Catholic School Stories: So apparently, I'm a heathen

As I mentioned in the first installment of Catholic School Stories, I consider myself a student of all religions. I don't adhere to one school of thought when it comes to worship; I'm a firm believer that all religions have the underlying principles of love and acceptance as their creeds. As such, it doesn't matter so much to me which one religion to follow, as much as it matters to live and express those collective creeds in one's everyday life.

I also felt this way about religion in high school. When I was born my parents made the decision not to baptize me, as they feel that religion is a personal experience and wanted me to have the option of choosing my own faith. Knowing I had this freedom to explore religion and its meaning, I constantly challenged what my religion teachers had to say about Christianity and Catholicism in high school.

One day, the topic of heathens came up in religion class. I asked my hardcore Catholic (I'm talking genuflecting before entering the classroom, rosaries hanging from the ceiling, 10 kids-having type Catholicism) teacher, Mr. Lee*, what exactly a heathen was.

To which he replied, "Someone with no religion."

The Random House Dictionary defines a heathen as:

1. an unconverted individual of a people that do not acknowledge the god of the Bible; a person who is neither a Jew, Christian, nor Muslim; pagan.

2. an irreligious, uncultured, or uncivilized person.

My understanding of the word at that time was the second definition, and I took some offense to being considered "uncultured" or "uncivilized" because of my personal beliefs. However, I also felt like a rebel being--as far as I knew anyways--the only student in class with no set religion.






* Name changed, of course