For a lot of my life, I’ve been a religious person. I went on mission trips every summer with my church, I was on my church’s Youth Board, and I attended mass every Sunday (oh yeah, I’m Catholic). So when I got to college, one of the first things I did was to see what campus ministries were available. While other girls were rolling out of bed at 1:00 pm on Sundays and going for a hungover brunch, I was in the student cinema with about a hundred other students praising God.

Because I became so involved with my campus ministry, I met a lot of friends with my same beliefs and morals. While this shouldn’t be a problem in my life, it became one almost from the very beginning. Once people find out that I’m religious, they start to make a lot false assumptions about myself, as well as my friends.

Assumption #1: We are holier than thou

The first thing I always hear is that we are “holier than thou.”  I’ve learned through my experiences that a lot of other Christians have trouble going to church. They say that if they went, it would make them feel like they have to act holy all the time. So this makes it even difficult for me to really express everything I feel about God. I don’t want people pointing out examples of how I’m not leading the most holy life. And I’ll be the first to admit, sometimes it’s easier for me to pick one persona or another. Either the quiet, Christian girl who won’t talk about her problems or the troubled party-goer. A lot of people will argue that it’s not worth going to church because all the pews are filled with a bunch of hypocrites. Sure it’s a valid point, but they’re forgetting why we go to church in the first place.

We go to church because frankly, we aren’t good at being a holy people. We need God (because we aren’t perfect), so we seek Him in church. My friends and I are just like you and we won’t judge you because you might make different choices than us. I have never condemned people for their life choices, because that is one thing the Bible tells us to never do. What it does tell us to do is love everyone. As a Christian, I try to view people as God views them – with unconditional love.

Read More »

[It's pretty obvious that the average CollegeCandy reader has some very strong opinions. Opinions that she likes to share with everyone on the site. We love a strong woman (unless she happens to be charging at us with her fists raised), so we thought we'd give her a real forum to discuss her thoughts, feelings, and perspectives. Every Friday I'll be featuring a hot topic (like banning 21st birthday shots) and leaving it up to you, the readers, to duke it out. So, read it and get your debate on in the comments section below!]

This week, under the category of “news that made me say WTF!” was this little story about students at Georgetown University taping their mouths and chaining themselves to a statue in front of the school in protest of the fact the Georgetown doesn’t provide or help to provide contraceptive options like condoms to it’s students. The school, a private Catholic university stands by the religious policies of the Catholic church under which it was founded and refuses to provide any contraception that prevents the creation of life. Let the debate begin!

OK, let’s go ahead and get this out before the NYC-liberal-arts-student part of me literally explodes – SERIOUSLY! Are you freakin’ kidding me?! Georgetown, a major university, which does not require it’s students to follow Catholic doctrine, is still, in this day and age, refusing to hand out condoms!? Are you gonna provide daycare, Georgetown?

Ah, I feel better now.

But honestly, there are a lot of good reasons why Georgetown should step up and help with the sexual health of it’s students. To begin with, Georgetown is located in Washington D.C. where officials have declared a citywide HIV/AIDS epidemic. That means that, completely outside of the pregnancy prevention argument, Georgetown is refusing to help it’s students protect themselves from devastating, life-changing illness. And yes, students at GU could just go around the corner to the drugstore and buy their own condoms, but as many many schools have found out, it’s a lot harder to get students to do that (when you’re this close to getting it on in your dorm, that CVS might as well be China). Read More »

In the few weeks before I moved away for college 3 years ago, I remember being over at a friend’s house when the topic of religion in college was brought up by her mom. She was a big supporter of being active in a church at school, arguing that it was the best place to meet like-minded people. “If you find someone in college that you fall in love with, it’ll be a heck of a lot easier if they’re the same religion as you.”

Back then I thought that religion should have nothing to do with love, but I may be starting to see her point of view.

I was raised Catholic. My boyfriend Matt was raised mainly by his Presbyterian mother, but his dad was Catholic and so Matt was baptized as an infant. In all reality, neither of us are very religious now. Ever since I was a teenager, I’ve considered myself Christian, but have never been a big fan of organized religion. My beliefs are my own and I don’t like other people forcing their beliefs on to me.

None of that really means much now, religion doesn’t really come up much in our college relationship, but with Matt and I planning our future together, the topic of kids came up which begged the question: Do we raise them in the church, and if so, which one? Read More »

A lot of people find part of their identity with their religion:

“I’m Catholic”
“I’m atheist”
“I’m Jewish”

Even if someone’s beliefs can’t be put under a specific religious category, everyone has their own opinion on how humans got here and how people should live their lives.  All of these different views come together to make a unique world, but religious differences have the potential to hurt or even end a relationship.

Because religious views generally have a great impact on a person’s lifestyle, differing views can cause conflict in relationships. An atheist may be incredibly uncomfortable if their significant other wanted to attend church every Sunday and prayed every day. Likewise, a person who is used to being involved in religious practices may feel like something is wrong with them if their boyfriend or girlfriend doesn’t want to come with them to Bible study or other religious gatherings.

And then there’s the family. And the potential future family.
It can really become a hot mess of opinions, beliefs and arguments.

While this may be overwhelming for some, there are ways to cope with religious differences and make a relationship last. Taking turns attending religious practices can give both members of the relationship a look into a new religious lifestyle. Each person could take time discussing with the other what their religious views mean to them and what they do or do not want to do because of them. Essentially, a couple needs to reach a compromise that makes them both feel comfortable. Read More »

Kids have Christmas. Lovers have Valentine’s Day. Presidents have President’s day. What do we, the college students of the world, have?

St. Patrick’s day! Woooohooo!!

Only 4 more days until our favorite holiday of the year! Friends! Drinking Games! Kegs and eggs! A full day of debauchery! (Note: different from normal college weekends by the addition of green clothing.) The combination of costumes, Irish music, bar specials and friends makes this the best day of the year. And we won’t let anyone or anything take it away from us.

The CollegeCandy writers weighed in this week on their worst St. Patrick’s day nightmares, real or imagined. We tried to have them tell us their favorite memories, but most people can’t remember St. Patty’s Days of the past for some reason. Weird. Read More »

Last month, Katie Freitas, a student at Stonehill College in Massachusetts, became so frustrated by the fact that her college would not distribute birth control, she decided to do something about it herself. Because she was concerned about the dangers of other students having unprotected sex, Freitas attempted to create a Sexual Health and Awareness Group on campus, but was denied by college administration. She then collected hundreds of free condoms from family-planning agencies and distributed them in the dormitories around campus.

However, when the administration heard about this, they quickly confiscated the boxes of condoms. Read More »

I’m Jewish. I grew up in a Jewish town, went to a Jewish private school and then ended up at University of Michigan… in a Jewish sorority.

Needless to say, I have been surrounded by Jewish people for most of my life. And totally sheltered from many other cultures and traditions.Don’t get me wrong – I know and am very close with many non-Jewish people, but none that are particularly observant or religious.

Why do I tell you all of this? To give you a little background leading up to one very awkward moment. Read More »

Unless you are looking for a few weeks of summer lovin’, relationships eventually get to the point where the issue of God/religion/burning in hell will most likely arise. That is, if religion is important to anyone involved. And if your religions are different? Well, that is cause for some serious talkin’. As much as you want to avoid the topic and live in that dream-world where it doesn’t matter, different beliefs can create some serious problems. So what’s a girl to do when your guy thinks differently about the Big Questions in life, the amount of wives a man should take and just what happens when you don’t pray every day?

Look for common ground.

In today’s modern world, even religious leaders are beginning to emphasize the common ties of religion rather than the differences. It’s important for you to learn to do the same, if you really want to make it work with a guy. If one of you is Protestant and the other Catholic, you’re already halfway there toward reconciliation, really; the fundamental points of doctrine are the same. If you’re interested in religious discussion, make an effort to point out where you agree. For example, Jesus is a prophet and a holy figure in Islam as well as Christianity. Sufis and Buddhists agree that meditation techniques are important for reaching higher spiritual states. Jews and Muslims agree about dietary restrictions and the importance of respecting God through very similar laws. There’s common ground for everyone! Read More »

I know lots of people who swear by fasts.

Three day grapefruit fasts, weeklong juice regimes, monthly cleanses, I’ve heard them all, and haven’t wanted to try a single one.

Call me strange, but I’m a fan of food. I’m no holy profit or international peace symbol, and since shrugging off my Roman Catholicism, feel no guilt for eating a sandwich on Good Friday. Basically, I have no need to give up food I work two jobs to pay for.

My friends go on and on about the health benefits of fasting, but I’ve always felt eating a regular healthy diet has it’s own health benefits—with the added incentive of energy.

While I totally respect and appreciate people who abstain from food for religious reasons, I’ve just never been the kind of girl to equate being hungry with being healthy.

That was until I realized a good friend of mine, who is completely normal and well adjusted in every way, regularly fasted on Sundays.

“All I drink is green tea” she told me a few weeks ago when I asked her why she wasn’t joining me for lunch, and explained that flushing out her body and relaxing once a week was one of the best things she’d ever done for herself.

While my friend is on the thin side, she watches her weight very closely, and explained that giving her body one day a week to “get rid of toxins” in a simple, easy way has really helped her maintain her weight. Read More »