Karen Schomaker- Random Musings in the Library

As I sit here in the library, on the last day of exams, realizing how far I let myself get behind in the class I cannot help but ask why. I can off excuses, "I'm taking two senior seminars right now- they took up so much more time than I expected" or "I know that if I take the time and work really hard at the end it will be okay" or "I don't really need the class to graduate- I just wanted to be able to take a class with Dr. Redick before I left CNU."

But these are excuses, they aren't reasons. How hard is it to sit down and type up a few lines about religion in a film we watched, or an observation I made one day on the road. Apparently, really hard. Maybe it is that I do not like to think about religion too much. As the father in the film Big Fish said, "It's rude to talk about religion, you never know who you are going to offend. Which I find to be very true. To me, talking about religion becomes a struggle because unless you know the thoughts of your audience, or their basic beliefs, it is very likely that you will offend at least one person. Sometimes even the choice of words used to describe your own views will offend someone.

That bothers me- I think we should have the freedom to express our beliefs in engaged discourse with others without fearing that someone will be offended- and without taking offense to something someone says that we disagree with. While I feel that this class has been a great outlet for discussion in regards to our views in the context of the films we watch, I often fear that what I say in class or in an essay will offend someone. When we watched The Seventh Seal I saw a statement against organized religion, and to an extent those who prescribe to this method of practicing religion. I largely agreed with this because over time I have grown increasingly frustrated with organized religion, but did not want to bring this up in class for fear that someone would be personally offended, or would fail to see what I meant by this.

Perhaps this is why I put off writing these blogs- fear that classmates would read this and fail to understand. But at the same time I limited my expression and ability to see if perchance this was someone in the class who might have agreed with me, and we could have had the opportunity to share our ideology and grow from the shared discourse.