Interview on February 7, 2023 with Kayden, who is studying exercise science, in the library at Moorpark College.
Do you consider yourself religious?
Kayden: I do not. My dad was atheist, my mom was not. She tried to share her faith with me recently, actually. We just talked about it and she said this is what I believe, and I was like, “Nice.”
If someone asked you why you believe there is no God, what would you say?
Kayden: I think there’s something more to it, but not necessarily an omnipotent personified Being that would be God. The organized aspect of religion is not something that I’ve been able to get behind. I think people should worship based on what they feel, as opposed to what someone else tells them to feel. The idea of God piggybacks on organized religion because they say, “God’s like x, y, and z, He does this, this, and this.” I think there’s a way that the universe works but I don’t believe there’s a personified Being God Who looks like this and Who does this. But I guess you could just say that I want to be different.
Do you believe in an afterlife?
Kayden: Based on the movie the Lion King, when we die, our bodies become the grass and the antelope eat the grass and we eat the antelope, so we’re all connected. Really, I think there’s something that happens, but I don’t know what. I’m excited to find out, not super excited. I’ve committed some sins.
How do you decide what’s a sin?
Kayden: Based on everybody else’s interpretation, I’ve done some bad s***. But I think the process of life is we make mistakes and literally all of life is: we make mistakes. We either learn from them and make more advanced mistakes or we don’t and make the same mistakes over and over again. I try to make mistakes, learn from them, learn from other people’s mistakes, so I can make more advanced mistakes later.
Do you yourself think some actions are wrong?
Kayden: If I do something wrong, I’ll be like, “Okay, I did that wrong.” But then I always figure out how it bites me in the ass. It comes back. That karma aspect.
What makes something wrong?
Kayden: It’s always something that’s selfish, as opposed to being selfless.
Do you have an explanation for where the world came from?
Kayden: No. But the Big Bang sounds nice. A snap and then it just boomed. Just one little small thing. I don’t study it and I haven’t invested enough time to have an opinion about it, but that sounds the coolest.
ask yourself:
What is “Moorpark” spelled backwards ?
Ahh, Einstein! My laugh for the day!
” I think people should worship based on what they feel, as opposed to what someone else tells them to feel.” and ” Based on the movie the Lion King…” show us the depth to which our youth are exposed to the great philosophical and theological ideas of Western Civilization. To most it seems the study of these is not applicable to daily life, but notice without these thought becomes vacuous, vapid and vain.
His frame of reference for eternity is ” The Lion King ” , this is sad on so many levels, willful ignorance and hubris will not help on,judgement day.
Why are you so quick to judge it as “willful ignorance “? The guy’s dad was an atheist. Prayers and sacrifices are what’s needed by us for his conversion.
An exercise science major might like Bishop Barron or his ministry.
I hope whoever interviewed him also helped him.
” I don’t study it and I haven’t invested enough time to have an opinion about it, but that sounds the coolest.” that quote is why it is willful ignorance , as far as parenting his mom was not an atheist so he he did have that advantage . Prayers and sacrifice , OK, but only he can save his soul , he needs to put in the effort , the Lion King as a basis for belief shows how far he needs to go , his recognition of sin is a good start but does he have a developed conscience to determine the effects on his soul if he believes he has a soul and not grass to be eaten .
He cannot save his soul. That’s the Pelagian heresy.
When people are unchurched, this is what they have. It is your job to tell them about Christ.
This person was ready to hear it because he understood that he had done bad things.
He needed to hear the Good News of Christ.
He should have been given a Rosary booklet and a Rosary and a Bible.
He should have had another meeting with the person who wrote this article at a Church with a pastor.
Disney is the new Gospel for those under age 40. That must be why OCP publishes so much music for Mass that sounds like it belongs in a Disney movie. I was at a Mass the other weekend, and the Communion song sounded like “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” from The Lion King movie.