Spring Break
Test of faith
Students' religious beliefs lost and found in the classroom
By: Kendra Kingsley
Issue date: 6/29/04 Section: Aggielife
Vest said she dated an atheist in high school and during her freshman year of college. That relationship, she said, forced her to question her religion and find the truth.
"I grew up having a strong faith because my parents did," Vest said.
"But, when my boyfriend didn't believe in anything, I just wanted to know how he felt that way. He was an intelligent person, and I wanted him to believe what I did."
After Vest and her boyfriend broke up, she said, she struggled with rebuilding her belief system. While studying evolution, she said, she found more evidence for creationism than against it.
"In class, we learned a lot about evolution, and I started realizing that people make a lot of assumptions when they base theories on evolution or naturalism," she said. "But no matter what you believe, you have to have faith. Some people have faith in science; some people have faith in the Bible."
In spite of the course's emphasis on Darwinism, Vest said, she left her class convinced that evolution could not have taken place without a higher power.
"Seeing the complexity of life and seeing the processes that happen all around us secured what I had always known," she said. "Some people use science to prove God doesn't exist, but for me it proved the exact opposite and showed me that there's a creator behind all of this."
Other students, however, find a different lesson in the classes they take.
Mike Surovik, a junior computer engineering major, said a philosophy class weakened his belief in some of the Bible's teachings.
"I grew up in a very Christian home, but it was always hard for me to believe a lot of the Bible's miracles," Surovik said. "My philosophy professor said you can't be a true Christian and a true scientist, and I agree with that. I still consider myself to be religious, but I don't take the Bible completely literally anymore."
Tori Sikes, a psychology graduate student, said she had similar problems interpreting the Bible when she left her hometown of Austin for Vermont's Middlebury College.
"I grew up having a strong faith because my parents did," Vest said.
"But, when my boyfriend didn't believe in anything, I just wanted to know how he felt that way. He was an intelligent person, and I wanted him to believe what I did."
After Vest and her boyfriend broke up, she said, she struggled with rebuilding her belief system. While studying evolution, she said, she found more evidence for creationism than against it.
"In class, we learned a lot about evolution, and I started realizing that people make a lot of assumptions when they base theories on evolution or naturalism," she said. "But no matter what you believe, you have to have faith. Some people have faith in science; some people have faith in the Bible."
In spite of the course's emphasis on Darwinism, Vest said, she left her class convinced that evolution could not have taken place without a higher power.
"Seeing the complexity of life and seeing the processes that happen all around us secured what I had always known," she said. "Some people use science to prove God doesn't exist, but for me it proved the exact opposite and showed me that there's a creator behind all of this."
Other students, however, find a different lesson in the classes they take.
Mike Surovik, a junior computer engineering major, said a philosophy class weakened his belief in some of the Bible's teachings.
"I grew up in a very Christian home, but it was always hard for me to believe a lot of the Bible's miracles," Surovik said. "My philosophy professor said you can't be a true Christian and a true scientist, and I agree with that. I still consider myself to be religious, but I don't take the Bible completely literally anymore."
Tori Sikes, a psychology graduate student, said she had similar problems interpreting the Bible when she left her hometown of Austin for Vermont's Middlebury College.
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