I have to do a paper for a religious class that my parents put me in. :nerve: It is a letter to the archbishop. The questions are; "Why do you want to be confirmed?" and "What do you like about being a catholic?" I HATE these classes because they get on my nerves. Why you may ask? It's because I don't even believe in the religion in the first place. I get f*cking irritated hearing "jesus this and jesus that. god did this and that..." and so on and so forth. I'm sorry if I offend anyone out there that is a hardcore christian or whatever it's called. Please, help me on what to say on this thing. I have no clue what to write. :.-.:
Just BS it, that's what I did. For "why do you want to be confirmed?" just write something like "I want to grow closer to God and the Church, being confirmed is the next step in doing that." As for "what do you like about being a Catholic?" I really have no idea. Good luck, haha. I was in the same situation as you, but if your parents are understanding you could always just explain to them that you don't want to do this because you don't believe in it.
I've already told them I don't believe in what they believe. I think that was why they put me in the stupid class in the first place. I think they are forcing me to believe what they do.
I feel your pain. I (voluntarily, admittedly) attended a Catholic school for 4 years. While the people there were quite nice, the whole God talk got me down quitle a lot. If it were me, I would put something like: It's not about liking being a Catholic, it's being closer to God and such ... but I always take an objective and somewhat backwards approach to things like that, so taking my advice doesn' really help. On the subject of your parents, people can be like that. They expect you to beleive what they believe and be like them. You kust have to remember that, at the end of the day, it's not about what they believe or what they want you to believe, it's about what you believe. That's your choice and it's none of their concern.
Firstly, do you want to answer truthfully, or do you just want some help writing BS? If you want to answer truthfully, you have two options. You can just write your mind in all its trolling glory, and fail the paper. That'd an interesting route to take, provided you don't care about failing. If, however, that's not something you want to do, then I recommend simply lying. It's not the most satisfactory outcome, but it's one that'll be the easiest on you afterwards. You could try to take a more tactful route, while stating the truth, but if you've been forced upon the course, it's unlikely that they honestly care about what you really think, and instead want to hear what they want to hear. You want to be confirmed, because as a devoted Christian, it's important to you that you become closer to god. Furthermore, you want to live up to your family's expectations of you. You also want to be able to help others as much as God and the people of the church have helped you. String that out for a few paragraphs. It's easy enough. You like being Catholic because of the reassurance it gives you about purpose in your life. You feel the presence of God in everything you do, which gives you great satisfaction. Also, the Catholic community is warm and accepting, willing to give support and stand by you in your times of weakness. As with why you want to be confirmed, being Catholic gives you a common ground with friends and family.
If it were me... I would either write the paper but actually answer the questions personally (mention to the archbishop that I really don't want to be there, to be honest)... or I would refuse to write the paper, because this isn't what I believe in, and I didn't pick to be here, and the only reason I'm signed up for the class is because my parents are trying to make me conform to their beliefs, which should be morally wrong. Because to me it's much better to tell the truth and fail than to succeed through lying.
Ahh, if you have to write it from a Catholics viewpoint then just use what you've learnt about Christians. If it was me I would write something like: Why do you want to be Confirmed? I want to be part of the church and share in Holy communion with my fellow brothers and sisters. I want to be closer to God and the church and lay down my life to follow his desires and carry them out to the best of my ability. I want to be confirmed so I can be accepted and widely acknowledged as a Christian, Jesus dies for me on the cross so I want to live in his name and be known for it. What do you like about being a Catholic? I love the closeness with God, I love seeing him preform wonders within our lives, I love seeing the everyday miracles that amaze me still. I love being with my church and worshiping our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. I love waking up every morning knowing I have a purpose in life, that God has designed me and put me where I am for a reason. I love knowing that no matter what I do he'll love me, he'll love my sinful imperfect self until the end of time, and for that I'm so greatful. In return I put my life down for him and will serve him. I love to see the smiling faces of the people around me, to hear the laughter of others, it soothes me and I hope that when I die I will go with my heavenly father to a place where the laughter never stops. Add some waffle between the lines, change it to suit you or whatever really. Those are the beliefs of a Catholic... I think :3 Well, more just a christian in general, I don't know any specific Catholic views on the matter. Anyway, hope it helps.
Anytime ^^ I enjoy learning about religions and stuff. If you want a rule of thumb: Catholics are the strict ones, Church of England are in the middle (quite lenient but still firm) and Methodist are the most laid back.
I was in kind of the same shoes as you earlier this year. I had to write a paper for my Anthropolgy class, summarizing this paper that basically bashed religion and intelligent design. My teacher was nice, but he was totally intolerant when it came to religion. It put me at a crossroads because I wanted to be true to my beleifs but I didn't want to fail the class. Perosnally, I see science is looking at every possible thing that could happen and draw your own intelligent conclusion from there. For me, I decided to write the paper in an unbiased manner (unlike the scientific article did) and turned it in. I felt like I was defeated, though.. And to add to Ienzo's thing: Pentecostals aren't religous, it's a way of life for us.
I find it disturbing that you have to participate in something you don't believe. Surely you could tell your situation to a teacher.
Based on your assignment I don't like the structure of the class. Classes should not force you to take up a label. Encourage you to for sure, but not force it. Even if I was catholic (I'm nondenominational BTW) I would hate the form itself of the questions. You seem to have plenty help on this specific assignment, so a tip on the class in general. If you don't believe in it, then don't. As much as they might try it is only you who can decide what you believe and you can laugh at the frantically wasting their time. I would still make the best of the class. If you combine Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (since they are different takes on the same core religion) you have about half about half the world believing in what you are studying right now. If you want to be more strict and just talk Christianity you still have about a third of the world. Even if you think we're all idiots and don't want to believe in it, it is a significant advantage when dealing with Christians to understand where we are coming from.
