The other day, I was sitting in the bookstore doing homework (like always) with a cup of coffee by my side and an endless amount of statistics work to accomplish by morning. After a couple of hours and four cups of caffeinated perfection, the battery on my laptop died, and I was forced to continue working without music to drown the world out to. I know a lot of us prefer to study with background music, but I found out that day that the conversations going on next to you can be twice as thought-provoking. Some of you are probably thinking I was eavesdropping, but it just happened to be that they were talking loudly enough for me to hear them. I overheard what appeared to be an interview for admittance into a certain denominational church. The only thing I could think was, “you need approval to join a church?” Usually this type of thing wouldn’t phase me but for the past two years, I’ve struggled with the logic of religion as a palpable thing, versus something that we choose to put in our lives. I’ve noticed that in college, religion is either something that you embrace completely and openly, or confidentially in the confines of your life.
Many people regard religion as “one of those things you just don’t talk about,” especially in college. I’d like to break down the barrier for once and open this up for discussion. To begin, these four years are some of the most self-righteous and independent times we’re ever going to experience. College is one of the best times to voice our opinions and put our hearts into something, but there’s a fine line between free speech and condemnation. Most college campuses have those few deluded individuals who find their way onto campus and beat bibles over our heads and call us “sinners,” “God-haters,” and (my personal favorite), “fornicators.” They stand outside the student union, rally across the open spaces between classes, and shout over a megaphone every verse from the bible you can think of. It’s actually pretty fun to witness, and that’s why I couldn’t take one of them seriously when they got in my face freshman year and called me a “fornicator damned to hell.” He said a bunch of other things on top of that but all I could do at that point was laugh and respond, “well thanks, at least someone thinks I’ve been hooking up.” It got to the point where the guy started to talk as if he was God. At this point, we don’t call him “expressing his opinion;” we call it a God complex.
I can tolerate just about everything except a blatant accusation from someone who doesn’t even know my name. I think it’s safe to say that when you get called out over a megaphone that you don’t believe in God, or that you’re going to hell because you live the life of a normal college student, you’ll start to lose your patience. Freedom of speech is something we all know and love; a callout committee is something we all know and hate.
I think it’s safe to say that the moral of this story is to keep an open mind to the things you face in life, but to also stand up to the delusional individuals who would never do the same for you. You’re going to hear a lot of new things during your time in college, and most of it you may not agree with. The best thing to do if things get too invasive or uncomfortable is to laugh and move on. If you’re walking to class and some bro with a God complex decides to call you out, just laugh, use your wit to your advantage, and move on with your day.