Brady Tramuta
Professor Von Schlichten
Women and Religion
5 September 2020
Growing up, when it comes to religion, I took a bit of a different path then the other
people that were around me. I am very open to anyone’s views and I know that everyone is
entitled to their own opinion which is usually based off of their upbringing, whether that be good
or bad. I think religion is a beautiful thing and it is amazing to see how every person is different
and has their own way of looking at life. The world would be a much better place if everyone
was able to have open conversations about things, rather than arguments and hate. I am proud
of my parents for raising me in a way that I was taught to accept everyone and to always treat
people with respect, no matter their views on things. And for that I am forever grateful.
My gender identity is female and I most certainly see myself as traditional. Society does
tend to dictate gender roles in a sometimes harsh way, always thinking that only men and
women can do certain things and that if you wear this your dressing feminine and so on and so
forth. However, I do think as the world has become more accepting of others, there is a drastic
positive change in the way we view the opposite gender compared to how it used to be back in
the old days. And I think that is a very uplifting thing to think about. However, that also applies to
what I was saying about being open to anyone's views, but I must add that whether someone
has a different opinion it is still not okay to bash them for it.
My religious upbring was originally presbyterian however my family chose not to attend
church every week rather than only on special occasions such as holidays. Once I got to high
school I started realizing that I wanted to find my own sense of religion on my own. I had a few
friends that went to a church nearby so I attended their youth group one night and absolutely
loved it. It was a non denominational church however it seemed that they were more towards
the Christian views. I attended for nearly 2 years until I reached a point where I did not
necessarily agree with everything that they were saying when it came to judging other people
for what they do, who they love, etc. I was not a big fan of that, and constantly felt like I just did
not fit in when I was there because I did not see eye to eye with them on everything and they
didn’t respect other people not having the same opinion as theirs. I have yet to find a church
after that, that I thoroughly enjoy, however I am open to finding one that I love. I will not let one
bad experience steer me away from my faith, and I most certainly still have a strong relationship
with God. I’d say religion has had a positive and negative impact. Positive being that my family
and the way we are all raised are very accepting of others no matter what they identify as, but
negative also because once again of the hate I had to sit and listen to while attending the old
church. So I fought back and forth with myself from time to time about what I actually believed
was morally good.
From this class I hope to gain a better understanding of religion and get the ideas and
opinions on women and religion from my classmates, all while being able to respect everyone
for their views, and hopefully get into some good conversation and discussions about the class
as a whole. Overall, I am genuinely interested in this class and am excited for this semester!
