story by Christina Elias, photos by Taylor Steen

St. Teresa’s has always been home to a diverse population; racial, ethnic, and religious differences–among others–have been welcome at STA throughout the years. According to the school’s website, “the Academy is rooted in Christian values and embraces a diverse student body.” Included in these diversities are the unique religious beliefs that students share in their everyday lives and, for some students, separate them in some ways from their Christian peers.

Atheist

“I don’t have any religious beliefs,” sophomore Brit Maguire claims.

Although raised by atheist parents, Maguire was given the freedom to explore religious ideas and decide what she believed for herself. As a child, she was “baptized in case I decided I wanted to be Catholic,” and if she decided she didn’t share Christian beliefs, she “just wouldn’t get confirmed.”

According to Merriam-Webster, atheism is defined as “a disbelief in the existence of deity; the doctrine that there is no deity.” A recent poll, “The Global Index of Religiosity and Atheism”, showed that atheism is on the rise in the U.S.. The number of Americans who considered themselves religious was 60 percent, compared to 73 percent of Americans in 2005.

When asked why she isn’t religious, Maguire replied that “there are a lot of different religions in the world who strongly believe that theirs is correct, but they can’t all be right, so I started to wonder if any of them were true.”

Having gone to a Catholic school since kindergarten, Maguire stated that she’s used to all of the religious aspects of St.Teresa’s. However, she says that “certain religion projects and papers can be difficult to do [from an atheist perspective], so a lot of times I just pretend I’m Catholic and make stuff up.”

Episcopalian

For sophomore Journey Eubank, religion isn’t a big deal in her family.

“I’ve gone to a Catholic school all my life so I know all the same stuff that [Catholics] do,” sophomore Journey Eubank said.

“[My family and I] really don’t go to church,” she says, “but we believe how the Episcopalians do, where the priests can get married, a woman can be a priest, stuff like that.”

Despite being raised by and Episcopalian mother and an nonreligious father, Eubank has been educated through the Catholic school system, so she knows “all the same stuff that [Catholics] do.”

“I’ve gone to Church with [Catholics], but sometimes for me some of the messages bother me,” Eubank said.