Wednesday, April 12, 2023 - Religion Special Issue

DAILY BEACON STAFF AND POLICY INFORMATION

EDITORIAL

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Daniel Dassow

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ON THE COVER: A parishioner worships at The Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus on Nothshore Drive (Ericksen Gomez-Villeda / Daily Beacon)

Letter from the Editor: Why I majored in religious studies

DANIEL DASSOW Editor-in-Chief

I decided to take a gen ed class my first semester at UT called “Religion in a Global Perspective.” I was fresh off a 12-year stint as a private Christian schoolboy. My senior Bible class had a “world religions” unit where we researched a religion and then presented on how it fell short of God’s truth. So I was pretty interested to see how a public school taught religion.

On the first day of class, the professor, a man named Randal Hepner, set out his goal for the course.

“I’m going to attempt to make the strange familiar and the familiar strange,” he said.

And from the first day of class until the last, he did just that. He lectured for 80 minutes straight twice a week and it was never uninteresting.

He’d grown up Catholic and was so shamed by his Protestant cousins for his biblical illiteracy that he read the Bible cover to cover seven times by his 18th birthday. He’d lived with a Hasidic Jew in Brooklyn and almost converted. He’d dedicated much of his academic career to studying the Rastafarian movement, and he’d chosen terrorism as the theme for the class.

His favorite prefix was “I gotta tell you…” and he did have to tell us. He laid forth the most colorful expositions of each “major” religion and the complex and often violent interactions between them.

From that point on, each time I took a religious studies class, I wrote down something my professor said on the first day.

Professor Rosalind Hackett, a renowned Africanist of English birth and a former head of the department, told us who she was on the first day of Anthropology of Religion.

“I love complexity,” she said. “I lead a complex life.”

Just a few months before, she had received the honorary chieftaincy title of Yeye Mother, or “mother who knows our ways,” from the Elerinmo, or king, of Erinmoland in Nigeria. She occasionally missed class to hop on a plane to somewhere halfway across the globe. Maybe that’s why she was my first professor to understand the imminence of the pandemic.

“If you cannot improvise, you should not be in the field,” she said to us the first month of the class. It was only a few weeks later that she was teaching us on a Zoom screen.

“Let’s stop moving and cooking and settle down,” she said during our first class in quarantine.

She taught me bit by bit how the framework of cultural relativity used by ethnographers is a wellspring of empathy. How does one enter into another person’s space and set judgment aside? That changed how I treat people.

And then I met two professors who used their classes to get students through a pandemic.

On the first day of Mindfulness, Professor Megan Bryson gave a rapid fire introduction of Buddhism to a classroom of masked students and to a grid of Zoom windows simultaneously

with dexterity and good humor.

There was a distinctly masterful way that she made distanced students part of the classroom and opened the space for us to both learn complex history and share our own experiences with mindfulness.

“I treat this like magic,” she said, moving between screens in an unprecedented time, and the calm I felt walking into her classroom each day during one of the worst times of my life was almost magical.

And then I met Professor Manuela Ceballos on Zoom for the first meeting of Islam in the Modern World. The course material would have been difficult to navigate on a large public campus had it been in person, but we were balkanized by videotelephony.

She told us we would all feel like outsiders at some point as a multi-faith classroom.

“We get offended. We get upset. And then we get over it,” she said. “These are spaces of complete surprise.”

That’s how I would define a religious studies classroom: a space of complete surprise. I declared myself a religious studies major shortly after, and I’ve been more surprised by the challenge and the joy of it than I ever thought I would be.

Religious studies is for people who love complexity. It is for people whose desire for knowledge is matched by an appetite for mystery. You come to these classes to open up your world, to learn how to be in the world with others, and they certainly do that. But you stay because of the people – the wonderful, wonder-filled people.

Letter from Managing Editor: Religion’s not my career, it’s a lens!

ABBY ANN RAMSEY Managing Editor

When I tell people I’m double majoring in journalism and religious studies, I’m almost aWlways asked how I plan to get a job that uses both of those degrees.

For a lot of people, the two fields exist in entirely separate spheres — journalism in a sphere of secularism, politics and questioning and religious studies in a sphere of spirituality, firm beliefs and isolation from the rest of the world. But in reality, neither of these boxes that people put the fields in even begin to encapsulate them.

In fact, the two overlap much more than people would expect and studying religion can provide increased understanding of subjects that journalists report on. Understanding religion and how it affects culture, identity, society, politics and history is vital to understanding the communities and issues that are the subject of news stories.

There’s a scene in the 2021 film “Shiva, Baby” that makes me laugh just thinking about

it because of the way it so poignantly describes Gen Z twenty-somethings but also because of the way I relate to the protagonist’s struggle. She graduated college with a gender studies degree and everyone keeps asking her how she plans to have a career as a feminist.

“[Feminism] is not my career!” she yells at one point. “It’s a lens!”

As easy as it feels to laugh at, it also feels very true for me when I try to tell people that religious studies is a lens I can apply to whatever job I work in in the media industry. It’s something that’s hard to describe though when people ask if I’ll choose the pastor route or the journalist route.

More and more in recent years, people have begun to recognize the effects that religion can have on culture and politics, particularly in the south. Telling the stories of cult survivors requires more than an interest in the increasingly popular and glamorized true crime genre — it requires being educated enough on new religious movements and the power that leaders can have to write with empathy for the victims and to take them seriously. Reporting on legislators that call for a spiritual awakening to solve gun violence requires an understanding of the history of religion and the effects it can have.

We don’t even have to publish an issue dedicated to religion to see the impact of religion influencing stories on campus and in our community. Even though it’s not blatantly mentioned in the stories you read, understanding religion means understanding that our sources’ identities are sometimes shaped by belief systems we might not be familiar with or are shaped by the belief systems of those around them.

It means taking our sources’ and peers’ ideas seriously, whether those ideas are about politics, Tennessee football or spirituality.

While religion is embedded in journalism and in the stories we tell, this religion issue aims to dynamically explore religion’s impacts on campus and in the community. Even though it might seem like religion is in its own box, isolated from the rest of the world and occasionally uncomfortable to talk about, it’s all around us.

I’m grateful that UT’s journalism and religious studies departments have helped me to see that and that my professors in religious studies have challenged the way I think, read and write to ultimately help me grow into a better journalist.

Why is “religion” so hard to define? Scholars of religion weigh in

AURORA SILAVONG Staff Writer

To some, “religion” brings up memories of stained glass windows in a rainbow of colors and sermons in front of a gilded altar. To others, “religion” might remind them of brightly-painted temples and leaving behind offerings of food, money and all manners of other treasures.

Everyone has their own idea of what constitutes “religion.” It is nearly impossible to describe religion in a concise, but respectful, way. For example, the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the term as “a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs and practices.”

The matter is further complicated by attempts to define “religion” in legal and political terms for purposes of taxation, national security and the like. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which bans employers from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion and sex, attempts to be as inclusive as possible by protecting all manner of beliefs concerning “ultimate ideas” about “life, purpose and death.” These include beliefs that “seem illogical or unreasonable to others” and those that may be considered “fringe.” Protections are also extended toward those that profess no religion or even an aversion to religious practice.

While all these definitions try their best to include everyone, they oftentimes fall short. These shortcomings can be attributed, in part, to the dominance of Christianity in Europe and the Americas.

“Most of the reason for this challenge is that our English vocabulary of ‘religion’ and our Western understandings of what that category includes come from earlier Western views that Christianity is the model for the concept of religion and everything else is measured against it,” Christine Shepardson, head of the Department of Religious Studies, said.

“This, of course, meant that – by definition – other religions were seen to be lacking some important aspect(s) and were somehow lesser.”

Nontheistic faiths – that is, belief systems that do not generally venerate a central creator god or pantheon of gods – are a common victim of these imperfect methods of categorization. During World War II, Japanese Buddhists were considered a bigger security threat than their Christian brethren, and Buddhism as a whole was once considered a cult in mainstream American culture.

There is not a cure-all for this problem, as human belief is such a diverse concept. Even within religious sects, there are a variety of interpretations, and these beliefs are also subject to change due to time and migration.

Megan Bryson, associate head of the Department of Religious Studies, primarily studies Chi-

nese religion and teaches classes on a range of Asian religions.

“One way we could potentially respond would be to discuss similar terms for something like ‘religion’ in different times and places to highlight the range of concepts that get flattened by the Protestant-centric English term ‘religion,’” Bryson said.

Bryson brought up the East Asian concepts of “jiao” and “kyo,” which are “teachings” in Mandarin and Japanese, respectively, that used to describe belief systems. In the nineteenth century, these terms were expanded into “zongjiao” and “shukyo” when scholars began translating texts from the West and encountered words for “religion,” for which they did not have a direct translation.

Using this method would allow for examining models of thought and belief that are not commonly considered religions in the western world, including philosophical models like Confucianism.

Even so, there may never be a proper way to define religion in a way that pays respect to everyone. Scholar Jonathan Z. Smith famously collected a list of over 50 definitions of religion offered by various thinkers. The best method, then, may be to approach religion not as something constrained by structural definitions, but as something open to the stunning multitude of human existence.

Students from various Christian ministries on the UTK campus come together in fellowship and prayer for one hour on Thursday Feb. 24, 2022 for the Collegiate Day of Prayer. Edward Cruz / The Daily Beacon

Muslim students find community, God during Ramadan

NAHAN ABUBUCKER Staff Writer

Muslim community.

It is currently the month of Ramadan — an Islamic holy month where Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset every day for 30 days — and Muslims around campus are doing their best to make the most of the experience.

The experience of fasting can definitely be challenging.

“The worrying part about fasting while being a full-time student is that walking between classes, it just gets a little tiring, and I’m afraid that I’m gonna be really thirsty or get exhausted,” Amira Fernandez said.

However, Ramadan isn’t just about fasting. In fact, abstaining from food and water only scratches the surface of what Ramadan is truly about.

Students with the Muslim Student Association gather for a scripture reading during Ramadan. Courtesy of Muslim Student Association

Every day for the past few weeks, dozens of students at UT have been abstaining from food and water. While this may seem like an unusual practice, this is commonplace in the

“Fasting is just the most outward, obvious deed that you can do, but the purpose of it is to increase your God consciousness so anything and everything that does that for you is the focus,” Hana El-Messidi said.

Ramadan is a time when Muslims work to increase their spirituality, build their relationship with God and participate in extra worship. This can make Ramadan quite overwhelming, especially if you’re also a full-time student.

Aissata Diallo, vice president of the Mus-

lim Student Association, often goes to the Mosque for Taraweeh — nightly congregational prayers held specifically during Ramadan.

“You’re trying to still pull in those extra acts of worship, but it’s just really difficult to do when you’re a full-time student because you just have all of these other obligations,” Diallo said.

Despite the challenges, students still say that they enjoy the experience and find it very fulfilling.

“You’re working for the life after this one instead of for everything that’s around you right now,” Fernandez said.

Many students also find that the community helps them a lot. The Muslim community on campus, and the wider Knoxville community, help make Ramadan a positive experience for students.

The local Mosque hosts iftar — the meal Muslims eat after sunset to break their fast — every night.

The MSA also regularly plans events during Ramadan. One of these events is a daily Quran reading, where different students take turns hosting a reading and iftar event each evening.

“You get to eat with your community, family, friends and it’s just a really good time,” Diallo said. “It gives you more of a

sense of comradery … you feel like you’re not in this alone, you’re in this together.”

Another event planned by the MSA is open to all UT students.

On Monday, April 17, the MSA is having its annual event known as Fast-A-Thon. The event invites anyone, whether Muslim or not, to try fasting for a day. At the end of the day, they will be hosting a dinner and fundraiser at the Student Union Ballroom at 6:30 p.m. All donations will go to aiding earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria.

Information booths for the event will be on Ped Walkway from April 3-5 and April 10-14. Spots are limited. To RSVP, go to the MSA’s Instagram page, @utkmsa, and click on the link in the bio.

Additionally, after Ramadan, Muslim students have something else to look forward to.

Marking the end of Ramadan is a day when the community gathers together in celebration and festivities. The day is called Eid Al-Fitr and it is one of two major religious holidays in Islam.

Muslim students are looking forward to Eid while still cherishing their experiences during Ramadan.

“Ramadan goes by fast, and Eid is the ending of that ... so it is bittersweet, but it’s also really beautiful,” El-Messidi said.

Jewish joy: A look into UT’s thriving Hillel community

olate. Faupel said while tradition does play a role in Hillel events, what matters most is being together.

UT’s Jewish community is full of different people from different walks of life and sects of Judaism, all coming together to help each other discover their identities within the faith. Hillel at UTK, an on-campus organization for Jewish students, helps foster this community.

Leah Faupel, a junior double majoring in Jewish Studies and psychology and Hillel’s student president, framed this campus community as just one of many campus chapters worldwide that make up the international organization. To her, Hillel serves as a “Jewish home away from home” for many students, including Faupel herself.

Some Jewish students come from out-ofstate and may be unable to go back home to celebrate important holidays with family, so, as Faupel stated, Hillel becomes especially important so they can foster ties with their faith and identity.

Faupel said that students within Hillel have meals and celebrate together, such as at their Purim Party last month, in which participants also wore costumes and danced. Hillel also recently hosted a Passover Seder, but with a special twist: Instead of having the traditional foods for the Seder plate, everything was choc-

For Faupel and other Hillel students, the activities of the organization are a way of fostering joy on campus, both for fellow Jewish students and herself because of how her community is thriving. Faupel said that joy is a very important thing for everyone, and it is certainly something we all need, especially now.

Devin Kornblum, a junior elementary education major and vice president of philanthropy for Hillel, described the atmosphere at the organization’s events as welcoming.

“It is a community composed of students with different Jewish denominations, as well as other students, regardless of their religion, with an interest in learning more about Judaism and Jewish life on campus,” Kornblum said.

Beyond the sense of togetherness surrounding Hillel, Kornblum also cited the general importance of having a Jewish community on campus.

“It provides Jewish students a safe place to be surrounded by others who understand and appreciate everything Judaism has to offer,” Kornblum said. “It provides a sense of comfort not having to explain aspects of my Jewish identity to others, but rather being able to connect through it with others who know what it

means to be Jewish.”

Here a sense of togetherness becomes tethered with a sense of belonging because Kornblum and other Jewish students can interact with students who are also part of Jewish culture.

“It makes such a large campus feel smaller through the simple connection that Judaism allows us,” Kornblum said.

According to Faupel, Hillel holds its own events and rents venues for them, since there is no dedicated Hillel House. However, planning events is still a very close, intimate operation.

The idea of home as any place with loved ones became especially evident when Faupel described Shabbaton, a unique retreat Hillel members take to the Smoky Mountains every year. Faupel said that this Shabbaton was Hil-

lel’s third, and numbers are growing: 21 people came this year, compared to around nine at the first.

Both Kornblum and Faupel emphasized growth when referencing Hillel and UT’s Jewish community.

Kornblum highlighted her personal growth in conjunction with the growth of other Jewish students.

“Hillel is an organization that not only fosters the growth of Jewish students on UT’s campus but internationally as well. Being given the opportunity to connect with other Jewish students around the world is such a unique opportunity that I am honored to be a part of. Not only has Hillel allowed me to grow in my Jewish identity but as a leader in the UT community as well and internationally as well,” Kornblum said.

CLARK WALDEN Contributor

Hillel at UTK celebrates its third Shabbaton, a retreat in the Smoky Mountains. Courtesy of Hillel at UTK

UT student begins fundraiser for family of Covenant School shooting victim

students who were all aged nine, and three additional adults who were staff members at the school. Evelyn Dieckhaus, 9; Mike Hill, 61; William Kinney, 9; Katherine Koonce, 60; Cynthia Peak, 61; and Hallie Scruggs, 9 were all victims who lost their lives in the attack. This marked the 128th mass shooting of 2023.

The tragic shooting hit close to home for many individuals across Tennessee. One student in particular, senior political science major Cole Hubbard, was determined to help in any way he could.

“I was at school at my frat house when dad sent me a text to link the story, I was shocked. I started asking my frat brothers, who are mostly from Nashville, if they knew any victims of the shooting. One of my friends actually went to The Covenant School and I started realizing how many connections there were here,” Hubbard said.

Hubbard is a current member of the fraternity Phi Gamma Delta and served as president of the chapter last year. As a Nashville raised civilian, Hubbard soon suspected he, or others close to him, would know someone who had a personal connection to the victims of the shooting.

“Upon asking around I realized Chad Scruggs, who was a 2001 graduate of UTK and brother of our fraternity, lost his daughter, Hallie, in the attack. He also started ‘the Cross’ here on campus when he was a student. This brotherhood is forever and we wanted to show our support. We owe it to him to give him alum support in any way we can,” Hubbard said.

Hubbard started a donation page similar to “GoFundMe” called Spotfund. In just one day, Hubbard surpassed his five-thousand dollar goal by almost one-thousand dollars and has received donations from over 194 donors.

The page continues to receive donations daily with many leaving comments and messages about their donations and how they can continue to help in such a difficult time.

Trey Tarkington, a sophomore business major and member of Phi Gamma Delta, was also incredibly heartbroken by the news.

donate, was just so powerful,” Hubbard said.

Once other fraternities saw how quickly Hubbard was able to raise funds, they too wanted to take part in a project that could support a fellow UT alumni and fraternity brother at this unimaginable time.

Phi Gamma Delta and AOII are two fraternities that are currently collaborating on a fundraiser to raise money for the victims and their families.

On Monday, March 27, Audrey Hale shot and killed six individuals at a private Catholic school in Nashville. The attack killed three

Just hours after the news of the attack broke, the brothers of Phi Gamma Delta found that a former fraternity brother was the father of one of the victims.

“This hits really close to home for me because of the many connections I have to not only the school but the church. I have nothing but amazing memories of attending church services and Sunday school there with my friends and it was absolutely heartbreaking to hear the news of what happened,” Tarkington said.

“I had no idea what to set the goal as, I just figured 5,000 was a decent and reasonable goal. Seeing people I haven’t spoken to in years

LEAH HIBBERT Staff Writer

Cole Hubbard started a donation page to support an alumnus whose daughter was killed in the Covenant School shooting.

Courtesy of Cole Hubbard

Chad Scruggs, a pastor at Covenant Presbyterian, pictured with his family.

Courtesy of Cole Hubbard

Students explore mindfulness, meditation to combat college stressors

CAITLIN MULQUEEN Staff Writer

College is a unique time where one must balance academics, work, extracurriculars and everything in between. The fast-paced nature of college life is enough to make anyone feel overwhelmed, and many college students have reported struggling with burn out, depression and anxiety. One way some Vols have tried to combat this has been by turning to the methods of mindfulness and meditation – cultivating a more relaxed, focused life.

Meditation and exercising mindfulness is largely rooted in South and East Asian religions that have been in practice for several thousands of years. However, this way of living has steadily grown in popularity across the world and throughout all demographics, including having its impact on the student population at the University of Tennessee.

From mindfulness sessions held at the TREC, to course study on its history and the Meditation and Mindfulness Club for students, Rocky Top is feeling the good vibrations, following the uptick in meditative habits – striving to not just clear one’s head but to understand what is going on within it.

Megan Bryson, associate professor and as-

sociate head in religious studies, regularly teaches a course called “Mindfulness.” Professors Andria Yates in psychology and David Patterson (now emeritus) in social work have also offered courses that deal with mindfulness.

Bryson’s course explores the history of mindfulness in Buddhist meditation practices and its gradual transformation from the 19th to 21st centuries as Buddhism spread throughout the world.

“We consider different facets of mindfulness in the United States, including medicalization, commodification, corporatization and political engagement,” Bryson said.

The class also gives students the opportunity and freedom to deeply explore specific mindfulness traditions and different forms of secular and religious practices — a sentiment that is unique to her particular focus in religious studies. Bryson has seen first hand the way mindfulness has been able to relate to her students’ lives and careers.

“One student, who is now in physical therapy school, developed a program for incorporating mindfulness into physical therapy,” Bryson said. “Another student developed a mindfulness-based art curriculum for elementary school students. Other students completed three-week mindfulness programs to decide if it was something they wanted to continue.”

THE DAILY BEACON WORSHIP

Bryson has seen the popularity of the tradition and religious practice increase, a trend she presumes to be related to the uncertain state of society at the moment.

“I think recent stresses such as the pandemic, economic uncertainty – especially for young people – and climate change, (as well as) less recent stresses, such as systemic oppression, have encouraged people to seek new ways of coping,” Bryson said. “Many forms of mindfulness are fairly accessible and don’t have to cost anything, making it an appealing practice.”

One group of students at UT have found peace in working toward mindfulness as a part of a community.

Meredith Froehlich, a senior studying psychology, currently serves as president of the Mindfulness and Meditation Club. A member of the club since her freshman year, her journey in meditation began in high school after reading a book on mindfulness when a therapist introduced her to some techniques.

A club meeting typically begins with a check-in period, a moment of reflection to review how their day, week and even every moment is going. Then, they will introduce the meditation for the week, giving a description and instruction.

Then comes the meditation. For roughly 1520 minutes, students will practice what they have learned, and afterwards they will reflect on how the meditation felt — any thoughts or emotions that arose.

“I found it helped me understand my anxiety and my mind and cope better with the symptoms I faced due to my anxiety,” Froehlich said. “It also improved my overall view of the world, and I found myself … noticing nature and its beauty.”

However, despite adopting the practices of cultures long preceding them, in the Meditation and Mindfulness Club, the roots of their

practices are never forgotten.

“Our club has a firm stance in always appreciating culture and not appropriating,” Froehlich said. “We make sure we acknowledge where meditations and mindfulness practices originate … We incorporate these roots by always discussing the origins of each meditation we teach, where the specific religions, traditions and cultures of these meditations started.”

Bryson explained the history of how these practices began to spread, and its gradual Westernization, considering the way that it has been stripped from previous cultural and religious context, adapted to fit Western, secular interests.

She has seen this carried out by Western practitioners in several ways, including by claiming that Buddhism isn’t really religious, but philosophical, or by claiming that meditation is the core Buddhist practice and mindfulness the core form of meditation.

“This isn’t a problem in and of itself — the history of Buddhism is a history of cultural adaptation — but I think it becomes a problem when Western mindfulness practitioners look down on other kinds of Buddhist practice or claim the sole right to define Buddhism,” Bryson said.

Bryson’s advice for students interested in trying meditation is to understand that there are a lot of ways to meditate and that sometimes it’s best not to seek help along the way.

“For students with PTSD or other mental health issues, I would also recommend working with a therapist or other healthcare professional to develop a meditation program rather than trying to figure it all out on their own,” Bryson said. “We often associate meditation and mindfulness with calmness, but being alone with one’s thoughts can also be quite intense.”

Courtesy of Vecteezy

A priest on losing, finding faith

ABBIE SMITH Staff Writer

“I became a mental health counselor with a focus on addictions. What I noticed was that everybody I was working with in addictions, if they were able to embrace their spiritual nature, all of those people were able to heal much more completely and quickly and easily,” Whitney said.

“This led me to think, okay, there must be something to this. What is it? There is something, but it’s not quantifiable. It was right around this time that I started gravitating back towards faith myself.”

In a time where college students are creating a new class schedule every semester, moving once or twice a year and trying to figure out what’s coming next for them after graduation, there’s a plethora of instability and uncertainty. Students are also questioning their identity

“I belong to an order of priests called the Paulist Fathers and one of our focuses in campus ministry is how we can help you transition into what we think of as an ‘adult’ Catholic,” Whitney said. “You know, you went to church and did all those things with your parents because that’s what you did with your parents, so now it’s got to become yours. As you move your identity from your parents’ child into your own person, how can faith and spirituality help you move further and forward?”

Week of 4/10/23 - 4/16/23

Having grown up in the South and attending Catholic school for all of my adolescent years, Catholicism has provided me with many opportunities. I got confirmed my sophomore year of high school and my sponsor was a man named Monsignor Carr – the pastor of our church. My mindset was “go big or go home,” in part because it was funny to have my pastor be my confirmation sponsor, and the other part was because I had stopped identifying with Catholicism years before then.

That being said, I’m still open to Catholicism. It had such a large impact on the way I function and how I’ve structured my life. My Catholic school taught me routine. The community around me gave me friendships and relationships that are going to last as long as I’m alive (if my parents and grandparents are any example to follow).

I had a conversation recently with Father Richard Whitney, a priest at St. John XXIII here on the campus, where we talked about the phenomenon of college students distancing themselves from faith and why it matters.

Fr. Whitney discussed his own experience of falling away from the church for a period of time, from middle school until he was 40. The big question for college students and those who have lost touch with their faith, Whitney thinks, is “What’s this got to do with me?”

Fr. Whitney grew up in Boston and did not have the same type of upbringing I did, where religion was ingrained in my life and where the church and the community were almost one and the same. Whitney likens John XXIII on UT’s campus to a neighborhood within a larger city, UT. We discussed the guilt that comes with leaving your community, your church and drifting further from religion.

“I think the guilt is counterproductive,” Whitney said. “Especially in this case, because what it tends to do generally is make a person hunker down and want to move away from it. I think what’s much more helpful is to have a venue where people like you can ask questions about faith without it being seen negatively. A lot of our rules and suggestions as Catholics fall into a gray area, but there’s not a way to question the rules without polarization.”

Fr. Whitney is trying to create that venue for anyone who is questioning their faith or searching for information. He keeps his door open and wants to offer help to people who are willing to seek it. Personally, after this talk with him, some of my questions about faith were answered, but the work remains unfinished.

“There’s an emptiness that people are trying to fill,” Whitney said in closing. “But when trying to stop the pain that comes with emptiness, you can grab the good thing, the bad thing or the best thing. The best thing takes more effort.”

If you want to attend mass at John XXIII, they have daily mass at 5:05 p.m. Monday-Friday, mass at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday and at 9 a.m., 11:15 a.m. (live streamed), 5:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Sundays.

The Weekly Crossword by Margie E. Burke

Interior of The Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus on Northshore Drive. Erickson GomezVilleda/ The Daily Beacon

5 movies, shows that explore religion and pop culture

“Earth”

Religion is a major aspect of human life, which means that it is also prevalent in popular culture and entertainment. Religion can be a prominent aspect in film that guides the plot and major themes, or it can be subtle, seen through the aesthetics, music, setting or undertones in conversations.

The best films and shows with religious themes teach the audience about different beliefs, histories or rituals through passionate and authentic storytelling.

Here are five movies and shows that authentically and respectfully depict religious experiences.

“Lady Bird”

“Lady Bird” is a film directed by Greta Gerwig that has more subtle elements of religion that are still visible throughout. This movie takes place from 2002-3 and is a coming-of-age story that follows Christine — who calls herself “Lady Bird” — and her complex relationship with her mother Marion.

While the film itself is not necessarily religious, Lady Bird goes to a Catholic high school and the film depicts multiple Mass services, nuns and priests. This movie is unique from other films that illustrate Catholicism because they show the real experiences of Catholic school girls who are discovering who they are and what they believe in. It also shows nuns and priests who have their own issues and feelings — they are not just one-dimensional characters. In an interview, Gerwig explained that she wanted to translate her own happy experiences at her Catholic school to the screen, like the beauty within the religion, as well as interactive, funny nuns and priests.

“Earth” is a 1999 film that follows the Partition of India in 1947 through the lens of an 8-year-old girl named Lenny. The northern, majority Islam sections of India became the nation of Pakistan, while the southern and majority Hindu section became the Republic of India. The film takes place in Lahore where Muslims, Hindus, Sikhis and Parsee were at peace until partition, and then violence, ensued.

Director Deepa Mehta portrays the story in a way that educates the audience on both historical events and religious beliefs of Islam and Hinduism and the complex nature of human relationships. Through the eyes of Lenny, the audience slowly watches as close friends and family become divided because of religion.

“Nang

Nak”

Nang Nak is a Thai ghost story based on the Thai legend Mae Nak Phra Khanong. In a rural village near Bangkok, Mak is sent to fight in a war and has to leave behind his pregnant wife Nak. He is eventually reunited with his wife and new child. The villagers see Mak with her, but they know that Nak is actually dead. When they try to confront him, Nak’s ghost kills them. Throughout the story, the film depicts aspects of Buddhist beliefs. It teaches the dangerous effects of desire and attachment even after death, with Nak’s ghost. It also illustrates compassion through the Buddhist monk who helps Nak move past her life.

“Persepolis”

“Persepolis” is a 2008 animated film that begins in the 1970s and follows Marjane Satrapi as she grows up during the Islamic Revolution. Marjane watches her home change before her eyes — she is

no longer allowed to have artistic expression and must change her appearance and fashion. In order to protect her, Marjane’s parents send her to Vienna for school and a better life. However, in Vienna, she faces major cultural differences and disappointments that make her life just as difficult as it was in Iran. When Marjane returns home, she no longer feels that she fits anywhere, and has to decide where she belongs.

In the beginning of the film, she sees God every night before she goes to sleep, and she finds that they have a strong relationship — she even hopes to be a prophet. Religion was a large part of her life, but throughout her journey, God stops showing himself to her before she sleeps, and her faith slowly slips away. The film shows how religion can be both positive and negative in a person’s life — faith helps Marjane get through struggles, but she wrestled with the harm it caused her harm through the Islamic Revolution.

“Under the Banner of Heaven”

“Under the Banner of Heaven” is a Hulu series that tells the story of the true 1984 murders of Brenda Wright Lafferty and her 15-month-old daughter Erica Lafferty by her brothers-in-law Ron and Dan Lafferty who were in a polygamist group called the School of Prophets. The show follows Detective Jeb Pyre, who grapples with his own faith as the truth of the murders begins to unravel.

The show also has a past and present timeline, additionally showing the history and life of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints founder Joseph Smith Jr. While the show focuses heavily on the spiral into fundamentalism and the murder investigation, it also shows the daily life of members of the church: going to church, praying before bed and reading scriptures. Like “Persepolis,” this series shows both joyful religious experiences in Pyre’s personal and family life, while also showing negative ones — such as the challenging decision to leave a religion.

EMMA COFFEY Arts and Culture Editor

All photos courtesy of IMdb

Scene from “Under the Banner of Heaven.” Courtesy of IMdb

A change of space

ABBY ANN RAMSEY Managing Editor

Tyson House, a campus ministry at UT that incorporates both Lutheran and Episcopal denominations of Christianity, has had a building on Melrose Avenue for over 50 years. Now, as the building faces costly renovation needs, it could be sold to the university, leaving the community with uncertainties about the future of their physical space.

According to an email sent out to Tyson House community members from full-time chaplain Fr. RJ Powell, the ministry had been looking to renovate sections of the house, which is owned by St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral. What they came to find out, however, was that the renovations would be more intensive than they initially expected, as they were told that the building was not up to occupancy standards.

Tyson House works in conjunction with the Diocese of East Tennessee, TEC and the Southeastern Synod, ECLA, each representing the Episcopalian and Lutheran denominations, respectively. They, along with building owner St. John’s Cathedral, discussed options for the Tyson House moving forward.

Eventually, a plan was presented to sell the Tyson House property. As per Tyson House’s original deed, “the funds acquired from such sale must be used for campus ministry at UT Knoxville,” according to Powell’s email.

The Tyson House ministry is known for being one of a few protestant campus ministries that is openly-affirming of the LGBTQ community, joined by UKirk and the Wesley Foundation. Not only does Tyson House specify online that they welcome students of all sexualities, but a pride flag also sits atop their building.

For Lucas Fiet, a 2021 UT graduate who is now in seminary at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, that acceptance is what drew him to the ministry as a trans student seeking a faith community. He was raised evangelical but always felt like that couldn’t mesh with his sexuality, especially in the south.

“I literally did not know that there were options, that it was possible to be a Christian who was affirming or queer,” Fiet said. “I never encountered that in my life.”

Fiet got involved with Tyson House his sophomore year at UT and ended up being a resident in the house the next two years. After he graduated, he served as an intern at Tyson House.

He said that part of the appeal Tyson House has not just to LGBTQ students, but to many others, is the way that it introduces people to new ways of thinking about protestantism.

“A pattern I’ve seen there is a lot of people in the south grew up evangelical and have not been exposed to mainline christianity, mainline protestants that are affirming,” Fiet said. “People might see some appeal in having a tradition that’s far enough away from what they grew up with but familiar enough and comfortable.”

Nolan Wells, a current Tyson House resident and a junior geology major, also mentioned that the way Tyson House integrates different denominations and serves as a welcoming space is vital to the community.

“I think admittedly there’s a small overlap between LGBTQ spaces and religion, especially in Tennessee,” Wells said. “But it is something that drew me to the palace, to Tyson House, and I think something will be lost if we don’t have a physical space.”

Ben Gouffon, a junior double majoring in sociology and religious studies and head resident of Tyson House, said that having a ministry like this is vital for protestant Christians, especially in the south.

Gouffon referenced conservative, antiLGBTQ lawmakers’ use of Christian ideology in their arguments as reason for Tyson House playing an important role on campus for Christian students who might disagree.

“Talking to other christians often makes me feel lonely within my own faith community and Tyson House makes me feel the opposite of that — that there is an alternative thought that exists,” Gouffon said.

Gouffon said another vital role that Tyson House plays is offering students involved with the ministry a place to live through their residency program. Tyson House offers students affordable rent prices in exchange for them assisting in services and tasks around the building.

As Tyson House residents might have to leave the building as soon as this May, Gouffon is concerned about affording another place to live or even being able to find one at all with Knoxville’s increasingly crowded and expensive housing options.

“To be frank, I’m having to find something that will be triple what I’m paying now,” Gouffon said.

The residency program, like the other aspects of the ministry, also offers a more welcoming housing option for LGBTQ students. Fiet said that when he came to campus, UT did not offer

satisfactory on-campus housing options. He lived in an apartment off campus until he discovered the residency program.

“Tyson House was really the only realistic opportunity I had on campus to live as a trans person,” Fiet said.

When it comes to looking to the future though, people involved in the Tyson House ministry don’t see the sale of the building as anywhere near the end of the ministry.

Fiet emphasized that lots of the work of Tyson House occurs outside of the physical space anyways. He said that just because that space might be gone, they will still continue doing volunteer work, showing up to Knox Pride Festival and being a resource for the community.

In terms of keeping the ministry going strong, Fiet explained that the main thing Tyson House must find a way to hold on to is Sunday services, meals and the discussions that happen afterwards. According to him, those conversations are one of the most important parts of the ministry, as they get a chance to help students grapple with religious questions and find ways of understanding Christianity that might differ from the Chrisian traditions they grew up in.

“I think the main thing I would be concerned about is where is that going to happen?” Fiet said. “As long as that is happening, I feel like this is still a continuation of what I experienced.”

Finding space on campus at a time when the student population is at an all-time high can be tricky. But several campus ministries and organizations don’t have a physical building or room, yet manage to hold events and flourish.

Gouffon said a benefit of being part of UT’s religious community is the relationships Tyson House has been able to foster with other religious organizations like UKirk, the Wesley Foundation, the Muslim Student Association and Hillel. For one thing, it’s given the ministry a chance to show the community that faith traditions do not have to be isolated from one another.

“We’ve been a resource for having commu-

nication and relationships with other student organizations,” Gouffon said. “That kind of represents something that a lot of people don’t think exists… to have that space where that type of energy is available, I feel is really important and pretty upsetting that it won’t be around anymore.”

While the physical space might not be around much longer, those relationships, according to Gouffon and Fiet, do aid in giving Tyson House connections to other spaces on campus that they might be able to use to keep those vital parts of the ministry going.

And although the residency program provides an affirming on-campus housing option, Fiet said that just having the ministry alive itself can help LGBTQ students meet one another and help each other figure out housing from there.

“It facilitates those kinds of connections that then lead to better situations on a campus where there are not many great situations for queer people,” Fiet said.

Residents of Tyson House said the sellers of the building have been unclear about what’s to come. The physical future of Tyson House might feel uncertain as residents don’t know when they’ll have to leave or where they’ll end up, but Tyson House community members are certain that the work they do is not going away any time soon.

“It’s undergoing a lot of change, and that’s scary but it’s undergone a lot of change in the past… My hope is that 10 years from now, we can look back and this can be a major pivot but one that leads to really good stuff,” Fiet said. “The community knows that this is a good thing, and I don’t think they’re gonna let it just fade into nothing.”

Tyson House staff and the Diocese of East Tennessee did not respond to an interview request for this article.

As the Tyson House building faces renovation needs, the ministry considers a future without the familiar Melrose Avenue space.

The Tyson House, which has sat on Melrose Avenue for over 50 years, could be sold to UT because of costly renovation needs. Madelyn Stone / The Daily Beacon

Atheist Society of Knoxville breaks bread at rationalist table

DANIEL DASSOW Editor-in-Chief

The Atheist Society of Knoxville, or ASK, lives up to its acronymic name. At the group’s weekly 5:30 p.m. meeting at Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria on Tuesday, they ask questions of each other, of those who believe in supernatural things and, of course, of God himself.

“If God supposedly made me who I am, and gave me a brain that is capable of questioning him, why would he punish me for using it?” Alistair Elliott, a local activist and the group’s president, asked over a table on the patio off Jackson Avenue. “And if he didn’t want me questioning him, why would he give me a brain capable of questioning?”

On this particular night, there are about a dozen members in attendance and the founder has joined them. His name is Larry Rhodes, and he is a veteran of the Vietnam War with a black belt in karate. He wears all black, as he often did when he would visit campus and sit at the intersection of Pedestrian Walkway and Volunteer Boulevard with a sign reading “Ask an atheist.”

Spurred to action by the jingoistic aftermath of 9/11, where one act of violence set off others in a chain of global interreligious violence, Rhodes placed an ad in a local paper in 2002 to see who might join him for rationalist conversation at a Starbucks in West Knoxville.

At the first meeting, no one came. At the second meeting a month later, no one came. But at the third meeting, the second member of ASK showed up. This man, along with nearly 1,200 others, make up ASK’s current meeting group.

“When everyone thinks you’re a pariah because of what you don’t believe, it’s nice to have other people,” Rhodes said.

Rhodes converted to atheism while he was a student at UT, but he stayed in the atheist “closet” for 30 years. Nearly every member present at the table spent some time in that closet. It’s a period of time between when a person is disabused of ideas that have abused them, and when they are ready to face another kind of abuse.

Stephanie Igo, the group’s secretary, lived in California when she first came out to her friends and family as a nonbeliever. Suddenly, members of her community cut her out of their social lives.

“Our kids had played together. We had all done group events together. And they just pulled themselves out of my life and out of my child’s life,” Igo said. “That first few years can be really rough.”

There are phases to losing belief, and the first is marked by grief at the loss of community. ASK provides a space for local atheists where they can reclaim the communal practices of religion without having to subscribe to a set of supernatural beliefs or credos.

“We break bread together every week,” Elliott said. “That’s what keeps so many people tied to religion. Even if they start doubting, they’re scared of losing their community, and so this group gives them community. We support each other. If somebody’s going through a hard time, we’re going to come together to make sure they’re taken care of. That’s what churches do, if you’re part of their community.”

The second phase of losing belief involves a great deal of anger – at parental indoctrination, at conservative Christian politicians and the people who vote for them and at religious people and organizations that don’t live up to their own principles of lovingkindness. Even though its members gather to have fun and build community, ASK provides a space to vent this anger, too.

To live in Tennessee as an atheist is to be perpetually reminded of your minority religious status. Though roughly 3 in 10 Americans, and 4 in 10 Americans between the ages of 18-29, identify as religiously non-affiliated, only 14% of adults in Tennessee identify as unaffiliated. Of these, only 1% identify as atheist.

In a state whose constitution still contains a provision preventing a person “who denies the being of God” from holding public office, members of ASK feel that Christianity in particular is a malignant force in political and public life.

As conservatives around the country increasingly see Tennessee as an ideological destination and right wing media sources like The Daily Wire have staked themselves in Nashville, the group doesn’t see the political landscape improving just because more Americans are losing their faith.

“We would not have the political trouble that we have if the most people would actually stand up and do something about what’s happening,” Sam Goeltz, a videographer and ASK member, said. “The people who have been moving here have been moving here because they see it as some Republican bastion of Christianity.”

ASK gained 501(c)(3) status in 2018, and per Tennessee law, is required to have a board with at least three members. With new bylaws drafted, Elliott serves as president of the board and Dustin Stout, a regional manager of a local bank, serves as vice president.

Stout, Elliott and Goeltz wrapped up the ASK podcast “Apostates on the Fringe” in March, a

show where they had discussed left-wing politics and nonbelief since 2021.

Stout grew up Southern Baptist in Indiana and lived for a time with his father and stepmother, a devout Jehovah’s Witness, in Texas. Like most members of ASK, he grew up in an evangelical Christian milieu, and grew to see the cracks in certain Christian beliefs about God and the supernatural.

“I got into counter-apologetics pretty hard during my angry atheist phase,” Stout said. “I wanted to learn how to counter them. The arguments were all the same, so it’s not really hard to do that.”

Though they broadly share an identity as rationalist humanists on the political left, ASK members came to atheism in all different ways.

For some, reading the work of “New Atheist” writers like Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins – men who began a movement not only to espouse nonbelief but to forcefully critique religion – was particularly meaningful. For others, it was media like the Dogma Debates, a radio show and podcast hosted by David C. Smalley. Even meme culture on Reddit made some feel comfortable with adopting the name “atheist” for the first time.

Some members have recently moved to Tennessee and others have lived in the state or in Knoxville for decades. The anger they feel at fellow Tennesseans is compounded by anger at conservatives who move to the state looking to uphold and maintain its conservative culture.

As they have tried to fight to make the state more open to change and less broadly religious in its politics, they have been frustrated at how outsiders have defined Tennessee.

“This has been my home for 12 years. Tennessee in general has been for 27 years,” Elliott said. “F*** these people from the West Coast moving out here and being like ‘not in our holler.’ Motherf***er, this is our holler! I was here first, you know? Why do you get to stake claim

on my home?”

ASK has been meeting regularly for over two decades, and they’ve switched around their meeting locations. Barley’s has been the spot since 2019, though the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted in-person meetings for two years. Especially before COVID, the nonprofit was able to host a range of events, such as a Bible trivia fundraiser at the Fort Sanders Yacht Club. They have also led philanthropic efforts that benefitted the Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee and the First Aid Collective Knox.

Before the pandemic, Larry Rhodes would often come to campus and talk to UT students about belief and nonbelief. In 2015, he published a book titled “Atheism: What’s it all about?” a collection of his blog posts on the subject. Well versed in counter-apologetics, he often took students to task on their own supernatural beliefs.

He claimed the UT campus is also implicated in anti-atheist sentiment.

“When I came on campus, they told me I had to sit on the main drag, but don’t go over by the dorms or any of that stuff. But I’d be sitting there on the main drag looking down at the dorms and there’d be religious groups down there, with their tables set up, with their tents, talking to people, giving out books, and all this other stuff,” Rhodes said.

Some students would tell Rhodes to go to Hell, and others would sit and have a thoughtful discussion with him.

Now, over two decades since he founded ASK, he’s seen it multiply in numbers. It’s a group open to new members, and it’s also a community that is vitally important to the people who call it home.

“This group is the only family I have in Tennessee,” Stout said. “This group is my only family. And I come here every Tuesday to visit my family.”

Members of the Atheist Society of Knoxville, or ASK, gather at their weekly meeting at Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria in Old City. Madelyn Stone / The Daily Beacon

“That’s what keeps so many people tied to religion ... They’re scared of losing their community, and so this group gives them community.”

ALISTAIR ELLIOTT, President

Garcia: Exploring Indigenous belief and that which came before us

PILAR GARCIA Columnist

Indigenous belief is cyclical. There is understanding from the Earth when we, as her children, take her gifts in the form of multitudes of things — food, animals, energy, and other resources. We will reciprocate what we’ve taken by giving thanks to her and know that we will take care of what’s left behind.

However, no single denominational “church of the Native Americans” exists which holds the answers to Indigenous religion. There’s no complete and all-encompassing book of rules of how things should be done or the correct way to be Indigenous. There are only the words of our elders, of other Indigenous peoples, and how they treated this land before we ever inhabited it.

Religions like Peyotism reflect on their beliefs of Christianity and Indigeneity as overlap, but some Indigenous peoples subscribe to Abrahamic religions while keeping their Indigenous beliefs. Native American churches exist, though their beliefs and practices depend

widely on their leaders and practices, which sometimes integrate specific tribes’ beliefs or the integration of religious texts, like the Bible.

Some Native Americans find solace in reconciliation with Christianity and find the creator and Jesus Christ to be the same. Still, some hold steadfast to their critiques of organized religions’ post-colonization — it’s dependent on one’s spiritual and religious journey and how one wishes to go forward.

However, I encourage separating religion from spirituality and perceiving Indigenous belief in the light of spirituality alone. Our spirituality is a reflection of the land and our respective peoples. Every tribe and person holds a different relationship with their lands based on their needs, like how the Cherokee and Iroquois grew “the three sisters” — squash, beans and corn — based on how the plants nurtured each other as a harmony of sisters. The beans absorb nitrogen and nourish the soil for the corn and squash, the stalks of corn support the beans’ growth and the leaves of the squash provide shelter from weeds for the sisters to grow. Caring for these fertile grounds with plants that uplift each other and further feed its peoples are prime examples of how spirituality bleeds into Indigenous existence.

Sebastian Doak, a Mi’kmaq student from NSCAD University in Canada, delved into his

experience with Indigenous identity and spirituality.

“The way that I look at the land, and at the plants and animals that live here, is part of a framework of reciprocity and respect that definitely comes from these embodied beliefs that my body and spirit already know,” Doak said.

Doak explained how his ancestors lived in Mi’kma’ki, reflecting his current practices. He stated his actions create a moral and ethical framework from the guidance of their parents and ancestors that reflect on his spirituality as an Indigenous person.

For some, and myself, this concept can be explained by the term “animism” by first separating the idea from organized religion and allowing the term to stand alone as a spiritual belief. Animism follows the idea that spirit resides in all beings, regardless of their sentience.

For creation tales and similar incorporations, like the Creator and Earth Mother, there is an understanding that these beings are not Gods as much as they are other ancestors. Instead, they are further divine relatives who have given us life and fire and gifted the condor the color of its wings. They’ve created the Earth as we know it, and the animals, plants and their purposes existed before us.

Religion and nonprofit leadership: From classroom to community

ated before the new concentration was available, but her work for the Emerald Youth Foundation and, now, the Appalachian Regional Commission, shows how involved religious studies graduates have been in the nonprofit sector.

with a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

The academic study of religion helps us reflect on ourselves and learn more about those around us. It introduces us to the religions of the world as well as the complex roles that religion plays in our own communities. Like other disciplines in the humanities, it helps us explore what it is to be human — to think, analyze and imagine — and provides a strong foundation for countless future careers. Our students, though, made visible one future in particular that has become a new part of our curriculum – namely, a major concentration and minor in religion and nonprofit leadership.

Our students inspire us with their engagement in the world. Watching our graduates head not only to graduate school, law school or seminary, but also into nonprofit work focused on environmental justice, health care and education, helped us to reimagine our curriculum.

Tyler Hardin, class of 2016, is one of those graduates. As he wrote in a department spotlight, “My love of sports and serving young people led me to the Emerald Youth Foundation, a nonprofit inner-city ministry in Knoxville ... my religious studies background gives me an appreciation of different beliefs, which is something that comes into play when I’m serving families.”

Katherine Harwell, class of 2019, also gradu-

The same is true of Logan Doar, class of 2019, who is currently completing a master’s of public policy at the University of Washington. He has found that religion is an often overlooked aspect of community development and credits his experience at UT with preparing him for this work.

“Academically studying religion at the University of Tennessee challenged me to critically analyze texts from different perspectives without inserting my personal biases,” Doar said.

“Interpreting information across economic, social, environmental and cultural sources gives us a more comprehensive understanding of a community’s history, how their lived experiences frame their perspectives and how to use this knowledge to equitably meet the community’s needs for lasting change.”

Inspired by these students and many others, associate professor Megan Bryson set to work to build the curriculum for this new program, which is noteworthy for its integration of courses from several colleges, including the Haslam College of Business, the School of Journalism and Electronic Media and the UT Institute of Agriculture, as well as the new religious studies course “Religion and Nonprofit Leadership.” The major concentration includes a supervised internship

The program has provided a wonderful new opportunity to work with our department’s active Board of Visitors and connect with a variety of organizations in the wider local and regional community. We have been thrilled to see interest from religious studies majors as well as those in other colleges, who see the concentration as a minor that can support their future goals.

The first religion and nonprofit leadership major to graduate was Cody Hubbard, class of 2021, who completed an internship at the Path of Life summer camp and wrote a research paper on the ministerial exception to Title VII. Current students have completed internships at Los Gozosos (Joy-Filled Home) Orphanage in Guatemala, East Tennessee Children’s Hospital and Remote Area Medical.

Landyn Ford, a student who worked at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, reported that he benefited greatly from the concentration.

“The curriculum has equipped me with a capacity for critical reasoning as well as an appreciation for the nonprofit sector,” Ford said. “My experience has ultimately prepared me for my graduate studies in hopes of pursuing a career in healthcare administration in a nonprofit healthcare organization.”

It is important to note that students in religion and nonprofit leadership can belong to any religion or no religion, since the courses focus on the academic study of religion and the role

of religion in the nonprofit and public spheres. Religion is an important part of the nonprofit world: in addition to nonprofits with religious missions, many other nonprofit organizations work with religiously diverse groups of people or other forms of religious diversity.

The current generation of college students particularly values education that gives them tools to make a difference in their communities and beyond. In religious studies, this has encouraged us to think beyond the classroom in developing programs that help students connect a broad-based, cross-cultural academic understanding of religion to the grand challenges we all face. Whether our students go into healthcare, public policy, education, law, sustainability or theology, they are prepared to make a positive difference in the communities they serve.

PROFESSOR TINA SHEPARDSON AND ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR MEGAN BRYSON Department of Religious Studies

Columns and letters of The Daily Beacon are the views of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Beacon or the Beacon’s editorial staff.

Pilar Garcia is a senior studying English with a minor in journalism and electronic media. They can be reached at pgarcia3@vols.utk.edu

Hazy mountains surround the summit of Max Patch, a popular bald in the North Carolina mountains near Great Smoky Mountains National Park. File / The Daily Beacon

Religious studies students can develop nonprofit leadership at both nonreligious and religious nonprofits. File / Daily Beacon

The Wellness Formula: The relationship between religion and well-being

SANA BOGHANI Columnist

Throughout my childhood, my parents instilled in me several values based on our deeply held religious beliefs, from treating every human being with respect to constantly seeking positive energy from the rituals we partake in at our place of worship. Indeed, my parents were my first religious education teachers, informing me about the history of our faith and teaching me some of the longstanding devotional literature that I began reciting when I was two years old.

All of these practices are a significant part of my life to this day. Having the good fortune to continue living with my parents as a college student, I continue to attend our place of worship as regularly as I can. I love how the ceremonies always take place in the evening, allowing my day to always end on a delightful note. I have yet to fully understand my faith in the context of our current world and how thousands of years of history can still be relevant to my life.

When all is said and done, my religious beliefs are the cornerstone of my existence. They have kept me grounded in difficult situations and humble in times of success. And my feelings are in no way abstract or surreal.

In fact, according to Frank Newport, Dan Witters and Sangeeta Agrawal at Gallup, religious individuals have a more positive outlook on life, are less likely to have been diagnosed with depression and experience fewer negative emotions on a daily basis. They also “make much better health choices than do those who are not as or not at all religious.”

Furthermore, substantial researchconfirms the existence of a “significant relationship between religiosity and well-being and selfreported mental health.”

It is important to clarify that I am not concerned about naming a particular religion, nor am I questioning the nature of one’s religious beliefs. Rather, the question that has long fascinated me is, what characteristics does religion bring to enhance an individual’s wellbeing? This is the idea I want to explore in this article.

Improved Mental and Physical Health

Based on an extensive literature review by Harold G. Koenig, professor of psychiatry at the Duke University School of Medicine, various mental and physical health benefits are associated with being religious and/or spiritual. For instance, Koenig refers to several reports that explain how religion and spirituality help people to cope with adversity and stressful situations. These even include physical health problems, from something minor like a common cold to something severe like cardiovas-

cular disease. In other words, religion provides the willpower to endure a difficult situation with even more courage and confidence. Koenig’s analysis also illustrated a largely inverse relationship between being religious and/or spiritual and various suicide variables, including attempting suicide and thinking about doing so. In fact, of 49 most methodological complex studies, “39 (80%) reported less suicide, fewer suicide attempts, or more negative attitudes toward suicide among the more (religious/spiritual).”

Religion provides an avenue for self-care, which paves the way for healthier behaviors, such as maintaining a healthy diet and obtaining sufficient amounts of physical activity. Additionally, fear and anxiety often prompt religious and/or spiritual individuals to use their faith to cope with anxiety in order to find a sense of peace and comfort.

Therefore, using religion as a coping mechanism can explain reductions in stress levels, which in turn points towards the decrease in emotional disorders like depression, suicidal thoughts and substance abuse.

Positive emotions

The list of positive emotions that can be attributed to being connected to one’s religion are endless. Happiness, love, peace, confidence, courage, you name it. I certainly feel many of these emotions myself when practicing my faith, which can be explained by a variety of contributing factors.

First, Newport points out how religion can give someone a sense of control. While some may perceive this locus of control to be external – that is, the belief that almost all events are controlled by transcending forces – I would

add that religion also provides individuals with an internal locus of control. By believing that everything is in the hands of a higher power for a good reason, people may recognize their control over managing stressful situations in a healthy way.

Secondly, religions not only provide benefits on an individual level, but also at the communal level. By attending congregational services or simply meeting others who follow the same religion, close-knit friendships can come into being. In addition, many religions emphasize the importance of treating one another with kindness and compassion, as well as supporting one another in their trials and tribulations. Thus abiding by a shared set of values can strengthen the unity of a religious group, as well as improve one’s interpersonal relationships.

Religion, spirituality, or both?

I have mentioned the terms “religion” and “spirituality” throughout, and they are sometimes used interchangeably as both terms involve some belief in a higher power. As many scholars have noted, religions are often also embedded with a set of guidelines that believers are expected to follow.

Spirituality, on the other hand, may be thought of as a more personalized journey towards finding one’s inner self and searching for a higher purpose in life. Hence, every individual’s perception and experience of spirituality is unique, creating an environment for personal progress no matter one’s stage of life or level of spirituality.

An individual can be spiritual but not religious or vice versa. However, it is possible to be both spiritual and religious by using religion

as a foundational guide to take one’s spiritual journey in a way that’s best suited to one’s beliefs.

Regardless of the path you choose, or even if you don’t choose a path at all, I hope you are able to find a beautiful way to uplift yourself and your overall well-being.

Columns and letters of The Daily Beacon are the views of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Beacon or the Beacon’s editorial staff.

Sana Boghani is a freshman studying communications and global studies. They can be reached at sboghan4@vols.utk.edu.

Olha Dobosh / Creative Commons