6A NEWS
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2009
RELIGION (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
GERRETT FUGATE
Gerrett Fugate, St. Louis senior, was raised as a Christian but converted to Islam when he came to the University. At a young age, he said he never felt he was religious, but that it was more of a cultural aspect. His mother is Greek Orthodox so he was raised as a strict Catholic. But in high school, he started to re-evaluate his faith.
"Around that time, I was re-evaluating my faith in Christianity because I had a lot of doubts about the existence of God." Furate said.
When Fugate came to the University, he said, he was introduced to several religions and wanted to explore them.
Fugate said being on his own at the University and away from his family helped shaped his identity.
MICHAEL KOPIT
Michael Kopit, Overland Park law student, was raised as a conservative Jew. He said he and his family generally attend temple on high holy days such as Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah.
As a Jewish student, Kopit said he never saw a Jew, including himself, have a crisis of faith at the University.
"You know one of the good things about KU is they have all the different religions here and I know the Jewish religion here is really big," Kopit said. "There's Hillel House, there's a couple temples, there's the Jewish Community Center here in Lawrence. So everyone was pretty welcoming here." According to the American Jewish Committee, in 2007, 7 percent of Kansas' population was identified as Jewish. Kopit said that with Jews being a minority in Kansas, going to the University with other Jewish college students who were in similar situations made it easier to connect with one another.
"It's really easy to find a common ground with other Jewish kids," Kopit said However, Kopit said it was hard to find the time to attend temple with his rigorous schedule as a law student.
KASHIF NASEEM
Kashif Naseem, Karachi, Pakistan junior, is an engineering student who tries to be a practicing Muslim on campus. He said he frequently visited the Islamic Center in Lawrence, 1917 Naismith Dr.
Naseem said with Islam, one doesn't boast about how virtuous one can be. "I try to be as good as possible and I'm sure everybody else tries to be as good." Naseem said.
In Pakistan, Naseem asked questions about his faith when he was 15 and 16 years old.
"So when I came here, it wasn't something that the environment forced me to question my beliefs because I had already done that." Naseem said.
With his moderate parents and the liberal media that's growing in Pakistan, Naseem said he had dealt with an environment that was not afraid to ask questions, no matter how unpopular.
"So when I came here, it wasn't something that the environment forced me to question my beliefs because I had already done that," Naseem said. But when he did question those beliefs, Naseem said it only made his faith stronger as a young adult. As Naseem took a step back to view his heritage, he grew more attracted to the religion because he saw it as a complete devotion to God.
JEREMY ADKISON
As Jeremy Adkison, Leavenworth sophomore, likes to put it, paganism is practicing a "dead" religion's reconstruction.
Adkison, the president of KU Cauldron, is part Wiccan and part Buddhist, and he likes the open-minded aspect to pagan religions. He said he admired pagan religions because they played a part for his moral and spiritual progression.
Adkison, who was raised Catholic, said the religion never truly captured him. He said that at a young age, the Catholic religion just amounted to boring services that he was forced to attend.
"Maybe it had been introduced to that a little later on when I was a little more mature.
and kind of understand those concepts, it would be one thing," Adkison said. "But as a 7- or 8-year-old, I was just like 'this means nothing to me.'"
Throughout his spiritual journey, he questioned biblical teachings and the existence of God in a Christian sense. When Adkison was 13 years old, he started to look up meditations on the Web and grew interested in Wicca. Wicca strongly believes in a god and goddess and Buddhism has strong ties with meditations.
"I suppose being here with all these people at the KU college, it's kind of enhanced my beliefs and my education and I've learned new things and kind of understood different things better I didn't quite had a grasp on before," Adkison said.
University didn't change Adkison's belief in Wicca or Buddhism, but instead reinforced it.
"I was 12 when I first figured out that I was probably not really feeling the vibe of religion," Ralph said. "It wasn't until high school that I pronounced myself as agnostic and it wasn't until college that I became atheist."
Joey Ralph, Hutchinson junior, is president of SOMA, and his journey to atheism was a slow one that progressed as he aged.
JOEY RALPH
Ralph said that he was born Protestant but that his upbringing wasn't very conventional. He said if his family attended Mass, it would be for a holiday such as Christmas or Easter.
"My dad was a pretty religious guy but my mom, she was more open-minded and she actually claims to be an agnostic." Ralph said.
Ralph said his atheism was a problem at home because he had to guard his opinions. But here at the University, he felt more welcomed.
"It was difficult. Especially with my father and especially dealing with parents of my friends who are religious and when I attended high school, our mascot the Crusader," Ralph said. "But I think the environment here at college definitely helped just because people tend to be a lot more open-minded because here you get thrown into a more diverse community."
Adam Buhler/KANSAN
Thad Holcombe, campus minister for Ecumenical Christian Ministries, said he often sees students question their faith in college. Holcombe said it's important for people to question and grow in their faith.
AN EDUCATION
Richard Botkin, senior lecturer of humanities and Western Civilization, teaches classes that introduce students to religions and outlooks different than their own. In his Western Civilization class, a few of the readings Botkin assigns are selected readings from the Bible, the Torah and the Koran.
"I warn my students, usually the first day, that this is not Sunday school, that there's nothing wrong with Sunday school," Botkin said. "This is a secular university and I am given the charge of teaching the material in Western Civilization whether it's considered sacred or not."
Botkin uses these readings to portray a cultural viewpoint of the past but he encourages critical thinking
"We're going to look at this material with a critical eye, putting it in its historic context and with a skeptical eye at times," Botkin said.
"We're going to look at
Botkin emphasizes critical thinking because, as he explains, a student's ability to learn can be seen as a gift from God. Botkin said it would be a
waste of God's gift if a student didn't use his or her brain.
Botkin said he thought passion was a good trait to see in a student and he encouraged any student to discuss the religion, its history and its messages. The response Botkin doesn't like to see is indifference.
The responses Botkin receives, either in e-mails or face-to-face conversations, were always from students who were angry or just wanting to discuss the topic further.
"Passion, one way or the other, is good."
Mirecki said most stu-
said. "It's more of an anthropological than a theological question. So we're not looking for the answer that a religion might provide. We're looking more toward why humans construct reality in this way. In a Muslim way, in a Catholic way, a Southern Baptist way, in a pagan way, whatever the religion might be."
Paul Mirecki, associate professor of religious studies, has the opportunity to see students willingly question religion.
"We don't ask the question 'What does God want me to do,' but rather 'Why do humans behave this way?' Mirecki
KU Cauldron is a student organization with 11 members that practices pagan religions, such as Wicca and Neo-Druidism.
dents in religious studies had a personal interest in studying religion academically.
There are 41 religious student organizations registered on campus this school year. Most of the organizations are based in Christianity with a few Muslim and Jewish groups. One organization that stands out is KU Cauldron, the student pagan group.
"In general, most of them really don't care one way or the other. That to me is the worst possible situation," he said. "Passion, one way or the other, is good."
"My experience is that the students' reactions are 'Oh this makes sense," Mirecki said. "That religion itself can be analyzed like any other phenomenon."
One group doesn't appear in the listing of religious student organizations because it doesn't advocate belief in religion or God.
RICHARD BOTKIN Senior lecturer, Humanities and Western Civilization
A pagan religion is loosely defined as believing in polytheism, a belief in more than one god, or not pertaining to the beliefs in Christianity, ludaism or Islam.
According to the University's Web site, the Society of Open-Minded Atheists and Agnostics, or SOMA, is a student organization with 55 members that advocates reason above faith as well as the complete separation of church and state.
THAD HOLCOMBE
Campus Minister
Ecumenical Christian
Ministries
V
"...the Bible itself is not a reservoir of answers entirely. It's also a reservoir of questions."
Check Kansan.com for a video interview with Janel Wietharn.
@ KANSAN.COM
JANEL'S JOURNEY
When Janel Wietharn had her crisis of faith, she said she explored a few options but nothing too polarizing to Christianity. She said she looked into Lutheran and Presbyterian churches but noticing the differences from her childhood church, she did not feel comfortable. She then began to reevaluate her faith and to better understand it.
It was a journey Janel's mother, Mary Wiethrain, couldn't complete understand. She said she couldn't understand why Janel would abandon the religious support she and her father built for her.
"I felt with what we brought her up with, how can this come about?" Mary said. "We done everything we needed to get her strong in her religious life."
Mary said the aspects of living a Catholic life such as attending mass and being kind to one another, were important to her family values and it's those values she wanted to instill in panel.
Minister Holcombe said religion should not simply provide answers just to relieve anxiety. He said he had seen churches and religions manipulate by providing answers. But he said other churches and religions just took people in to listen to their troubles and support them.
Janel is now a devout Catholic who attends St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center, 1631 Crescent Rd.
"It's more about the questions," Holcombe said. "Finding places where they could raise those big questions and talk about and maybe get some tentative answers. Questions about, am I loved by something? What am I going to do in the future in terms of a partner? What is my sexuality? What do I want to put at stake in my life? What are my priorities?"
"I wanted to kind of explore those options and take a step back," Ianel said. "But just realizing that there was nothing wrong with knowing that you were raised with one and that there can be others and that mine is not necessarily wrong compared to theirs or that theirs isn't wrong either."
Janel said she was thankful of the rediscovery of her faith because it brought her closer to her mother. She said she was also thankful of her journey because it rounded her out as a person.
Mary said she started to question what emotional 11 cause land's doubt.
"Is it the world that's doing this to you? Is it just being on your own?" Mary said. "It was just, I guess, a little disheartening knowing that I felt she was where she needed to be when she left and then all of the sudden, she wandered."
Holcombe said it was the big questions that are in their hearts and that it's not wrong asking them.
"If they come out of the Christian tradition, the Bible in itself is not a reservoir of answers entirely," Holcombe said. "It's also a reservoir of questions."
inflections could cause Janel's doubt.
"I sat down and talked to her about what I was thinking, what I was feeling and she just told me you know that this is why we raised you Catholic, this is why we believe," lanel said. "It was finally nice to hear that because you grow up with it and you never discuss it."
"The these things I think show through in our Catholic faith and maybe we don't know all the answers but we stand strong and are good to one another," Mary said.
Janel's journey of re-discovering her faith was coming full circle when she and her mother began to seriously discuss why her faith was important not only to the family, but to Janel herself.
— Edited by Abby Olcese
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