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Christianity From an Outside Point of View: Cultural Diversity and Global Awareness

Katie S. Gray

Department of Psychology, Sinclair Community College

PSYCH 1100: General Psychology

November 15, 2020

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Christianity From an Outside Point of View: Cultural Diversity and Global Awareness

Christianity is the most popular religion in the world, at the moment. It’s an

umbrella term for Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox, Baptists and arguably many other

subsections. For the sake of time and attention, I will focus on the Catholic region of

Christianity. Catholicism dates back over 2000 years. Christianty is the basic belief that Jesus

is the son of God and accepting the word of the Bible, Catholicism follows these beliefs. All

Catholics are Christian but not all Chistians are Catholic. The Roman Cathoic Church began

and has remained in western culture. Since becoming popular in England many years ago, it

traveled to The United States of America with The Thirteen Colonies. Though America has

no official religion, Christanity is the most popular, by far. In southeast Asia where

Buddhism and Islam are primary religions, Christiany and Catholisism can be found in nearly

every corner. Historically, religion has been forced upon nations by bigger nations with

better resources, this includes Christianity. In places like South East Asia and Europe, there

are ‘networks’ of Catholicism that take root in a sort of domino effect. According to -,

“these emerging networks would soon establish patterns for the circulation of seminarians,

students, missionaries and teachers'' (p.200) As previously mentioned, America does not

have an official religion. That being said, there are roughly 205 million Christians- just in

America. Therefore, Christianity is a large part of American culture. With many Catholic

schools, churches in every city and organizations spanning the country, Catholic Christians

have never been outliers in their communities. Few times throughout history have different

groups under the umbrella of Christianity clashed with one another. But, it has been known
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to happen. According to Stefan McDaniel, “time and again, these elites, having sagely

deliberated together in Boston and New York, try to enrich and purify American civilization

with some great reform” (p.50)

After interviewing a man by the name of Mark Mason, a Catholic, I received some

incitement on what it means to him, to be a part of the church. As a Caltholic, Mason was

raised in the 60s to go to mass each morning and attend a Catholic school. He describes the

experience as ‘very structured’. Almost sixty years ago, corporal punishment was not

viewed as it is today. Paddles and rulers were common forms of disciplinary tools. He

believes that this taught respect for the family unit, women and God from an early age.

Through the years Mason has changed his opinions on different subjects considered ‘hot

topics’ in the Catholic community. Now he claims to be much more liberal. He has come to

support LGBTQ+ rights, abortion and he does not go to church anymore. Instead, he finds

God in nature, swimming in lakes, rivers and walking through forests, those are his

churches. He believes that one is closest to God when surrounded by His creations. When

asked what he thought Non-Catholics think of Catholics Mason’s response was that people

on the outside view Catholics as arrogant.. Despite losing his connection with traditional

church values Mason said that he felt a great deal of pride when John F. Kennedy was

inaugurated. JFK was the first Catholic president, and he is just as proud for Joe Biden to be

chosen President-Elect. Without many friends who were Catholic, Mason lost touch with

the religion in his 30s and 40s. He found it again through the passing of his son. “There is a

belief that there are things you don’t have to understand, He has a plan.” This ties into what

he says about other religions. “Technicalities don’t matter at the end of the day, they all
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believe in a God or Gods and that is what’s important.” He wishes that other Catholics and

even every other religion would see it that way, too. A few hopes he has for the future of

Catholicism include Women being ordained, priests having the ability to marry, and the

church accepting the LGBTQ+ community. “There is no wrong or right religion, simply be

kind.”

Personally, I prefer to label myself as an Atheist. I have never had any interest in

learning about Christianity or any religion for that matter. But, seeing as I am 15 it’s about

time I learned more about the world I live in and people who live in it with me. Before

writing this, I didn’t even know there was a difference between being Catholic and being

Christian. I would say there is but others might argue with me. I chose my maternal

grandfather to interview about being Catholic. One thing he said during our interview that

really stuck with me was when he described nature as his church, where he feels closest to

God. I’ve never understood why or how people could get so heavily invested in their Church

or in their beliefs, but I think this statement helped me to understand. I thought back to

how I feel surrounded by nature and if we share the same appreciation for it then I can

begin to understand why he feels so connected to his religion. I wish I could say that every

Catholic person I have come across has been like my grandfather, but I can’t. In my lifetime I

have seen so many acts of violence and hate from one person to another in the name of

‘God’. My biggest value is acceptance, of everything from gender identities to sex workers

and anything inbetween, spreading kindness. All I’ve seen from Catholic Christians in my

lifetime, however short, has been unpleasant. Seeing how we can agree on topics I hold

dear like marriage equality has opened my eyes to how not all Catholics are the same. We
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may believe in a God, many Gods or no God at all, but that doesn’t change how we as

people should treat one another. As my grandfather said “there is no wrong or right

religion, simply be kind.” I will carry those words with me for the rest of life, as a reminder

that religion or lack thereof does not determine your ability to be kind. I have always had

empathy towards people of every religion because you cannot fight fire with fire, but today

I have a newfound respect for Catholicism as a whole.

References

Brown, B. E., & Tran, C. T. (2020). Global Catholicism in Southeast Asia: Mobilities and
Networks. Retrieved November 13, 2020, from https://web-a-ebscohost-
com.sinclair.ohionet.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4

McDaniel, S. (2017). Catholic America. Retrieved November 13, 2020, from https://eds-b-
ebscohost-com.sinclair.ohionet.org/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4