California Catholic Daily reporter, Mary Rose, visits a California college each week and asks students about God, good, and evil. Interviews with Mandy, who is studying biology, and with Kennia, who is studying nursing, near the gym at CSU East Bay on January 27, 2020. 

Mandy

Do you consider yourself religious or has your family ever been religious? 

Mandy: No. 

Do you believe in any sort of higher power? 

Mandy: I’m not really sure. I’m kind of torn. 

Do you wonder about it? 

Mandy: A little bit. 

What’s your explanation for where the world came from? 

Mandy: I have no clue to that, honestly. 

Do you think society favors religious people, like having “In God we trust” on our money? 

Mandy: Personally, I don’t have a problem with it. 

Do you believe in any sort of afterlife? 

Mandy: I don’t really have opinions on all of it. I’m a biology major so I believe science and stuff and what science has proven. Other than that, I’m not saying there is or isn’t anything, because I don’t know. 

Do you believe there is objective good and bad? 

Mandy: I don’t know. There’s good and bad things, yeah, but it’s different to everyone, putting on the perspective. 

How do you decide what’s the right answer on something like abortion? 

Mandy: Well, everyone has a different opinion on it, but, me personally, I’m pro-choice because I believe that everyone has their own opinion on things so if they want to be able to have an abortion, that’s on them. But they don’t want to, they don’t have to. I don’t know. I believe everyone gets that choice. 

What if someone said that, biologically speaking, in an abortion, a member of the human species is killed?

Mandy: That’s not how I consider it. But like I said, everyone has a different view. It’s just super controversial. I don’t bring it up in front of people or anything like that because it just turns into arguments somewhere.

Kennia

Do you consider yourself religious? 

Kennia: Not so religious. I mean, I have a religion, but I don’t consider myself so religious. I don’t see any difference from other people who don’t really have a religion. So I don’t know. 

Do you believe in any sort of afterlife? 

Kennia: I believe there’s a heaven. But that’s all I believe: that one day, we’re all going to die and go somewhere. I think everyone goes there.

If someone asked you who Jesus is, what would you say? 

Kennia: I would say He’s, in a way, Someone with a higher power than us and like, watches over us, takes care of us. 

If someone asked you why you believe in God, what would you say?

Kennia: I’ve always been in the same religion, because my parents were Catholic before they converted into my religion. And so for me to explain to someone else, I don’t have any other experience being in another religion, so it’s harder for me to explain my religion to other people or to atheist people who don’t believe in any god. I guess it’s harder for me. 

Do you know why your parents converted? 

Kennia: They just said that they prayed and they felt that it was the right thing to do, because they were doubting if they should. Some members came and visited them. And so they had doubts, they weren’t sure if it was the right religion, to leave Catholic to convert to Christianity. So they prayed together, because that’s what the Christians said to do, that if you had doubts, to pray. So they prayed and they felt like something strong and they said that they believed it was the right religion to join.

If you enjoyed this story, consider making a donation to support Mary Rose and the Inquiring Minds column, so that we can continue to provide this insight into the religious beliefs of California college students. You can do so by visiting our Donation Page.