Students discuss pursuit of their faith in University environment

Ceylin Arias/Staff Writer

Nicole Malanga/Panther Press

Stephanie Medrano, a junior criminal justice major with a minor in history and a practicer of Catholicism said attending FIU was a completely different experience from grade school.

Medrano, who had attended Saint Patrick Catholic school, a private institution located in Miami Beach, from preschool all the way to high school said that the one major thing that caught her attention about the university was the fact that religion did not dominate student life.

“I very much believe in God and think that he has a plan for each and every one of us as his masterpiece. To this day, I continue to attend Mass every Sunday because I truly consider God’s words as sacred and live by them on a daily basis. I understand some people think differently or do not believe in God altogether and that’s where indoctrinating young children to practice a certain religion because their parents believe in it can be harmful sometimes,” said Medrano.

Though Medrano applied to the University knowing it was a secular environment, on her first day of freshmen year, she he had expected her first professor to begin class with a prayer.

“It was a force of habit. For the first five minutes of class I forgot I wasn’t at my old school where we would have a school wide prayer before officially starting the school day,” she said.

Though Medrano continues her religious routines outside campus, she’s glad the University has more to offer than just religious organizations. She thinks having all types of talk, activities, and clubs inspire people like herself, who have been used to having their student life dominated by religion, come out of their comfort zone and explore other interests.

“On campus I’m not part of any religious organizations because I’m a member at my own church where I also volunteer. Instead, on campus I’m part of organizations that are not religion-affiliated and that is what is most important: to have a healthy balance of everything by trying something new,” she said. “You never know, you might just fall in love with a new part of you that you didn’t know existed.”

Alexander Arkin, a sophomore computer science major who practices Judaism, echoes Medrano’s sentiment about having the ability to talk about something else other than religion on campus.

“I’m as pure as a pure breed Jew can be. Both my parents are Jewish, my grandparents on both side are Jewish and so were my great-grandparents. My great grandmother who is still alive was born in 1924. She was only 9 years old when the Holocaust began. It goes without saying that I have been brought up to cherish our traditions and the Torah,” said Arkin.

For Arkin, being part of a secular environment on campus hasn’t affected the way he practices Judaism or how often he practices it. In fact, such an environment has always helped him keep a clear mind and not judge others for their differences.

“I respect other people’s views and how they should carry on their lives, what is and is not allowed as per their religion or if they don’t believe in a higher being, I respect their reasons for not doing so. I went to a public high school so I’ve had the chance to meet quite a few different individuals. I just think it’s important to understand ‘you’ in the context of the world; what your purpose in life is and what you want to make of it, hopefully in a meaningful way,” said Arkin.  

Marlom Martinez, a senior majoring in chemistry, on the other hand, does not identify with any one religion. Instead, he identifies as agnostic.

“I’ve always heard that agnostic is the same thing as Atheism or almost, but I’ve looked more into it and it’s not so much that you don’t believe in religion altogether, more that you doubt it,” Martinez said. “I don’t believe that there is a higher power, per say that is God but more so, that there is some sort of higher power in the Universe and that it does have its own way,” said Martinez.

Martinez also finds millennials to be much more open to religion and their beliefs because they question everything while older generations, such as the baby-boomers, tend to prefer one religion over another.

Nicole Malanga/Panther Press

“My parents are Catholic and I was raised Catholic, but it was in high school that I began to stray away from religion because I became open to new ideas from teachers and peers. There are so many religions out there it feels weird to call just one of them ‘right,’” said Martinez.

Though older generations may prefer to practice any one religion, they may not necessarily respect other people’s choices regarding faith, according to Martinez.

“My family are not ashamed of me. But, I have been shamed by my girlfriend’s family more than my own… My girlfriend’s uncle is a devout Christian and he shamed me once and I had to tell him: ‘listen, it’s just what I believe, there’s nothing more I can tell you.’”

 

Photo Courtesy of Flickr

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