Is Notre Dame cool?

nameless
Tue, 06 Feb 2007 18:10:56 +0000

“By the way, nameless, I didn’t mention Jews, Muslims, etc. Is it politically incorrect not to do so? Perish the thought…”

It just seemed that you were assuming that other religions don’t have this problem. I know some people (including one priest, actually) who seem to think that Christianity in particular is being slighted, while other religions are deserving of such treatment. I apologize if this is not your viewpoint. I suppose you would agree that it is not just Christianity, but rather religion in general, that is “under attack”.

As far as “cool” goes, I don’t think religion will ever be cool again. I think more and more people, especially the younger generation, are tiring of the rigidity of religion. Perhaps because of secularist influence, as you mentioned, people brought up in a particular faith are increasingly questioning it and coming to the conclusion that the supernatural beliefs–e.g. that Jesus is the “son” of God (what does son mean in this context?), that people go to “heaven” or “hell” after they die based purely on their belief in something (not applicable to Catholicism any more, I don’t think; which is another point, how can the requirements for going to heaven suddenly change?), etc.–either don’t make sense, are too particular to be probable, or whatever. Likewise, people are disregarding any rigid moral claims that are based upon those beliefs (e.g. that embryonic stem cell research and abortion are wrong in every case–a stance that is often founded on the idea that a person exists in some sense before they are born, or that God desires that we never destroy human embryos for reasons unknown to us).

As a disclaimer to those statements, I base this conclusion mostly on my own personal experience. I’ve gone to Catholic schools my whole life and most (i.e. >50%) of the people I’ve met in them share the above attitudes. Of course, going to a Catholic school has its way of doing that to people (since by constant exposure they are forced to examine every aspect of their faith and determine whether it all adds up); thus, the percentage of Catholic public school students unsure of their faith might actually be higher than their Catholic Catholic school counterparts (what a mouthful ). Still, my experience tells me that back in my parents’ day, people didn’t really question their faith to this extent, and certainly didn’t go from belief to rejection so readily. So I still hold that religion is losing its influence on the youth, which would obviously make it “uncool” by the most common definition.

Personally, I think that it is good that religion is having less of an influence on culture and politics. I think that a person should come to his or her own spiritual beliefs, independent of an outside religious institution. And I think that we should strive to develop a consistent moral code that is not based on the desires of an invisible, unknowable entity or entities, but rather careful study of which actions are helpful and which are hurtful to society and the individuals within it.

Sorry for the rant, I just wanted to get my views out there, to hopefully preclude future unnecessary arguments stemming from a misunderstanding of my opinions.