Gospels: it’s all about the attitude.

Photo taken by: Sylvana Kelley 

As we all know, The Gospels is not the most desired course to be taken by students at this university. All of the expectations attached to this course seem to be never-ending, which then leads to negative thoughts to students that are about to take the course.

Dr. Richard Menninger, instructor of the class, emailed the students enrolled in the course before the semester started, clarifying that by taking the class, no one will be forced to believe in God or any other religious-based belief. However, it is the student’s responsibility to respect their academic instructors.

Here is the deal, folks: Ottawa University does not need you to believe in God, but if you read our mission statement, you would realize that this is a Christian University.

This means that you will have to recognize that at some point the “Christian” part is going to take place in your education.

Your beliefs will be respected, but as a member of the OU family, I ask you to respect the effort of those people who work hard to put services, chapels and lessons together as well.

On Sunday, January 18, I unfortunately saw and heard three students from The Gospels class criticizing the guest pastor and his church right outside the chapel.

I am not the most religious person on earth, but again, it all comes down to respect and attitude. You do not need to tear the service apart because YOU did not like it.

Spirituality comes to people in different ways, and OU is just trying to make us more likely to at least be able to have a conversation about religion at some point in our lives. We are a liberal arts school and Christianity is one of those perspectives.

The attitude that you take the class with will greatly dictate your way through it. I will put it another way for you: if you have to take it regardless of your will, then why not do it with a positive attitude? You might learn something. You never know what this class can bring to you.

Even if you are Atheist, Buddhist, Hindu or Jewish, this course will make you wiser, and if you try hard enough, you may even make some connections between your beliefs and this new set of religious information you are learning.

Just remember, respect must be the base of every society. Like Mahatma Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

So, if you want people to respect your religion or the way you think about anything, then you should respect others as well.