Are you there God? It's me Belgium.

During my academic year at SFX, I am required to participate in a religion class. This is a logical course considering the school's affiliation with Catholicism. Regardless, it has not been at all what I have expected. From what my Belgian friend had told me, her religion teacher talked about the glory of Christ, and promoted strongly the following of his teachings. My experience has not been the same. Instead, I find myself in a class whose purpose is more philosophical. This I found to be very interesting and has prompted me to pay much closer attention in said lessons.

My first text received in this study was entitled "Socrates, Jésus, et Bouddah" I found this to be an interesting topic to be covered. The article summarizes that all of these wise figures possess the same attributes, which should be followed in regards to religion. When people gather to form their groups, they twist the ideas of these three men, but all one has to do is follow their core philosophies to live a good life. To give such an article in a class is not a concept with which I am all that familiar. Due to my attendance at the State College Delta Program, I have witnessed an slight openness to the topic of religion in school. However, in Belgium it is acceptable to not only discuss it, but to offer opinions on the ideas that are presented and personal opinions. For me, I feel as though there is less concern with offending certain religions by making uninformed, or even well informed, statements.

My teacher inquired my opinion on how religion is portrayed in the United States. She is curious if I find it more prevalent in America or in Belgium. Despite my difficulties with the french response, what I hope the students recieved from my statement is that, religion a rather taboo topic in America. Along with politics, it is among the subjects that are generally refrained from mentioning in public spaces. However, it seems to me that religion plays a larger role in a larger number of people's live in the States. After a brief discussion with my teacher after class, she told me that there were a lot of people in Belgium who associate with a religion, however do not attend church regularly and do not follow all of the expectations of a particular faith. For example, not all Belgian Catholics follow lent, like she supposes that most American Catholics do. Her perception of religion in America is that the people who identify with the vast diversity of faith, are very strict practitioners.

When considering from where this perception might stem from, I am drawn to the potential conclusion of a time that people came to America searching religious freedom. One of the things I think America does well is providing a space for it's citizens to practice their religions and express their beliefs how they deem appropriate. This causes a lot of variety in how people choose to follow a faith. It creates people who are very strict and serious about their beliefs and also people who do not find what they are looking for through traditional ideologies.

At the same time, her perception of religion in Belgium would be that there are not a lot of people who take it particularly seriously. I found this surprising because of the number of religiously affiliated public spaces. I attend a catholic school as do most of the exchange students I know. In the United States there are not as many high schools who are religiously affiliated. In fact, almost all scholarly institutions in Belgium have a religious connection. This religion would be Catholic, which is consistent throughout much of Europe.

I find that the presence of religion in Belgium is indeed less than that in Pennsylvania. While there is less variation with denominations, no one mentions their affiliation in Belgium. Whereas in America I know the religion of almost all of my friends.

Religion remains a topic that is difficult to discuss however, it is always interesting to learn of other people's impressions of the interpretation of religion in another country.