As someone who has attended a private, Catholic, all-girls school my entire life (that’s right kids, this is my first time at a co-ed school), my exposure to religions outside the realm of Christianity has been relatively limited. I have always been interested in learning about other religions, but therein lies the problem—they always seemed so “other,” so unconnected to my own life.
I had grown up believing that exploring other ways of thinking beyond a certain point would be to betray my own religion, so I took on a “to each their own” attitude and sat comfortably within my undeveloped set of beliefs.
Then I hit Loyola.
I was confronted with viewpoints radically different from my own from day one. When the topic of religion popped up with my newfound friends, I welcomed the opportunity to discuss my faith, thinking that at least one person would share my Christian beliefs. I was wrong. For the first time, I was in the minority as a Christian.
Instead of finding ways to defend my own views (which I soon learned was a dead-end dialogue), I started focusing on finding the common threads among the various belief systems. I listened, and I questioned, growing hungrier for knowledge and understanding with each conversation.
In my past, I think a part of me was afraid to explore different views because I had so many doubts about my own beliefs. I still have doubts, but I am now confident enough in my faith to be able to explore other paths without being afraid that it will somehow shatter my religious foundations.
It seems as though many of the people I have entered into religious conversations with believe in the “all paths lead to God” idea. Though I believe the concept of tolerance that this idea suggests is extremely profound, I have recently realized life is not about following your own path to God.
Rather, life consists of walking your own path and trusting that God will travel the path that leads to you. We don’t have the ability to “find God” or to come up with all the answers. But as author William Paul Young puts it, “[God] will travel any road to find you.”
I don’t pretend to understand even the smallest fraction of who God is, but I do know that the God I love isn’t a big fan of shoving ideas down others’ throats. No two people, even people within the same religious system, have a set of beliefs that are exactly the same. Similarly, no two people walk the exact same path.
That is why I have come to believe that, whatever path we walk, God will find ways to enter into our lives and to gently invite us into relationship with him. If we accept, he will meet us wherever we are, whatever path we are on, and experience our life with us and through us. With this in mind, I encourage anyone who wants to further develop their faith life to begin by embracing and questioning the diverse world around us.
Christine Johnson is a music therapy freshman. She can be reached at
