By Caitlyn Meisner | Staff Writer
I haven’t complained about taking religious classes at Baylor, but I know it’s incredibly difficult for some people.
On Oct. 18, The Baylor Lariat Editorial Board published the following editorial: “Don’t be shocked by your Christian university making you take Christian courses.”
If you didn’t get a chance to read it, I’ll summarize it for you here: “You knew what you chose.”
Sure, that’s a fair statement.
In defense of the “complaints,” it can be difficult to come to a university dominated by a religion, take classes on that religion, dissect traditions and try to make sense of words written thousands of years ago about something you can’t possibly begin to understand.
When you put it into simple terms like that, does it seem all that easy?
The editorial says that Baylor doesn’t hide the traditional Christian commitment it has. The article also states that “you’re welcome at Baylor no matter what your religious or nonreligious background is, but you also had the choice to not come here.”
OK, this is where my problem is.
I actually didn’t really have a choice of whether to come here or not. In fact, the choice was either go to Baylor or don’t go to college at all.
I don’t want to put on a sob story here, but I’m putting myself through college — as many of us are — and I’m the oldest daughter of an overworked single mother of four.
Whether or not I wanted to come, I had to for my family. I felt it was my responsibility to show my sisters there is a better life out there for us, even if we’re 1,500 miles away from home.
I’m fortunate enough to have received a substantial amount of financial aid and scholarships from Baylor, which made it the only possible option for my education. Other schools just couldn’t compete with Baylor in that regard.
Am I expected to choose between limiting myself due to my financial situation or coming to Baylor for the rigorous education? I think I’ll choose the latter.
The editorial then says that if you didn’t know Baylor was Christian, “it’s totally on you” and you need to “do more research on the institutions you’re allowing to prepare you for your future.”
Sure, that’s very true. I wouldn’t accept a job somewhere if I didn’t know about their culture or do some research about their history.
In my defense, I was a bright-eyed 17-year-old girl who just wanted to get away from home and be able to say I lived in Texas. As far as I knew, nobody in my family ever lived in the South, so I wanted to try something new.
Before you ask, “Why didn’t you just apply to other schools in Texas?” — I did. And of course, they weren’t as awesome as Baylor.
I think there is more of a cultural disconnect between my understanding and background in Christianity than a lack of research, in my experience.
I grew up “Catholic.” Yes, it’s confusing. Let me explain.
What I mean by “Catholic” is that I grew up in the tradition, not the religion. I didn’t grow up going to Mass every Sunday. I went to CCD — confraternity of the Christian doctrine, which is basically Bible school — because my mom wanted me to, not because I believed in the significance of it.
So many of my family members and friends went to religious colleges near me. To my knowledge, they didn’t choose these colleges because of the Catholic commitment; they chose these schools for various reasons, like the rigorous education.
Sound familiar?
I guess an ignorant, childish perspective I had when thinking of Baylor was that it was a “Christian” school — and basically that it lacked a real religious commitment like some Catholic schools back home.
Boy, was I wrong. I’ll admit that.
What I’m trying to say here is that it’s not exactly fair for the righteous majority to call out the nonreligious population for not doing their homework. I did it, but there must have been a miscommunication, or I must have ended up in the wrong classroom.
