Reexamining Faith
Two college students find a new outlook on religion
Henri Robbins
Illustrations by Erin McGovern, photos by Henri Robbins
For many students, college is a time of self-discovery. While this journey can be as small as trying sushi or watching an R-rated movie for the first time, it can also be as significant as reassessing entire worldviews, such as moral or religious beliefs.
At Miami University, religion plays a significant role in the lives of many students. According to
the 2017 Cooperative Institutional Research Program’s Freshman Survey, 1 in 3 students at Miami come from households where at least one parent is Roman Catholic. When compared to similar institutions, Miami students are among the most likely to identify as Roman Catholic.
Despite their religious backgrounds, however, many students find that their beliefs and perspectives undergo significant changes during their time at college, whether in small or profound ways.
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Katie Krueger is a senior at Miami majoring in psychology and art therapy. While they aren’t religious at all today, they were raised in a devout Catholic and conservative household.
Krueger, the second-oldest of six children, identifies as both gay and non-binary, which made for a very confusing early adolescence.
“Growing up in that household was stifling, to say the least, because I wasn't even given the language to understand myself,” Krueger said. “I just thought I was kind of funky and weird, and my family just thought I was weird. So I was just weird."
For Krueger, religion was an all-encompassing part of their childhood. Their parents were involved in their local church, sent their children to a Catholic school and raised them with traditional, gendered values.
In the household, Krueger’s mom and dad followed very stereotypical gender roles when it came to parenting.
“There's this really weird idea in Christianity that women are supposed to be caretakers, so even when my dad was in the house, he was not a part of our lives,” Krueger said. “He was meant to just go get money, and then come back and drink a beer and smoke a bunch of cigarettes in the garage.”
Krueger’s education was fairly different from public school curriculums as they attended a Catholic school with fewer than 80 students. Along with the typical math and English classes, Krueger attended multiple classes focused on the history of the Church. Many of these classes taught ideas about the will of God and divine justice.
“If a bad thing happens to me, I'm like, ‘Oh, what’d I do to deserve that?’” Krueger said. “Because, obviously, I did something. That's the only reason bad things happened, right? It's definitely something I still struggle with a lot.”
This mentality extended from Krueger’s actions to their own identity as they grew up in environments where queerness was a foreign concept. They were taught that the greatest form of Catholic love is helping people get to heaven, which many people use as a reason to chastise members of the LGBTQ+ community.
“God, I thought I was a curse,” Krueger said. “Like, I thought I did something to end up the way that I was. Even before I realized I was queer, I was the one Catholic child in the classroom who was like, ‘Maybe we shouldn’t be so fucking mean to gay people.’”
After leaving their household, Krueger no longer considered themself to be religious, but today, they do consider themself to be spiritual.
“I work with Catholic saints in a more witchy sense than Catholicism deals with,” Krueger said. “So, I guess I’ve carried a couple of things into my practice, but not the monotheistic religion part.”
Krueger’s skepticism of organized religion comes not only from their past, but also from a general questioning of religious tenets. They find it pretentious for anyone to say they know everything about God. Despite their history with Catholicism, Krueger does still maintain an appreciation for Jesus.
“Jesus as a historical figure is freakin’ awesome, man,” Krueger said. “If people actually took the time to read about Jesus himself instead of all the adaptations that came after, … there was a lot in there that was just like, ‘Be nice to each other.’ Like, ‘I’m being nice to all these people who are nothing like me. It’s not that hard.’ Sometimes you’ve just got to love people.”
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Although some students like Krueger may move away from traditional religious beliefs due to negative experiences during their upbringing, many other students will seek out a different faith as their personal beliefs and morals shift. As a result, they may interpret familiar ideas and texts in new ways, ultimately seeking out a faith that better accommodates their evolving perspectives.
Theo DeRosa is a junior majoring in diplomacy and global politics and Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies. DeRosa and his three siblings were all raised Methodist, and DeRosa said his family was fairly involved in their local church during his childhood.
After being separated from what he once knew, he began looking for a new source of community. He found that his personal beliefs aligned more with those of the Catholic Church. Because of this, DeRosa made the decision to become Catholic.
“In a way, I don't think my conversion is a rejection of the faith in which I was raised,” DeRosa said. “I view it as the logical conclusion.”
When he first came to Miami, DeRosa was fairly involved with on-campus politics. He was an active member of Miami’s chapters of College Republicans and Students For Life, a pro-life organization.
“As I’ve grown a little bit older and spent some more time studying, I’m getting to a place where I find myself questioning my views a lot and moving in different directions on certain things,” DeRosa said. “I still consider myself a conservative, but I’ve also wanted to take more time to really understand that stuff on my own.”
DeRosa found himself questioning multiple aspects of his long-held political views — many of which were informed by the morals of his faith and family.
“That kind of opened up an interest in me into just studying different approaches to politics and trying to understand other sides of the issues,” DeRosa said. “It's very important for more effective governance.”
DeRosa’s family, which has maintained its Methodist beliefs, has some objection to their son’s conversion but has overall been supportive.
“I think they realize that I felt it’s something that I needed to do,” DeRosa said. “Even if they don't necessarily agree with everything, it's still within the Christian faith.”
To DeRosa, connections with family are incredibly important. He believes a child raised in a strong and supportive household will be equipped with strong values, beliefs and countless skills to succeed in life.
“As people as well, we need others that we’re close with, and from a very young age, family is usually the closest bond that we share,” DeRosa said. “I think that provides a very strong sense of belonging.”
DeRosa also emphasizes the importance of connections between people regardless of faith or political alignment. For him, bridging these gaps is an important step in making valuable and helpful change in the world.
“It's always better to focus on what people have in common before you get to what's different because that forms a really solid basis for understanding one another,” DeRosa said.
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For both Krueger and DeRosa, investigating the beliefs they grew up with has been a major part of their college experience. Krueger said this growth has allowed them to understand aspects of themself that they were not allowed to talk about before. In the future, Krueger hopes to help people who feel like they once felt.
“I want to be welcoming to kids who don't have someone to relate to like when I was a kid,” Krueger said.
“I'm not scared of presenting the way that I do because some kids are gonna go, ‘Hey, that's a cool person that I can relate to.’”
In converting to Catholicism, DeRosa said his new faith has allowed him to better understand his own values. DeRosa said he has already made many meaningful connections with others on the same journey. While many of the others converting are from vastly different backgrounds, he said this process has allowed them to connect over their newfound beliefs.
“There was a conference I once went to that was focused on the decline of community in America and the sense of belonging that we had for so long,” DeRosa said. “I think religion is one of the most important associations that people can have because when people put that at the center of their lives, that forms a foundation for communities and families.”
By questioning their previous ideas and finding new ones, both Krueger and DeRosa have been able to further develop their own personal identity, gain a greater understanding of their values, and feel like they are part of a judgement-free community.
