in my humble opinion Losing my religion

Author: Daniel Roberts

Apparently this past week was Yom Kippur, the most significant Jewish holiday of the year. This had completely slipped my mind until I was walking out of the dining hall and Josh Wessler (you may know him as the Reel Critic) saw me munching a bagel and said, "You're not fasting?" Oops.

In truth, when I began college, I pretty much forgot about religion. I was never especially religious to begin with, but I did grow up going to temple services on the high holidays and attending Hebrew School twice a week until I was 15. Compared to some people, I suppose I might look religiously active. Hebrew School sounds serious, but it was really more of a social event. I spent every Wednesday night enjoying the most constructive activities Judaism had to offer, such as flirting with cute Jewish girls (there were only a few), eating pizza with cute Jewish girls and annoying all the teachers (one of whom was my older brother) so as to impress the cute Jewish girls.

Something about the nature of college truly made me forget about religion entirely. And you know what? I'm not even guilty about that. When I'm not in class, I'm doing homework. If I'm not doing homework, then I must be playing beirut. If I'm not doing any of that, my attention has got to go to a cherished pastime - you know it, we all love it, come on, people - yes, it's sleeping. Where in that busy schedule do you see time to go to Hillel or sit in Mead Chapel?

I know it's not just me. For the most part, I see a major lack of religion at Middlebury (and, I would bet, at most Northeastern liberal arts colleges). Out of 20 juniors I asked, only four of them said they have been to religious services more than three times in their years here.

Yes, I know, this does not apply to all Midd-kids (God, I hate that term) but I am confident it describes most. Something about college is fundamentally secular. Most college students pray to the god of beer. For athletes, their god is the track, or the pigskin. Still other hard-working intellectuals who focus on schoolwork use their favorite library cubicle as an altar of worship.

Let's investigate why this abandoning of religion may be occurring at lovely Middlebury College, where we have such beautiful false idols as the Hillcrest trash monster, a clear symbol of divine duality when compared to the more Satanic "Smog" demon at McCardell Bicentennial Hall.

Personally, I think my own lack of interest in practicing Judaism at Midd is because religion was a family affair for me. I associate temple with my older brother, sister and my parents, and I have "fond" memories of sitting through services with my mom on my right (nursing a purse full of cinnamon candies) and my brother on my left (constantly teasing me or ignoring my side comments). Without them here, I have very little motivation to throw on a suit jacket and head over to the chapel.

For others, it may just be a lack of time or energy. At the end of a class day, I think wiffle ball, TV, a DVD or napping are all more appealing choices than praying.

Attending the South Asian Club event at Palana is what inspired me to tackle religion this week. There were delicious samosas and exotic sauces, but many people there were happily telling me about how they were fasting from sunrise to sundown every day for a month. I was impressed, and suddenly wondered if I should get back into religion. But will that happen? Nope. I'm pretty happy staying a godless heathen like most of the students here. At least until I graduate. So, what do you think? Are we going to hell?

Daniel Roberts '09 is an English major from Newton, Mass.