Amanda Balomaga

8/23/11
HONO3191

As we learned during the first day of class, we have yet to discover a culture that lacks some
form of religion. From this, it is nearly undeniable that faith and/or spirituality are grounded in human
nature. I believe that some form of faith can be healthy. However, Ive always shied away and avoided
people who are strongly religious and assertive about it. From my experiences, most of these people
follow strictly by the book and their minds are closed to any other opinions and reasons. But for the
most part, I tend to agree with the core principles of most religions to treat others how you wish to be
treated, to have compassion, etc. Many religions have wonderful concepts and sometimes I just like to
pick and choose those that I like.
When it comes to exact orders and laws set by organized religions I tend to look at those with
creased eyebrows. Ive just never been a fan of one trying to enforce his or her beliefs upon another
because they believe theirs are superior to the others beliefs. Throughout history, religion has been the
fuel and justification for many wars, for example the Crusades between the Muslims and Christians.
Another example is the wars we are currently fighting in the Middle East with the Islam faction Al Qaida.
It has also been used as justification for colonization; for instance Spain with the Philippines. In a sense,
the strong root Catholicism has in Philippine culture is the product and remnant of Spains enslavement
of the Philippines, which is one of the reasons Ive never been able to embrace Catholicism fully.
However religion, even organized religion, has many positives. It creates strong communities
and becomes embedded within the culture. This summer, I traveled to the Philippines for the first time
in my life and there I was able to witness firsthand the influence of religion there. Religion beings people
together; in the Philippines, Church is a social event. There is a mass every hour and the churches are
always full. Kids play outside and the young adults dress nicely in order to catch the attention of the
opposite gender. And my mother, who isnt that religious, was so drawn and nostalgic about the being
present at a mass. I was able to see the beauty and the power of faith among members of the
community. However, corruption and abuse of trust and power is definitely present in any organized
religion. Many of those roped in by organized religion are the poor and uneducated, especially when it
comes to the Philippines. And because of lack of education, they cannot question what they are told and
are easily taken advantage of.
I am Agnostic and more spiritual than religious. I value self-reflection and meditation. I value the
beauty that exists within nature. I was baptized Catholic, but did not continue to receive confirmation.
My parents tried to raise me in a household unbiased to any religion. They wanted me to grow up to
think for myself without the influences of religion. Yet they couldnt completely keep religion out of the
picture. My parents were born and raised in the Philippines, where Catholicism is deeply rooted in the
culture. So although my parents are not that religious, they still decided to have me baptized. My
grandparents on the other hand are very religious, and on Sundays, they would take me to church. Id
come willingly not to hear the mass but to wear cute dresses and eat the free doughnuts served
afterwards. Easter was my favorite; the church would hold an egg hunt, and I would peak out the
windows during the service to see where they hid the eggs. I had some belief in God as a child, a result
of my grandparents influence. I would say the Guardian Angel prayer before I went to bed, and I would
pray for insignificant things, like for my parents to buy me a Barbie doll for my birthday.

But somewhere along the way, I dropped my Catholic faith. I started seeing that some of my
ideals didnt match up with those of the Catholic Church. For example, I am a huge advocate for gay
marriage; my best friend is gay. I would see members of the church voicing against gay marriage on
television with reasons I could not side with. At night, I would ponder death, and I just couldnt imagine
there being anything after death. And so I declared myself Atheist. Ironically, I chose to attend a
Catholic high school. However, I chose not for the religious aspect but for the quality and reputation of
the school. Many of my friends were also not very religious, and that plus my parents view on religion
influenced me. I remember having an issue in my freshmen scripture class. I was frustrated with the
instructors test questions, which I found to be quite opinionated and biased. I received a B in that class
because I kept getting the true/false questions wrong. My sophomore year, we had a priest give an
assembly on abortion that ended up being a train wreck. He presented his arguments with missing
information to appeal wholly to pathos, with pictures of cut up babies, using the scare tactic to convince
his liberal crowd of San Franciscan educated high school students. Some students walked out. This
experience gave me the perspective of extremists and how far they will go to convince you on to their
side. It made me further lose respect for religion. However, my senior year I took two classes that made
me rewire some of my opinions on religion and faith. First I took Prayer and Spirituality, which talked
about the difference between faith and spirituality, and involved a lot of meditation on self. The other
class I took was World Religions, which introduced us to the many religions of the world. It helped me
get a perspective of the existing religions, and I was even able to interview Muslim women and spend
time at a mosque. Of course, there existed some conflicting ideals, I was still able to respect their views
and I was fascinated by the strong community built around the mosque. I was also able to study the
ideas of Hinduism and Buddhism. There is one quote in the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying stated that
it does not hurt to believe in life after death, that I really took to heart. Because of those classes I later
decided to declare myself Agnostic; I believe there must be some kind of force out there, I just dont
know what.