Zachary Noyce: Finding a place for religion at Penn

I attended my first seder on Monday.

Sure, the whole thing was pretty goyim. Sure, Jews were outnumbered in a three-to-one ratio. Sure, we started about two-and-a-half hours after sundown. Sure, our Haggadah was some crazy hippie translation that claimed because "God was all burnt up," Moses went back to Egypt and "formed Brickmaker's Union One." Sure, the matzo box read "not kosher for Passover." Sure, our hostess drank Elijah's glass of wine. It was fun though. And it obviously worked because I -- a firstborn male child -- was not taken by the angel of death in the night.

Maybe it was just the grape juice talking, but the whole event still got me to thinking about religion and its role in our lives.

Or can I say that? Let me examine my PC checklist here. Capitalized the word god? No. Respected one religion more than another? No. Made assumptions about the adherents of a certain religion? No. OK, we're good for now. I'll break those rules in due time.

I don't know why, but campus discourse about religion all too often attempts to place religion as some strange phenomenon that exists only outside our campus and in Hillel. There seems to be an assumption that religion is for hucksters of the Midwest, NASCAR dads of the South, bankers of New York and, of course, insane people of all lands. Not for intelligent, reasonable Ivy Leaguers.

Interesting that such a dismissive tone should prevail since -- I have not done any significant polling, but I'd imagine -- the majority of us have religion. Of course, those of us who consider our religion as a major part of our identity are probably just as much to blame as people who consider their religion a footnote to their character or people who do not consider themselves believers of any religion. We assume that religion should be discussed in this way, and we feel no reservations about painting other religions with that one-color brush.

We expelled him/her/it/them from our classrooms long ago, but God (Elohim/Allah/Shiva and company/Ra) still matters. God should still matter in our classrooms because God still matters to people. It's not just the zealots who make decisions based on their religion; it's almost everybody.

Listen to the way that we talk about religion in our history or social science courses. It seems to take on this other-world tone, as if the people either blindly follow religion or coldly ignore it. It is always a mystical force, never something real that matters to people in any significant way. There's a sense that no religious reason could ever be good enough.

People who oppose gay marriage because of the way their religion defines marriage must be na‹ve. People who say we shouldn't eat beef because their religion holds cows sacred must be downright wrong. People who say that there should be no death penalty because their church teaches that only God has license to vengeance don't understand its necessity in the justice system.

There's always a sense that people are only using their religious beliefs as an excuse for a position that they should not have. The truth is, their reasons are good enough.

But religion does not push all believers to the same opinions. We all know the cliches. Jews all take pro-Israel and anti-Palestinian stances. Catholics stand up against abortion rights and the death penalty. Protestants stand in stark opposition to rights for homosexuals. And of course, if any people of those faiths disagree, it's because they've in some way compromised their religious beliefs.

It's not true though. This is one of the inherent problems in our discussions about religion. It is not political; it's human. Religion can be reason for one person to come down on one side of an issue and a reason for another person to come down on the opposite side -- even when the religion is the same for both.

Maybe this is why we dismiss religion, because it seems to complicate things. But this in no way cheapens its value. Just think about what you've seen this week. How many of your friends sacrificed a day of classes and studying to celebrate their religion? How many of your friends won't be eating meat today? There should be no question that religion matters to people. It should be obvious every week, not just during Passover and Jesus Week.

But then again, it's not every week that we're urged to break off a piece of matzo and join hands singing Bob Dylan's The Times They Are A-Changin'.

Zachary Noyce is a freshman in the College from Taylorsville, Utah. The Stormin’ Mormon appears on alternate Fridays.

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