On Religion

I had an experience today that reminded me of why I am here. I was having lunch with some guys that Chelsey and I had been talking to that morning (on campus), and we came to the subject of God, and religion. I said that it was possible that God didn't exist, and what followed was an extensive debate about science, religion, and (bien sûr - of course) the meaning of life.

I think I've mentioned before that most of the people here are Catholic. Before coming, I never thought that that would be one of the main differences in the community, but that is why one must travel. My host family is very Catholic, and most of the taxis have bumper stickers about God or Jesus. I also go to a Catholic university, which magnifies the issue. I went to mass a few times with my mama and it was very confusing. Mass in English is foreign enough to me, I don't know the words or when to stand or sit... In French, well, you can imagine, I was rather lost. I explained my difficulty to my papa afterwards and he thought it was hilarious.

You see (if you didn't know already) that I am not very religious myself. I don't necessarily NOT believe in God (sorry for the double negative, but it's different than believing in God. Although I rather think I do believe in God), but I don't believe in organized religion for myself at this point in my life. And I fully recognize the possibility that God might not exist.

My conversation today was an attempt to express that. However, the students I was talking with are Catholic with very strong convictions. It was pretty interesting - at the start of the argument they said "Okay, you know that mankind started with one man and one woman," to which I quickly declined, and began to explain evolution. I love this - at university in the US most of my friends have similar views to me, not necessarily religiously, but I rarely have to convince someone of evolution. I don't think I really accomplished that today either, because our conversation evolved (ha) into me listening to them trying to explain why God must exist, including all the tiny scientific probabilities that happened along the way if evolution is real (it was also easier for me to listen to them in French than explain myself in depth). I won't bore you with the other details, other than we ended up agreeing to disagree. One of my friend's conviction did not allow him to recognize the possibility that God does not exist, and I realized that I believe very strongly that God may or may not exist. I wonder if this will change as I keep learning in such a Catholic environment?

All in all I was very happy, because this is why I'm abroad - to share ideas and completely different understandings of the world. Similar discussions are great anywhere, but will not have the same impact or distinction of opinion. Despite many difficulties of being here - adventures with cockroaches, falling in the mud (yesterday morning), how stressed out I get sometimes - and the things I miss about home - butter, cheese, tea all day, running water for showers, and of course my friends and family - I am very, very glad to be here.