I grew up in a Catholic household where my parents took religion very seriously. I was told from a young age to attend mass weekly on Sundays and to be a loyal follower of God. The more I was forced the go to the church the more I felt distant from the religion, at a younger age I was only attending mass to please my parents and not get scolded for not dedicating God one hour of my week.

One incident that I specifically remember is junior year in high school on the first week of school during the annual club rush. I noticed that a group of friends that I knew started a Holy bible talk. I wasn’t ashamed of the club being religious. But the fact that they were that invested in their faith, made it seem like that they didn’t think twice when organizing the club. When I asked them what motivated them to start the club and their answer was that they were encouraged by their Christian church which was the megachurch named “The Rock church” that is a congregational church. Thursdays’ discussion about the types of religions was that this church is considered more of a corporate than a church that had a large population of followers attracted to their church.

Now a days I try to maintain myself occupied with school and work to avoid going to church on Sundays, At some points in my life I ask myself why I still don’t feel as close to a religion as my parents or peers do about their religion? Does this have to do with the lack of experience? Although I have a surrounding community that are faithful in their religion, I have not yet connected to my family’s religion as Catholics or any other religion.

As discussed in class, religion in general is a source of faith for people to have the image and interpretation just depends on communities ethically and by experience. Today there are a variety of different religions that we as college student may have never heard of.
Growing you in Southern California I grew up in a Catholic family. The majority of my family and friends were also Catholic but that is mainly because my community were mostly Hispanic Catholics. I was raised to know that I had to attend mass, and be an active Catholic as well as finish my commandments in order to marry by church to someone who is also Catholic. My parents made me attend youth group classes once a week for two years to meet my confirmation requirement. Every week we were taught about how to maintain our faith and also defend our religion in case of doubt or teach others who are not fully in sync with God. In these talks I was taught that Catholicism is a branch from Christianity and the only difference is that as Catholics we believe in Saints and the Virgin Mary. The more I attended these youth group classes my doubts only grew while my faith or thought of a God was rapidly fading. SInce then I do not identify as being religious or Catholic, but only seem to somewhat have an interest to please my parents
After reading McGuire’s first chapter as well as my peers religious background stories has opened my mind and interest in learning about other religions and how different communities adapt to certain religions. While also raising questions on why people who are surrounded by religious family or friends mostly tend to drift away from religion. I also think to myself that there are other forms of having faith which doesn’t necessarily have to pursue or identify with a religion or a “God”.