ MAYA BENMOKHTAR LAMAR MOODY ILLUSTRATORS JOANNA CHAVEZ TRACY ESCOBEDO PRODUCTION CHIEF MIKE CORPOS NEWS ADVISER RICHARD CRAIG

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2023

7

ILLUSTRATION BY TRACY ESCOBEDO

I’ve built my own interpretation of faith

Jillian Darnell MANAGING EDITOR

I’ve never felt the need to subscribe to a singular religious ideology.

I felt so distant from the Catholic religion, tall pillars towered over me in the church and carried its secrets so high I would simply look up and be left grounded in confusion.

I recalled the daunting stained glass on the walls of my home church with the ominous smell of oils and lavender and the wallpaper of Jesus’s impending doom as each tile displayed compelling scenes of him dying on the cross.

It all seemed so frightening.

The choir’s songs riled up all the penance and sins within me. I never understood why I always felt so guilty and shameful attending church. Despite feeling confident in my decision to not go to Catholic school, I felt alienated and cold in the church pews.

People would rise after mass, line by line filing out from each pew awaiting their daily bread.

I felt so desolate and alone when I walked up to the front of the aisles, not knowing what to do.

I would turn and see my father standing behind me using his fingers to stretch out his smile into a goofy face that would make 10-year-old me giggle. I always

loved my father for turning things that seemed so serious and important into something fun and enjoyable.

I would happily step up to the priest and cross my arms over my chest to receive a blessing and then walk back to my father standing next to the holy water.

He used to make jokes about filling up a spray bottle and spraying each person in the church until we found out who was a demon.

We made bets of who in the crowd could possibly be a demon as my mother shushed us to have her prayer in peace.

I grew up a mixed race child, with a white father who identifies as agnostic and my Filipino mother, a devout Catholic.

I learned about fossils and the theory of evolution from my father who studies and works as a geologist. I watched my mom clutch her rosary close to her chest and cast her Hail Marys before family dinner during holidays.

My mother and father have a

there were two distinct and dueling identities. I was taught that education was my greatest weapon because no matter what, my intellect would never be taken from me.

My mother was excommunicated from her original church after she divorced her first husband, but still held onto her faith. My father had abandoned his ideals when he went to work every day as an environmentalist working for a gas refinery. However, my education, my experience, my knowledge was something highly valuable that I will always get to keep.

I realized many of my friends and even my siblings were forced to take on the philosophies of their parents, and swallow whatever text that was given to them wholeheartedly without really analyzing what they believe.

I was given a gift to have my own autonomy over my religious beliefs, I had the freedom to select what ideologies were significant to me and adopt my own faith.

as humans, to separate ourselves from our own darkness, we fulfill our potential and become better people.

I’ve read other texts from different cultures and religions, folktales and stories related to Hinduism would resonate with me and I found beauty in the prospect of reincarnation.

Even though I didn’t adopt any virtues from the Quran, I saw the solace in the community as Muslims believed God to be an ever compassionate being to humanity.

I’ve adored reading about mythology from Pagan tales to Greek epics. I loved reading these stories as pieces of literature, but I also saw the ancient secular value in each text.

Stories of hubris, humanity, empathy and a divine power always fascinated me. I don’t necessarily think there’s one god, but I do believe in some power out there and the spirituality of souls, that humans are meant to exist without limitations.

My faith became a mosaic of virtues from every religion I casted my eyes upon.

loving relationship, a marriage built on 35 years of trust, compassion and respect for each other. Despite this, I still struggled with my religious identity.

When I was old enough to attend classes for Catechism, my parents offered me a choice. I could either attend Sunday school every week just like my older sister and brother did or I can learn about faith on my own if I choose to pursue it. latte I decided on the latter.

My father told me “T “There’s value sto and in every book, every story l every person. You can learn from everything.”

He grew up in a Mor Mormon household in Hawthorn Hawthorne, Calif., but went to multiple ch churches dive set of growing up with a diverse atten Lutheran friends. He would attend Prot churches, Western Protestant congregation and churches, congregations, temples of multiple reli religions.

He believed they all have va similarities and core values and some there was something important to learn from each.

I was raised in hom with a a home fou foundation th prided in that a academics ev when even

GRAPHICS BY JILLIAN DARNELL VIA CANVA

I’ve read from multiple religious texts throughout my education, and even though I never considered my virtues to be pious and I would learn lessons from each text and select what I wanted to practice.

My faith became a mosaic of virtues from every religion I casted my eyes upon.

I started to dive deep into various religious texts when I started my college journey at San José State University. I took a humanities honors course and was assigned multiple religious readings and l learned so much from each of them.

I read “The Book of Siddhartha” and became fascinated with Buddha’s story. I adopted many Buddhist virtues into my own personal philosophy, such as the belief of enlightenment, also known as “bodhi” in Sanskrit.

Enlightenment is when an individual ends their suffering from being driven by desires, darkness and ignorance and is enlightened by knowledge and wisdom as Buddha had been, according to an article by the Tricycle organization, a website that informs beginners of Buddhism.

That is something I believe, that if we reach enlightenment

There are still plenty of texts I want to read and learn from. Even though sometimes I disagree with some aspects of these beliefs, I’m grateful to have an understanding of the diverse religions that make up our world.

Although I adored learning from other faiths, there was a downside. I felt so connected to my father’s belief in spirituality and the scientific perspective of the world, believing the theory that the universe produces energy that creates us and as we die we give that energy back.

However, I felt so detached from my Filipino identity growing up. For my mom’s family, being Catholic and Filipino were one in the same.

When I would go to church I would feel so loved, but so much like an imposter as people turned their heads toward each pew offering a handshake and then blessing “peace be with you.”

I felt as if I didn’t belong in the church, but when we got to the after party, my titas, titos and pinsan would have plenty of food ready.

My cousins and I would work hours in an assembly line putting together a large plate of lumpia for the big get together.

At our family dinners, we would

celebrate by eating lechon, pancit, lumpia, puto and feast on halo halo for dessert.

We connect through food, stories and love for each other.

My father, among the few white men in the group, would douse his lumpia in banana ketchup earnestly, listen to my aunties gossip and gave deep respect to my grandfather’s stories about World War II. He was a Filipino prisoner of war captured by the Japanese in World War II. My grandfather’s beliefs are what got him through such traumatizing times, and even though I don’t fully understand the extent of that level of faith, I can immensely respect it for what it is.

Even when there was a looming statue of the Virgin Mary staring down at me disappointed, I knew I still had a community.

There are many things in the Catholic faith that I don’t agree with or carry in my everyday life, that goes with every religion I’ve read and practices I’ve adopted.

I simply believe in a universe that creates everything with value, a universe that creates energy with meaning. And as we coexist with other energies of life, the best compliment to our creator, whoever or whatever it may be, is to explore our bodies and minds to its highest potential.

I want to read as many books from as many ideologies as I can, I want to travel around the world, I want to get tattoos to decorate my skin like I would decorate my room, I want to understand everything about what makes my body tick, what are the triggers, what makes me happy, what makes me sad. I was given this body and this life, why not allow myself every experience to realize it to its fullest extent?

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COUNTERPOINTS

I’m still faithful

Matthew Gonzalez EXECUTIVE EDITOR

My Catholic faith is all I know, and I’m standing by it.

Trigger warning: Suicide As a child, I was taught to combat personal hardships with my Catholic faith.

It was simple. Didn’t get the toy I wanted?

Say three Hail Marys. Not allowed to go to a sleepover? Two Our Fathers were in order.

Going to a Catholic middle school was a generally positive experience for me, attending Mass on Fridays with my church family was a blast and singing songs whose lyrics were much too complicated for my little mind to comprehend was a great time.

My worries were rooted in what game I was going to play at recess and what time my mom was going to drop off my Subway sandwich for lunch.

Inevitably I grew up and my hardships became more complex.

It was in my senior year at St. Monica Catholic High School that the not-so-wellkept secret of my homosexuality began to haunt me every time I prayed.

I was scared that God didn’t accept prayers that came from the closet.

I was fortunate enough to be a part of a church that I believe to be welcoming, and will continue to pray to a God I know to be forgiving and full of love.

The overarching notion that being gay was a sin in Catholicism weighed heavily on my religious psyche in my teenage years. How could I find comfort in praying to a God who may not love or accept me?

As backwards as that might sound, I chose to believe that my faith, even if I was gay, was still valid in my personal God’s eyes.

While I subscribed to the idea that

I’ve lost faith

my sexuality simply didn’t align with the views and beliefs of the religion I grew up practicing, I continued to pray.

Comfort in my religion came with a lot of reflection.

The mantra of my high school’s church was “All Are Welcome Here” and I have always found great solace in that phrase, and it gave me hope that my sexuality didn’t completely negate the faith I had built since I was a kid.

Along with this, I didn’t ever remember hearing teachers, priests or my church’s monsignor condemn same-sex relationships or embrace homophobic or misogynistic viewpoints.

So much of my fear and doubt in my religion came from generalizations of Catholicism and the “man shall not lay with man” philosophy that I never personally saw.

Granted, I went to school in Santa Monica, so I am fully aware that my positive experience in Catholic school might be personal to me.

Just because I was never exposed to a cult-like, punitive form of Catholicism, I cannot disregard other people’s negative experiences with the church.

My heart breaks for queer kids who have had religion thrown in their face as a way to scare, demean or invalidate them or their lifestyle.

At its core, I believe that true Catholicism should embrace diversity and censure belittling people for something they cannot control, including sexuality.

Juggling faith, identity and sexual orientation can contribute to the destruction of physical and mental wellbeing among religious queers according to a 2015 Polish study done by Igor J. Pietkiewicz and Monika Kołodziejczyk-Skrzypek.

Queer participants reported having depressive moods, self-loathing and suicidal ideations in regards to religious identity according to the same study.

The dichotomy between growing up in a religious environment and being a gay man is something I struggle with everyday.

I am often uncomfortable when people around me bash religion, but I also understand that the center of one’s conception of faith is their own experience.

Unfortunately more often than not, queer kids are subject to the worst parts of religion, the deep-seated hateful side that is present in many religions, not just Catholicism.

I was fortunate enough to be a part of a church that I believe to be welcoming, and will continue to pray to a God I know to be forgiving and full of love.

To me, the beauty of religion is its nuance.

Scriptures are to be interpreted individually, everyone’s vision of a “higher being” is different.

I continue to be steadfast in my faith, a faith based in Catholicism but shaped by me and my relationship with my God.

IIrene Adeline Milanez NEWS EDITOR

Catholic elementary school pushed me away from the Church.

Trigger warnings: homophobia, Trigg transph transphobia and suicide.

Having to face your own mortality at the ripe Havin age of si six-years-old is not best for your psyche.

The C Catholic Church’s moral absolutism devastated me before I could even really devastat understand the difference between “good” and understa “bad.”

Try juggling ju the moral implications of your everyday decision making on top of realizing everyda you’re queer. q From second to eighth grade, I attended a private Catholic C school in Sacramento. The nicest w way I could describe my experience would probably be akin to being in a cult for six years of my life. lif I remember rem how uncomfortable I felt in class when m my seventh grade religion teacher said the only marriage ma valid in the eyes of the church was between a man and a woman.

I sank into the wooden church pew as the droned on about the shame our country priest dr was facing faci by legalizing same-sex marriage, a moment that should have been celebrated. momen would go to church twice a week, on Fridays I wou with my entire school and again on Sundays with parents. my pare If you’ve you never been to a Catholic Church, it’s a lot of sitting down, standing up, sitting back down d again and thinking about the inevitability of death. inev Church always made my chest feel tight.

So much of its teachings revolve around h how your current actions will result in either paradise and oneness with God or eternal damnation in the flames of hell.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but it feels a bit obnoxious and counterintuitive tto only do good things for the sake of av avoiding punishment.

I have ha been depressed since the fourth grade and I was wa unable to get professional help until my soph sophomore year of high school.

Befor Before getting help, I was told that I was ungratef ungrateful for God’s blessings in my life, that I should just j pray and find solace in “Him” instead of feeling feelin sad.

While I might have had a genetic predispo predisposition to mental illness, I largely attribute attributed my distress to thinking about death so much because be of the Catholic Church.

By th the way, suicide and thinking about suicide is a sin ttoo.

As a child, c the idea of the end of the world, the second seco coming of Christ and judgment day, scared the t absolute shit out of me.

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ILLUSTRATION BY TRACY ESCOBEDO

In the Catholic Church, the second coming of Christ will happen instantaneously and without warning. Everyone will die and their souls will be judged by God directly according to the “Catechism of the Catholic Church.”

The “Catechism of the Catholic Church” contains fundamental Christian truths formulated in a way that facilitates the Church’s understanding according to the United States Conference of Bishops website.

Though the “Catechism” calls for gay individuals to be treated with compassion and respect, it refers to homosexual acts as “objectively disordered.”

On top of rejection of homosexuality, the U.S. Conference of Bishops also reject gender transition.

Learning that your existence as a queer middle schooler is “objectively disordered” isn’t the best news to hear while you’re still trying to figure out who you are as a person.

I felt like a bad person for being queer and for thinking about death, a double whammy.

I have always been a curious child growing up, asking incessant questions about how the world worked to the annoyance of the adults that had to deal with me. Catholicism always left me with more questions than answers.

What was so bad about Eve eating the apple to know the difference between good and evil?

Was God really cruel enough to wipe out all life on Earth except for one family and their boat full of random animals?

Why do I feel guilty for existing?

If you’ve never been to a Catholic Church, it’s a lot of sitting down, standing up, sitting back down again and thinking about the inevitability of death.

As I got older, I realized that some of the questions I had could not be answered by my religion.

I had to figure it out on my own.

When I finally received counseling for depression and anxiety, I was able to talk to others my age who went through similar struggles to me, as well as a professional therapist who never told me to just “pray it away.”

I find comfort in talking about these feelings with my friends from elementary school who experienced growing up in the same confusing, hurtful environment.

Despite receiving baptism, holy communion and confirmation, I’d like to think I have now distanced myself entirely from the Catholic Church.

I have stopped attending church for six years now and I am more at peace without a religion than I ever was following a church that did not want me.

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2023

Religious experts discuss death

By Dominique Huber SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Many religions have specific rituals, traditions and beliefs geared towards making the concept of death easier for people to grasp and accept.

Todd Perreira, San José State religious studies lecturer said there is a reason why so much effort has been put toward this cause.

“My theory is that human beings – we need meaning in our lives,” Perreira said. “It’s not enough just to exist. It's not enough just to be conscious beings. We need meaning in our lives and death, if we’re not prepared for it, (it) can sort of violate all of that.”

SJSU librarian Kathryn Blackmer Reyes said Dia de los Muertos and the relationships she maintains with her dead have helped keep her centered in the face of loss.

Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a Mexican holiday in which people create altars with traditional offerings for their lost loved ones as a way to honor them and encourage them to visit from the land of the dead, according to a National Geographic webpage.

“I see it as spiritual,” Blackmer Reyes said. “I’m recognizing those who have impacted my life and certainly the gratitude that I’ve had with them.”

She said Dia de los Muertos has shaped the way she sees death and the connections she keeps with those who have passed on.

“You’re You re taught to take care of the dead,” Blackmer Reyes said. “It’s not something that I think just comes naturally.

She said she

has fond memories of visiting her lost loved ones in Mexico as a child, bringing them Marigolds and cleaning their grave sites, a couple of Dia de los Muertos traditions.

Perreira said these kinds of traditions and rituals are important in helping people cope with the reality of death and their own mortality.

“That sort of comforting reassurance of having the family around you or having those close friends around you, it does sort of help you realize you did touch other people’s lives,” Perreira said. “You did matter, regardless of what your belief is of what’s about to happen once you die.”

Blackmer Reyes said Dia de los Muertos gives her reassurance that she will be cared for after she passes away.

“I just hope that when I die someone will take care of my gravesite,” Blackmer Reyes said.

“Not that I’ll know, I don't know, but I think the idea that someone would take the time to find it important to bring me flowers and to cut ut the grass or wash off myy name and say my name. That, to me, just psychologically gically gives me comfort.”

Many religions have rituals which are similar to those of Dia de los Muertos with the purpose urpose of remembering and honoring those that at have passed away.

Funie Hsu, an assistant sistant professor of American erican studies at SJSU, who ho was raised in the Taiwanese wanese Humanistic Buddhist ddhist tradition, said designated trad gnated mourning periodss are mo important in times im of prayer for both th the grieving and the person gri who w passed away.

When someone meone who w practices certain c

traditions of Buddhism passes away, their loved ones go into a 49-day period of rituals to help free the person’s soul so they may move on and be reborn, according to a Nichiren Buddhist Church webpage.

Hsu said this recognition of those who have experienced a loss is one display of the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism.

The Four Noble Truths are the Buddha’s core teachings and the tenets

each other from beginning to end. We need to be comforted, we need to be reassured. It goes back to this idea of ‘Did I matter?

Did my life matter?’ ” Perreira said Judaism is one strong example of this.

He said in Jewish tradition, the importance of having people around you in life and in death is widely known. “ It’s actually incumbent upon you to be present with those who are dying and to make sure that they’re not alone,” Perreira said.

Shaya Bernstein is the rabbi at Chabad at Todd Perreira SJSU, which provides a religious studies lecturer gathering place for the Jewish students of SJSU, according to its website. of Buddhism on human Bernstein said there suffering, according are a number of ways to to an Oxford Research make sure dead people are Encyclopedias webpage. taken care of, even after The Four Noble Truths they're gone. include teachings of the The “Burial Society,” is nature of suffering, the the name used for groups causes of suffering, the of volunteers who are end of suffering, and the tasked with preparing the path that leads to the end body for burial after a of suffering, according to Jewish person has passed the same webpage. away, according to the “You’re constantly Jewish Museum’s webpage dealing with the reality of page on death ceremonies. death,” Hsu said. “It is kind Bernstein said this dea of experiencing the truth responsibility remains the e of the t Four Noble Truths same for those who die of that tha there is suffering. But unnatural causes resulting then the the last noble truth in their body parts being in that is that there is a separated from each other. way out and part of that “Judaism believes way out, I think, is being only in burial so we’re with wit spiritual friends and tasked with giving back practicing Buddhism with our bodies to go back pra spiritual friends.” to where we came from spir Perreira said one in that sense,” Bernstein P common thread in said. “We believe in trying com many religions is the to give God back the body ma recognition rec gnition that human as much as we can in the beings way that we got it. it.” bei s need each h other. other.

“I He said it is imp important “ don’t know kno ow of a portant religion reli on where they t y want to ensure that each person the p you to alone,” is buried with digni dignity. o die alone, ,” Perreira P ity. said. inherent For this reason, said “There’s an n in nherent r eason, recognition rec nition thatt w we need Bernstein said, those preparing the bodies b

It’s not enough just to exist. It’s not enough just to be conscious beings. We need meaning in our lives and death, if we’re not prepared for it, (it) can sort of violate all of that.

“I did that after my parents passed away,” Hsu said. “There’s an idea that the person who’s passed away might have attachments to their family and might not want to leave this world and transition into the next world, so you can do many sorts of prayers and ceremonies to encourage them to move on.”

She said when she attends service, the temple is divided into two sides; one for those who are participating in the 49-day service, and the other for those who aren’t.

clean them, dressing them in plain clothes and place them in a coffin.

“The biggest pauper and the wealthiest person at funerals – their end of life ceremony will look very very similar,” Bernstein said. “The last chance at receiving some dignity is at the funeral and then after that it’s done for that person. So everyone’s allowed the same level of dignity in that sense.”

Bernstein said, when a Jewish person dies, it is believed that their soul goes to a better place.

Because of this, he said practitioners of Judaism focus less on trying to live a certain way in order to get to heaven, and more on living in the present.

“Jewish tradition has it that even the most vile, terrible person gets there eventually,” Bernstein said. “It’s just kind of a matter of time for them having to wait it out through some sort of redemption process.”

Bernstein said, the first year after the person passes away is a designated time for their loved ones to say a daily prayer so they can reach their final place of rest.

Perreira said he finds humans' innate instinct to remind themselves of death interesting.

“Human beings are interesting because we have to live with the knowledge that we’re gonna die and I haven’t interviewed every dolphin on the planet, but I’m not sure if other animals share that knowledge,” Perreira said. “It’s a curse and a blessing that we are aware bless of our ou own mortality.”

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2023

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SJ celebrates Día de los Muertos 2

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#1. A man dressed in traditional Aztec regalia plays a drum while incense burns and dancers perform for a crowd during the annual Día San José festival. #2. Classic Mexican goods, such as dolls from Querétaro, line the tables at a vendor's booth at the event to celebrate Día de los Muertos on Oct. 21. #3. A woman paints an attendee's face at a small booth in a style to mimic sugar skulls. #4. A vendor wraps up a tamal for an order from their booth, Super Tamales, in Downtown San José on Oct. 21. #5. San José State University amluna Alma Cruz poses as event attendees take photos of her in front of a mural. #6. Various classic cars and low riders line up to exhibit ofrendas, a traditional display of photos and goods in memoriam of lost loved ones during Día de los Muertos.

PHOTOS BY ALICIA ALVAREZ | SPARTAN DAILY

12 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2023

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Healing with faith through recovery

By Nathan Canilao

and Mat Bejarano SENIOR STAFF WRITER AND SPORTS EDITOR

During an April practice, San José State women’s soccer defender Isabella “Izzy” Shallou-Enes planted her right knee and heard a grinding sound coming out of her lower leg.

The diagnosis: a torn ACL that would keep her out for the entirety of her 2023 senior season.

“When I looked at my knee after 5 minutes, I was like ‘Oh it might be fine,’ ” Shallou-Enes said.

“But then our trainer brought out some crutches. I was so hopeful that it was going to be something else. I just broke down when I found out it was my ACL.” The shock of missing a whole season ate at Shallou-Enes, but she felt confident that she could get through it. She believed that her faith would get her through the dark times of her injury.

“I trust in someone one bigger than anything I can experience and know that he is using this everyy step of the way,” Shallou-Enes -Enes posted on her Instagram gram after her injury.

Shallou-Enes said she used a lot of prayers and incorporated faith in her injury recovery.

“I’m not a patient nt person, but praying for patience and asking for god to help me with every tool I can is a big thing for

me,” she said.

Shallou-Enes grew up in Turlock, Calif. where she practiced Catholicism. But over the last year and a half, she has converted to Christianity.

“God knows more than I could ever know more than he knows my heart, he knows what’s going to happen, and he will use every situation,” Shallou-Enes said.

Since coming to SJSU, Shallou-Enes has attended WestGate Christian Church in South San José.

“So (God) used that experience, to grow me spiritually and just grow my relationships with other people because I did have to reach out and I did have to trust in other people,” she said.

Luckily for Isabelle, she had a support team just a block away from campus us in an organization nization named ed Called Up.

Founded by Clay Elliott, the organization provided comfort to student athletes of any religion with weekly dinners according to its website.

“I’ve been a part of (Called Up) since my freshman year here, and just seeing all the different people who come in and out with injuries ... we’ve got to pray over them and share their story,” Shallou-Enes said.

Elliott, who was once a student athlete himself playing baseball at Liberty University, made it to Double-A after being drafted by the Atlanta Braves in 1976.

After meeting at the beginning of Shallou-Enes’ time at SJSU, Elliott said she jumped into Called Up right g away.

“She’s one of our main leader leaders right now. She has been for a couple

GRAPHIC BY ALICIA ALVAREZ

PHOTO COURTESY OF ISABELLA SHALLOU-ENES

Isabella Shallou-Enes recovers in the hospital shortly after her season-ending injury.

of years,” he said.

When Elliott heard about the news he said he was bummed to hear about Izzy’s injury but couldn’t I see se any negative changes in her attitude.

“I “ get the athletic world and when I see a kid go down dow with injury I know their thei world is rocked,” Elliott said. “I want to be Elli there the to encourage them to come alongside them.”

Despite her injury Shallou-Enes continued S her daily routine by continuing to attend Called Up weekly dinners and representative meetings on Sunday nights.

“She comes bubbling in on her crutches in the beginning and she doesn’t allow the injury to prevent her from being a part of it,” Elliott said Even in recovery, Shallou-Enes is still making sure to be present at games and practice.

“Izzy has decided to do more than stay engaged to elevate her game by doing all she can to come alongside the team,” Elliott said. “That’s pretty rare. She’s a special young lady and I’m proud of her.”

SJSU junior defender Carly Burns has been one of Shallou-Enes’s closest

friends since joining the team. Both attend Called Up on a regular basis and are open about their faith.

Burns said Shallou-Enes just needs to be patient through her recovery process. “ God has a greater plan for things and even though she might not understand it right now,” Burns said. “I’m grateful to god that I get to play another year with her.”

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How Spartan athletes use faith on the field

By Brandon Nicolas SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Student athletes at San José State come from all over the world, possessing a variety of cultural backgrounds, ideologies and religions. When it comes to practicing for a competition or preparing for a scrimmage, some athletes incorporate their religious beliefs and practices to better understand themselves and their teammates.

Kinesiology sophomore Lauren Sheppard is a cheerleader for SJSU’s spir it te am who practices Buddhism.

“Cheerleading is definitely a mental sport,” Sheppard said. “A lot of it contains a lot of stress and Buddishm really helps with reducing stress.”

Sheppard said, being self aware of mind-body techniques is one of the main focuses of Buddhism as well as meditation and being aware of one’s body.

Fifteen minutes before practice begins, Sheppard said she uses that time to meditate and reflect on how she can improve as an athlete and a teammate.

“One of the biggest moments for a cheerleader is competition,” Sheppard said. “When you’re standing and waiting at the back of the mat to go on, the nerves and the stress is extremely high.”

To reduce the competitive nerves, Sheppard said she and her teammates collectively take a deep breath and she follows it up by taking individual deep breaths of her own.

Being her second year on the spirit team, Sheppard said incoming freshmen have asked her for tips on staying calm during intense practice regimes and during competitions.

“They will see me on the mat just standing there breathing,” she said.

“Nobody else really does that.”

Sheppard said she ends her day by preparing material offerings for her altar, such as burning incense, which is a religious expression of the Buddhist virtue of giving.

“Being a college student, a lot of us have anxiety and don’t manage it

well,” Sheppard said. “And then being a student athlete, my body is exhausted all the time, so those 10 minutes in the morning and night to meditate can really set your day.”

Environmental science senior Malia Luna is a Christian athlete who plays for SJSU’s softball team.

Raised in a Christian-Lutheran household, Luna said she grew up praying before meals, going to church ip p and having a relationship with God.

She said she also attends Monday dinners at the Called Up house where she sits down with fellow student athletes who are learning to glorify God through their sport.

Called Up, previously known as Fellowship of Christian Athletes SJSU, is an organization at SJSU dedicated to helping student athletes find their relationship with god, according to its g Instagram bio.

“Called Up was the big th thing for me and h how they were

relating y o u r relationship As an athlete with God and GRAPHIC BY ALICIA ALVAREZ for over 15 years, she the things you were began to incorporate and emphasize doing can be glorified through your religion more upon entering sport,” Luna said. “That’s a talent college-level softball. he gave you.”

“I started being more open with She said she gained a deeper sharing the word of God with people understanding of the ways she can and really finding myself in a deeper glorify God through the organization relationship with God,” Luna said. by communicating her story with others Luna said she was able to find solace and maturing with her faith. with her faith in her teammates during Luna said starting this semester, her first year at SJSU, after moving away the softball team gathers in the locker from home and losing the ability to rooms before practices to say a prayer, confide in her family on a regular basis. inciting trust and encouraging the act

of leaning on one another through potentially stressful times.

Ashley Rico, business administration senior and athlete for SJSU’s softball team, said she has been playing the sport for the majority of her life.

“I was born and raised in the Catholic church, and right now, I’m still in the air whether I want to do Christianity or Catholicism,” Rico said. “At the end of the day, I believe in God and follow his word.”

Rico said she practices the word of God by praying each morning and reading the Bible.

She said she was encouraged to visit Called Up’s Monday dinners by a senior athlete last year, and since has been attending meetings and growing closer to God. Feeling that her teammates keep their faiths and battles to themselves, Rico s said she feels her teammates keep their f faiths and battles to themselves and b being vulnerable with the word of God can help athletes reach breakthroughs.

“I’ve noticed that my teammates k keep to themselves and don’t like t talking about their faith,” she said.

“Because the minute we do, we are j judgemental in a way.”

Rico said it has been her goal over the past month to involve her fellow athletes in sharing their testimonies and how they overcame their struggles as a group to make the conversation of religion more approachable.

Luna said her softball coach encourages athletes to be vulnerable with one another to create deeper relationships within the team.

She also said the team prayer is not meant to be sacred, but rather to allow athletes to talk to God and their fellow teammates in a safe space.

“We already had a moment before where a girl was going through something and we were able to pray amongst her as a team, which was something very special to see,” Luna said.

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2023

ALINA TA | SPARTAN DAILY

A Buddhist altar sits on a raised stage at the back of the San José Church Betsuin on Fifth Street in Japantown after Sunday services and Dharma school.

Buddhism has issues with education

By Alina Ta ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

Some Asian Americans are trying to reconnect with Buddhism after years of emotionally-complicated experiences as a result of growing up Buddhist in America.

Thung Luu Tang, biology freshman from San José City College, said she has gone back and forth between identifying as a Buddhist while growing up in America. “(As a kid) I didn’t know what Buddhism was,” Tang said. “I just knew we went to temples and everything, but technically, I was a declared (Buddhist) because my parents put it upon me.”

Tang said she grew up visiting local Buddhist temples, attending many holiday events and visiting the cremated remains of her dead loved ones stored at the temples’ altar.

Tang said her friends in highschool used to ask her about what Buddhism was, but she was unable to explain it.

She said she would instead tell her friends to go on the internet to look it up.

“I’m like, ‘What do I know?’ ” Tang said. “ ‘You know, look it up. I don’t know anything.’ ” Tang said in her junior year of highschool she decided to attend a religious retreat to learn more about her religion.

She said she lost interest near the end of the retreat and did not advance far in her studies because she couldn’t overcome the language barrier because she was not fluent in Vietnamese.

Tang said despite being born in Vietnam, she is not confident in speaking Vietnamese because she grew up in the United States.

“As far as like, the words that they use, it’s advanced man,” Tang said. “They’re using some other worldly language.”

Tang said she didn’t want to open Google Translate on her phone because she was afraid that would be considered rude.

Tang said she knows enough words to have a conversation in Vietnamese, but learning about Buddhism was still difficult, even at home.

“It has always been hard like ever since I was a kid,” Tang said. “I remember, our parents tried helping us recite

the prayers. Never stuck.”

Tang said she decided to reconnect with Buddhism later in high school after she realized she didn’t want to lose ties with her roots with her home country.

Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS) has the second largest number of religious followers in Vietnam, according to the 2022 Report on International Religious Freedom on Vietnam from the U.S. Department of State. This accounts for five million followers and 5% of the overall population.

“I don’t want to lose ties with my culture and everything,” Tang said. “It connects people everywhere you go in Vietnam, there’s at least a temple and everyone has their own temple.

Coming here, temples aren’t really seen.”

Eric Timothy Wen-Tian Ching, a 2018 San José State alumnus who grew up volunteering and attending the San José Buddhist Church Betsuin, a Buddhist temple located in San José Japantown that practices primarily Jodo Shinshu Buddhism, said he grew up going to church

able to understand the general meanings of most of the prayers.

“All the return characters are readable or legible to Chinese, Japanese, and pretty much anyone from those regions,” Ching said. “But all of the words are Japanese pronunciations of Chinese words. That makes absolutely no sense. If you have no idea what you’re listening to.”

Ching said the copy of a Buddhist text used by San José Buddhist Church Betsuin has been translated three times through Chinese, Japanese and English.

He said many Buddhist holy texts were also translated after originating from India and traveling through a number of countries in Asia.

“When you get down to it Buddhism came from India, got translated from to Chinese, and then from Chinese to Japanese, then from Japanese to English,” Ching said. “That’s assuming that it was only translated once into Chinese. There’s like, multiple different Chinese dialects. So it could have been translated more than three times.”

Buddhist world is inherently pluralistic and diverse, both culturally and textually.”

Justice studies senior Haiyen Nguyen said chooses to practice Buddhism through a more spiritual style.

Nguyen said she considers Buddhism to be more of a way of life and rarely visits her local temple, unlike her grandmother who visits the temple on a weekly basis.

“I have kind of GRAPHIC BY JILLIAN DARNELL VIA CANVA taken more of a spiritual stance when it He said even his religious comes to Buddhism now, classes at San José Buddhist more so of like, I believe Church Betsuin discussed the it’s more of a way of life,” history of Christianity.

Nguyen said. “My grandma “We did learn a little bit was extremely devout. She about stuff like Christianity believes that you have to go because they are pretty major to the temple all of the time.” in the U.S.,” Ching said. “You Nguyen said she wears kind of can’t talk about religion prayer beads and believes in or philosophy without talking focusing more on practicing about Christianity in some Buddhism through being way, and how it’s altered or aware of the different types of slightly informed how we energies around her. perform Buddhist practices in However, she said she the U.S.” grew up resisting against Ching said the form her family’s strict way of of Buddhism the temple practicing Buddhism. practices is very adaptive to its environment to some degree.

He said for example, San José Buddhist Church Betsuin has pews.

“If you were in Japan or China, there would be no pews,” Ching said. “You would be kneeling on the floor, essentially.”

Funie Hsu Hsu said although some associate professor of American Studies may interpret the changes in some Buddhist practices as submission and assimilation, “I didn’t like how she sees it from a different was trained in a form of Buddhism that derived from controlling my mom and my perspective. grandma had portrayed it She said she instead sees it Thailand.

Perreira said he was (Buddhism) to be as we got as a skillful means to ensure Buddhism temples can trained to not see Buddhism older,” Nguyen said.

Nguyen said her continue to practice. as a religion, but more as a grandmother practices a “From a Buddhist philosophy and a way of life.

“Part of the challenge I form of Buddhism that has perspective, it might not think we have is that we have stronger Western influences necessarily just be assimilating sort of a Christian Protestant sharing resemblance with out of kind of like a submissive position,” Hsu said. “But this is model for what it means to be some Christian practices.

“It’s become very much like the skillful means that enables religious,” Perreira said.

Perreira said Buddhism it has to be practiced in a them to not just ensure that does not have a popular temple, but reality is that a lot their temple can persist and central holy text and is mostly of the Buddha’s, a lot of the that there’s a place of refuge, a passed down to the next monks and the nuns that used spiritual refuge and a place of to be that used to practice literal refuge for people in this generation orally instead.

He also said it is extremely in Vietnam, they didn’t have heightened time of anti-Asian diverse in the ways it can temples,” Nguyen said. “They violence.” be practiced, which is didn’t have actual structures, very different to Christian they practiced along they would walk.” practices.

Ching said it is very “We’re not dealing with a Christian world where we’ve difficult to talk about religion got one Bible for all the without discussing how Follow the Spartan Daily flavors, or one Quran for all Western religion influenced on X (formerly Twitter) Muslims,” Perreria said. “The Buddhism. @SpartanDaily and grew up with Buddhism as being part of their culture.

Hsu said she still practices Buddhism with a combination of practices she learned from her family and through her own reading.

“I’m someone that had Buddhism as part of my immediate family life as I grew up and I am still a practicing Buddhist,” Hsu said.

Hsu said some Asian Americans who are heritage Buddhists can experience confusion identifying with their religion because they may not feel they are practicing Buddhism correctly or at all.

She said this confusion may come from not being able to apply many Western interpretations of what religion is supposed to be to Buddhism.

“I actually think that’s one of the reasons that younger Asian American Buddhists who might be second generation or third generation might have a hard time trying to identify if they do feel like they’re Buddhist or not,” Hsu said.

Todd Perreira, religious studies lecturer, said he identifies as a Buddhist who

I actually think that’s one of the reasons that younger Asian American Buddhists who might be second generation or third generation might have a hard time trying to identify if they do feel like they’re Buddhist or not.

weekly since he was in kindergarten.

Jodo Shinshu Buddhism is the practice of compassion, expressing care, concern, empathy and love, according to a Jan. 7, 2019 article from Lion’s Roar, a magazine and nonprofit organization that aims to provide Buddhist teachings, news and perspectives.

Ching said he grew up going to classes at darma school on Sundays to learn about Buddhism. “(I was) a little kid running around the area, playing games with older kids or learning about Buddhism,” Ching said.

Ching said many of the chants performed at the temple are performed in 10th century Japanese or Chinese.

He said most followers who visit the temple will be

Funie Hsu, associate professor of American Studies at San José State, said many Asian Americans see Buddhism as “a real area of confusion and mystery” especially if there is a language barrier.

Hsu said the language barrier can become an obstacle for Buddhist who are second or third generation immigrants because they may not speak or understand the primary language of their local temple.

She said a lot of Buddhist texts, such as sutras, are not translated into English.

“So there can be a sense of just feeling lost when suddenly young people have to go to the temple,” Hsu said.

She said she is a Taiwanese American who identifies as a heritage Buddhist, someone who was born into the religion

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Students talk winter holidays

By Tracy Escobedo ILLUSTRATOR

With winter holidays fast approaching, the overshadowing of Hanukkah is imminent.

Christmas is one of the most popular religious events in the United States according to a 2023 survey by Statista. The survey shows that 78% of Americans picked Christmas while only 58% chose Hanukkah, although both holidays are celebrated in December.

Jewish studio arts senior Tali Koransky said she felt discouraged as a child because she believed that decorations and holiday movies were always centered around Christmas.

“Hanukkah was always the side dish for Christmas, the main course,” Koransky said. “However it also made me proud to be who I was.”

Hanukkah, which translates to “dedication,” is an eight-day celebration to commemorate the devotion of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem according to an article

by My Jewish Learning, a website dedicated towards Judaism and Jewish learning.

“A lot of people think that because Hanukkah happens around Christmas, that it is an extremely important holiday to Jewish people,” Koransky said.

“However, there are other Jewish holidays that hold a lot more significance than Hanukkah.”

Koransky said major holidays in Judaism include Yom Kippur (the day of atonement) and Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year).

“I wish these holidays were talked about more, so others could learn how to better respect and appreciate how we celebrate,” she said.

Yom Kippur is a 25-hour fasting period meant to atone for

ILLUSTRATION BY JOANNA CHAVEZ

any sins and reconcile with God. Rosh Hashanah celebrates the birth of the universe and is accounted as an important celebration in Judaism according to the Jew FAQ site.

Koransky said Jewish Americans are often told to participate in activities that don’t resonate with them.

“I remember being forced to sing Christmas carols with a scratchy green and red paper bow around my neck and just wishing there was a menorah in the classroom at least,” she said.

According to My Jewish Learning, a Hanukkah menorah is a nine-branched candelabrum used during Hanukkah. An oil candle is lit for eight nights straight and the ninth branch is called the “Shamash” used to light up the candles.

“I’m glad these celebrations haven’t become as commercialized as Christmas,” Koransky said. “I can only imagine what it would be like to go to Target and buy a pop-up sukkah for Sukkot.”

A sukkah is a booth used during Sukkot, a week-long celebration in Jewish culture according to My Jewish Learning.

Corporations such as Disney and Target have recently begun to market Hanukkah decorations and merchandise within the last five years, according to a 2018 Washington Post article.

Jewish spatial arts graduate student Sam Crookston said Jewish holidays are less represented in America and aren’t secular enough. “I don’t see a lot of representation of Hanukkah

in the media.”

According to the General Social Survey (GSS), about 70% of Americans in the U.S. identify as Christian/ Catholic and about 2.4% of Americans in the U.S. identify themselves as Jewish.

About 93% of Christian/Catholic Americans celebrate Christmas and most Jewish Americans celebrate Hanukkah according to the same survey.

Catholic social work graduate student Victoria Mendez said she celebrates Christmas because it’s a tradition that runs in her family.

“I like seeing all the holiday decor because I like this time of year,” Mendez said. “It just reminds me of getting to spend time with my family. I definitely notice more

Christmas decor because even when they’re first putting up Halloween decorations for sale, they’re already putting up Christmas stuff as well. I don’t know why this is the case.”

Mendez said she celebrates “Nochebuena” and goes to church on Christmas day. “We also give presents but that’s because it’s part of the tradition from American culture.”

Nochebuena, which translates to “good night,” is a Mexican tradition that most Christian/Catholic families celebrate on Christmas Eve according to a 2020 Oprah Daily article.

Tali Koransky said her family began to celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas when her father remarried. Instead of giving gifts during Hanukkah, they chose to wait until Christmas.

“Although sometimes I feel weird about celebrating Christmas, I do enjoy the calmness that comes with lighting the candles, not worrying about who got what and all that. I still don’t enjoy shopping for a Christmas tree though,” she said.

Koransky said the decorative trees look the same to her which is why she doesn’t enjoy the stress of Christmas shopping.

“I don’t think it’s super important that Hanukkah is represented,” Koranksy said. “A lot of people don’t realize that Hanukkah is more for Jewish kids, so we don’t feel left out when we see our friends getting Christmas presents. Like I mentioned, there are other holidays that are much, much more important that people don’t even know the names of.”

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How local artists incorporate religion

By Melany Gutierrez STAFF WRITER

San José State University and the surrounding community are home to many artists who explore themes that are derivative from different aspects of their lives such as religious and spiritual beliefs.

Religious and spiritual art are expressions of desire for connection, according to an article by Loyola University, a private Jesuit Catholic University in Chicago, Illinois.

Art plays a spiritual role in people’s lives, articulating the relationships people have with divine beings, themselves and the world around them, according to the same article.

Marisa Avila, pictorial fine art senior, local artist and ceramics-maker, said she does not include religious context in her art, but interacts with different artistic mediums.

Avila said she creates art in a spiritual headspace and draws influence from divinity in the natural world.

She said human eyes are one of the biggest influences in her work and she believes them to be a symbol of repelling bad energy.

“I have a really big connection to eyes,” Avila said. “My art also sometimes resembles cells and tiny microscopic looking things, and I put all these things into a bigger format.”

Avila said some of her favorite art mediums to use for her work are pottery and ceramics using clay, and painting and drawing using oil or charcoal.

She said these types of art tools can be messy, but she feels very intune with them.

Avila said she believes this is important when she is using her art to embody her spiritual beliefs in relation to the natural world.

“I have a tattoo of an eye on the back of my neck and I kind of feel like I’m being protected by it,” Avila said. “It’s like all these eyes in my art are protective entities in a way.”

Avila said she loves using methods of abstraction in her art because of how intuitive it is to her.

She said every stroke she paints places her in her own spiritual zone, where all her influences meet to produce a creation.

“With every stroke I paint, it’s like I’m in

my own spiritual world as I’m making my art,” Avila said.

Pictorial fine arts senior Megan Huddlestun said her art contains spirituality through the way she interacts with it in its different versions, from the process of brainstorming ideas to putting them on a canvas.

Huddlestun said she prefers painting and drawing as her mediums for her work.

She said she tends to extract fictional characters from classic western folklore and fairy tales, aspects of natural history and living organisms in nature as inspiration.

Huddlestun said these parts of her inspiration intricately fit together like webs to make what she likes to call a functioning and living document of her art.

One of her recent art exhibits called “Beyond,” was displayed at a gallery in the SJSU Art and Art History Department building on campus.

Huddlestun said in the exhibit she included depictions of large creatures, born of fictional lore, that were long and slender that had an ominous and domineering physical appearance but had warmer symbolism.

“When they (the skeletal-like figures) first came into my work, they were really protectors, and they came out of these ideas that I had about empathy and protection,” Huddlestun said. “They have that ominous quality because I think they are looking out for these worlds in a lot of ways, they appear fearsome, but it really comes from a place of care.”

Huddlestun said her time spent outside in her backyard in nature because it is a very fruitful site for inspiration for her art and has always been a space of comfort for her.

“I can go out into my backyard and just take a walk and spend time with these spaces that I’ve known since I was little,” Huddlestun said. “I was always fascinated by resin that would come out of these old trees and so I would go find these areas where the tree opens up, and there’s this whole other world inside of it of resin and cobwebs.”

Huddlestun said the tiny moments she has out in nature are what bring her into these larger spaces like art galleries.

ILLUSTRAION BY MELANY GUTIERREZ

She said the importance of spirituality in her art comes from the small beginnings in the concepts and ideas she gets from her influences that transform into paint splatters and sketching on a large canvas.

Rosario Muñoz, a nun at Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish church in San José, said religious art to her is an expression of faith and feeling that people carry in their minds and hearts.

Muñoz said religious art brings biblical stories to life, such as Exodus or the creation story from the book of Genesis.

She said some of the most important and prolific themes in Catholic art are iconography.

“Icons are the imaginations painted as an expression from churches and have stemmed from Christian Orthodox and Catholic religion,” Muñoz said.

Muñoz said that iconography expresses faith and devotion to religion, but also expresses pride in culture.

She said stained glass is one form of art where people often see iconography in religious settings.

“Most stained glass have a painted image of a saint or some sort of religious figure of significance,” Muñoz said. “Usually it’s an image of the Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph or an archangel.”

Muñoz also said iconography can have different variations in appearance on stained glass depending on the artist.

She said an example would be an image of the Virgin Mary with a bigger body or a longer face.

Muñoz said religious art can transcend the physical aspects of spirituality.

“Art is like a root, a source of seeing the past and helps to transport us to a spiritual life beyond,” Muñoz said.

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15

GRAPHIC BY JOANNA CHAVEZ

Churches bolster togetherness

By Nikita Bankar STAFF WRITER

Vibrant communities, spiritual journeys and diverse settings are just a few of the many pieces that make up the colorful collection of Christian churches in the Bay Area.

The Bay Area is known not only for its diversity with regards to people, cultures and environments, but for the same within its Christian communities, according to The Christian Post.

Those who run New Beginnings Community Church, which has locations in both Redwood City and San José, believe that the diversity of their church reflects the truth that God loves all people, according to its website.

Hurmon Hamilton, senior and founding pastor at New Beginnings Community Church, said the primary goal of the church is to help people find commonality in their relationship with both Jesus and each other.

“We create (an) authentic space in this place of faith and community for every single person, without exception,” Hamilton My favorite part is said. “My walking into this diverse community and knowing that this is what heaven looks like, and what the world should be as opposed to the world as it is.”

Hamilton said what makes New Beginnings Church Community unique is its incredible diversity.

“Our north campus in Redwood City is in a Jewish Synagogue, and every Sunday, we pack that building with people who are Black, white, Asian, Latino, Pacific Islander and with people who are

wealthy, poor and middle class,” Hamilton said.

“We even have people who are Republican and Democrat, evangelicals, progressives, conservatives; the full gamut.”

According to its website, New Beginnings Community Church has a vision with four key elements: to reach people who feel far from God, to make disciples, to build families and to transform communities.

A disciple is someone who adheres to the teachings of another and takes up the ways of someone else, according to Desiring God. Mandy Santos, spiritual formation pastor at Echo Church, said the church’s

attendee, according to Church Staffing.

In 2008, four families moved together from across the country to start Echo Church (previously called South Bay Church), according to its website.

They were propelled by a vision to start a church that communicated the timeless truths of Scripture in a way that could be practically applied and understood, even for those who felt irreligious and far from God. “I want to help provide some type of journey for them,” Santos said.

“It doesn’t matter how old you are, or what you believe in.”

Echo Church has locations in Fremont,

seeing the diversity of young people, old people and nationalities.”

Jenny Ingram, college ministry director at Awakenings Church in San José, said having a community within a church is essential, since as humans, we are made to coexist with other people.

“It shows us the things that we’re not strong in, and then we can lean on each other and encourage each other,” Ingram said. “I really believe the church is such a beautiful expression of that.”

Awakenings Church was founded in September of 2012 at Del Mar High School, and is still located here in San Jose according to their website. However,

the perfect illustration of what a church should be.

“You glean from each other and the different strengths of each culture and experience,” she said.

Awakenings Church believes every single person has intrinsic value, as they have been made in the image of God and are ultimately designed to enjoy a life-giving relationship with the God of universe, according to their website.

Robby Browne, worship pastor at Awakenings Church, said the cross is a perfect representation of the importance of community and faith within a church.

“One of the analogies I’ve heard is that the up down portion of the cross

I think our faith is expressed through community, since you are able to share your true love and honor for God by expressing your true love and honor for other people.

Robby Browne

Worship pastor at Awakenings Church

main goal is to develop a pathway for people, no matter how new they are to the faith of Christianity.

The Spiritual Pastor’s Formation primary responsibility is to create and implement a strategic plan that embraces, supports and resources small groups, missional communities and large adult groups for the purpose of fostering continuing spiritual growth of every

San José and Sunnyvale, according to their website.

The church focuses on encountering people and transforming their lives, families and communities across the Bay Area and beyond, according to the same site.

“Just giving people space, that’s what it felt like,” Santos said.

“It was beautiful

their story began in the fall of 2007 when Ryan and Jenny Ingram started a ministry to reach out to young adults, called Awakening at WestGate Church, according to the same site. said Ingram a having community numerous of ethnicities and age groups is

is us connecting with God, and then the left right is us connecting with each other, other,” Browne said.

Worship pastors are responsible for leading and managing the worship services at their church, according to Climb, a career guidance website.

They work closely with other members of the clergy to plan these ser vices, including selecting hymns,

prayers, readings, music, and so on.

“I think our faith is expressed through community, since you are able to share your true love and honor for God by expressing your true love and honor for other people,” he said.

Browne also said diversity is paramount in churches, as it mirrors the reason for God making humans different from one another.

“He made people different, so they have different aspects, features, cultures, phenotypes and things that really work together to make something beautiful,” Browne said.

Ed Ware, online campus pastor at New Beginnings Community Church, said making people feel comfortable and coming as they are is one of the church’s biggest goals.

“If people want to dress up, they can dress up,” Ware said. “If they want to dress down, they can dress down. We try to make everyone feel welcome, and for most people that come, that is the experience that they have,” he said.

Ware also said diversity is important within a church because of the different experiences the members bring with them.

“Churches, just like any other groups, can be very biased in a lot of ways,” Ware said. “However, by having people that look different than you and talk differently than you, you realize that we are all one family.”

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16 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2023

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Catholicism is undeniably influenced by brujería

Alicia Alvarez PRODUCTION EDITOR

If my abuela saw the nazar hanging from my rearview mirror in my car, she’d be hysterical. She’d call it brujería, a thing of the devil.

The most ironic part is that she’s a Mexican Catholic woman acting as though half of her practices aren’t watered-down versions of witchcraft.

A nazar is a blue amulet dating back to 3,300 B.C. mimicking an eye to ward off evil intentions and curses of jealousy according to a Feb. 19, 2018 BBC article.

This little amulet, glinting in the sun as I drive, acted as my introduction into the astounding world of brujería and in turn, the more intimate side of Catholicism.

Brujería, or witchcraft, is a personalized practice with roots from various different spiritualities such as Vodou and Yoruba, according to an Oct. 11, 2019 Teen Vogue article.

Being Mexican and Catholic are seemingly a symbiotic relationship at this point. Most of those who I speak to that are a part of the culture also identify as part of the religion.

Catholicism first entered Mexico in the 16th century with the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors, according to a 2018 article from The Guardian.

Since then, the religion has held steadfast with varying levels of influence on everyday life for Mexican and Mexican-American people.

Symbolism and icons of Catholicism are apparent in every aspect of life for many of us.

Crosses peppering living room walls, rosaries hanging from bed posts and unreasonably sized prints of La Virgen de Guadalupe were hallmarks of a Mexican household. I cannot recall a day that I didn’t see at least one Latin woman gesturing a cross on her forehead in silent prayer.

My cousin’s confirmation, my other cousin’s baptism, even a rosary handpicked by yours truly from the Vatican. I still have my vial of holy water from my stint in one of the holiest of city-states.

My father kissed his chains

decorated with crosses every time we merged onto a highway, as if he didn’t have a behemoth of a truck that could withstand any crash.

This religion was a constant in my life despite me never being a true believer of it.

Somehow, brujería and spiritualism were present in all of this too.

While based in the same Catholicism we see from Europe, Mexican Catholicism has evolved into what I consider a beautiful and individualized experience with brujería and spirituality gently woven throughout.

The religious landscape of Mexico is shaped by the combination of these spiritualities with Catholicism and folk magic according to the same Oct. 2019 Teen Vogue article.

and Mayan gods may no longer be the dominating faith in Mexico, the cultural influence is still noticeable enough, still traceable.

Santa Muerte, a female folk saint of death, has gained in popularity since the 18th century according to an Oct. 5, 2020 article from JSTOR Daily. While death saints are prevalent in Catholicism, they also have a deep connection to indigenous spirituality.

The connection between that ever-imposing last breath and rituality within this religious melting pot is even more recognizable with a famous celebration.

Dia de los Muertos is a holiday with traditions that date back to pre-colonial times with modern Catholic rituals woven in.

Dia de los Muertos is celebrated

same 2022 New York Times article.

Some of the rituals practiced during this holiday echo the dueling aspects of native spiritualism, brujería, and Catholicism.

Things like placing photos of deceased loved ones surrounded by candles, incense and flowers on a homemade altar screams brujería to me.

While these practices within the Catholic faith may not originate from brujería, I see their connection in my practices. I use herbs, incense, altars and candles in my worship of old gods and universal forces. These practices overlap far too much for it to be a coincidence.

I have taken to praying during Dia de los Muertos, even though I do not worship the Catholic God, to honor those who passed in my family that do. I place rosaries on

While brujería and Catholicism are inherently different with origins that could not be further apart, they have melded into a gorgeous practice that honors modernity and tradition.

The burning of incense, the offerings and even some of the saints, link back to Indigenous spiritual roots.

Copal, or incense, has been burned during special ceremonies and in cleansing rituals in Mesoamerica for thousands of years according to a 2020 article from The Grace Museum. tched friends and family I’ve watched members burn incense in their house as they pray. I’ve even taken ctice in order to remove to the practice negative energy from my home. al is far from foreign This ritual tholic religion, as in the Catholic members of the clergy often endulum up swing a pendulum n the aisle of and down athedrals for opulent cathedrals asons. similar reasons.

These Indigenous roots and rituals were not fully erased by Spanish on in colonization Mexico, but rather began to mix cts of into aspects nial post-colonial life such as language and th he religion, much to the dismay off my abuela.

While worship of the Aztec

annually on Nov. 2, with various other dates signifying child deaths before baptism and accidental deaths, according to an Oct. 22, 2022 New York Times article.

The holiday calls back ancestors and loved ones from the realm of the dead, guiding them home with cempasuchil petals to an altar decorated with their pictures, candles and food.

The holiday was influenced by both Aztec and Mayan cultures and practices and transitioned into the Catholic calendar after the Spanairds arrived according to the

GRAPHIC BY ALICIA ALVAREZ

my little ofrenda in hopes that it will call on the spirits of my family members that hoped to reach those shining gates.

I light candles and refuse to blow them out in fear of blowing away their connection to the living world. Even though I don’t consider myself Catholic nor have I willingly attended Mass in a decade, I infuse my brujería with these ever-present rituals.

Catholicism is far from my favorite religion but I wholly acknowledge the importance it holds within this holiday.

Staring at these beautiful ofrendas with candles peppering the staircased altar reminds me of two t hings – watching my father light a candle at church and seeing brujas practice magic.

Candle magic is a ritual that incorporates oils, herbs, candles and intentions.

According to a May 3, 2019 article from Refinery29, those practicing this type of witchcraft often let the candle burn until it extinguishes itself much like the

candles my father would for my late abuela.

I have always found the innate hatred of witchcraft within the Mexican Catholic community to be hypocritical.

My abuela, the number one hater of anything that she deems ungodly or satanic, has warned me and my closest cousin against things like the nazar, tarot cards and manifestation.

Even so, I used to watch this woman bow her head and pray at her homemade altar of La Virgen de Guadalupe with candles casting a warm glow on the idol while she chants her hopes and dreams.

Is this not a form of witchcraft?

Manifesting your desired life path by asking a higher force to intervene while offering candles and incense to entice them to listen? God forbid I ever tell my abuela this, I value the peace my Facebook messages are currently in without her bombarding me with Jesus videos.

I still hide my tarot card tattoo that covers my entire left thigh from her in fear of her wrathinfused messages. I even hide the fundamental basis of my spiritual being, that I practice mild forms of brujería, from my family.

The hatred of brujería from Catholic believers is ignorant in a million ways.

The entire religion has only been able to survive and grow into all areas of the world because of its adaptation of local and indigenous practices. Ignoring this is akin to ignoring your family’s history, allowing the intricate development and patterns of belief systems to dissolve with time.

I have no idea when this deepfor brujería began seated hatred h within the Catholic faith. Maybe my ancestors heard of the Salem witch ancesto the conquistadors trials, maybe m brought over the ideology of hating brough everything different when they everyth coloniz colonized my homeland. The only aspect o of importance to me is that this thi hatred dissipates with my gen generation.

Whi While brujería and Catholicism are inh inherently different with origins that cou could not be further apart, they ha have melded into a gorgeous practice that honors modernity and traditio tradition. These roots deserve to be hono honored.

If the Catholic Church and believer believers similar to my abuela were to recognize recog this, to respect brujería as the aart form that it is, I might have be become a devout Catholic.

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