When I first told my friends that I was going to attend Gustavus Adolphus College, a small private school that prides itself in its Lutheran heritage, they thought I was a little crazy. My friends and I all share a similar view about religion: people can believe in whatever they want, but it’s just personally not our thing. They were under the impression that I would be forced to participate in long church services every day and have to take various classes about Jesus or the Bible, and honestly, I wasn’t really sure what to expect either. But as my first year at Gustavus is coming to an end, I’m pleasantly surprised by how the topic of religion is addressed here.
Growing up, I partook in the basic activities one would when living in a Christian household. I was baptised, went to Sunday school, and after years of weekly classes on religion, I was confirmed at my church during my sophomore year of high school. Since then, I’ve only been to church a handful of times. Attending these classes and church services was just something I did to make my parents happy, and while I didn’t absolutely hate it, it was never something I enjoyed, either. I’ve never felt a personal connection to Christianity and its practices, even despite the fact that my parents and I would pray together every night as a kid. So deciding to attend Gustavus was a choice that was a little out of my comfort zone.
At the center of the Gustavus campus is Christ Chapel, a huge, and rather beautiful, building with a steeple reaching 187 feet high; it’s the highest point in St. Peter. This is where the twenty-minute church services are held daily at 10 a.m. They’re open to the public, although mostly just students attend. I’d just like to point out that attending these services is optional, so everything my friends and I originally thought is wrong. I’ve attended chapel a couple times over my first year here at Gustavus, and it’s really a cool experience. Each day there’s a different lesson, often times with student speakers or people visiting from different states or countries that will speak. On International Women’s Day, the focus was on feminist prayers and praying for the equality and protection of all. Attending that service surrounded by powerful women was a really eye-opening experience for me, and it’s something I won’t soon forget.
Given that Gustavus is a Christian college, you are required to take a class on religion, but the classes aren’t what you think they are. There’s a wide variety to choose from, and not all have to do with Christianity specifically. Last semester I took a class called World Religions, that covered everything from Native American religions to Buddhism. Unfortunately, the class doesn’t require the religion credit as I was hoping, and I’ll have to take another religion class, probably aimed towards Christianity. Even so, the classes themselves aren’t preachy, like you may expect; they’re just as informative and educational as any other college class. The professor isn’t there to push the Christian agenda, given that there are students who don’t practice Christianity. Instead, the classes sometimes look at Christianity from more of a historic perspective, and perhaps focus on several characters in the Bible and what their lives entailed. I like learning about different religions, so things like this are interesting to me.
The most significant thing I’ve noticed about Gustavus is that it’s accepting of all religions. A majority of the students are Christian, specifically Lutheran, but there’s also students who are Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hmong, and so many more. There are activities most nights of the week, open to all students on campus, that focus around different religions. Sometimes there are weeks dedicated to specific religions, such as Islam Awareness Week, and Gustavus students and staff plan events that inform the campus on these religions. Every student here is able to practice any religion they choose, as long as what they are doing is safe. It’s heartwarming to know that if I ever need a calm place to clear my head, I can just head to chapel at any time of day and sit in the peaceful silence that fills the room. Gustavus and its Christian heritage give the college a lot of character, and I’m happy to call this place my home.