EB-Radio: Worldview with Daniel

Emily and Daniel discuss religion and its role in their lives and the FNM community. Daniel expresses his passion for working with kids through sports ministry. They discuss how religion serves as a source of moral guidance, provides a framework for decision-making, and fosters a sense of community. Daniel shares his experience with Christianity and how it is perceived by others at FNM. They also discuss the difference in religious acceptance between their hometown and FNM, with age playing a factor in individual acceptance. They both agree that seeking religion is a personal journey and can happen at any point in life. So my name is Emily and today I will be speaking to Daniel. Daniel is also a junior here at FNM and Daniel would you mind giving me a brief introduction like where you're from, what you do here at FNM. Yeah I got you. Hi guys I'm Daniel Allum. I'm a junior here like Emily said. I'm on the football team. I'm a joint major in Anthropology and Religious Studies. I'm from Maryland, Southern Maryland, so like by the water, little nowhere. Yeah. And I also wanted to ask what is, like what are you passionate about? What is something that you feel passionate about? Whether it's a sport, just a hobby, anything honestly. Yeah I got a couple passions but some big ones. I'm pretty passionate about kids, love kids, a lot of kids. So yeah I love working with kids, specifically like sports, sports ministry particularly like so I've worked with a couple Christian organizations that do, that work with kids and yeah do sports ministry so love that and yeah just ministry concept but yeah grew up grew up in the church and do a lot of stuff just around Christian church-related activities so yeah. That's great. Well speaking of religion in particular, I actually wanted to talk to you about that today and ask you a few questions and just have sort of a conversation with you about that and in terms of religion I mean and in terms of how it serves as a source of moral guidance and how it also offers a sort of like a framework for decision-making specifically ethical decision-making and just providing individuals with a sense of purpose and you know meaningful or meaning in their life and as it also fosters like a sense of community and offering support within one another and in that like shared identity aspect that you know religion like how it groups people and that sort of realm. So my first question to you would be what do you what do you think religion means here at FNM specifically based off of your experience within the groups that you participate here with the FNM like in a varsity you participate and in a varsity you just have the gala which seems like it was great it looked great it looked really fun it seemed like you guys had a good time so you know just in general like what do you think what do you think religion means here for you and just in general the FNM community? Yeah no I'll start with me what Christianity means to me I mean now it's you know it's my identity you know I try to try to wear it on my chest as much as possible and that that looks like that it looks it's there's many different ways that looks it could be on my just on my football team you know I'm just trying to always just give everything back to faith you know whether I make it to play or like you know my teammates are on the sideline you know we like to pray or even just in the locker room like some teammates or we're just getting conversations about you know just Christianity and faith and kind of our backgrounds growing up and and so yeah there's there's there's that aspect and then there's like inner varsity just think that community Christian community I'm in on campus and it's just kind of all about just really finding God more here throughout college and some of these things you know read read scripture together pray together you know and just do whole events like the Winter Gala which was like a formal but just it was like fun way to to celebrate our faith that's not so revolves around like a church specific activity so that was kind of the idea for that but yeah just yeah so I said religion Christianity it's kind of it's an identity for me but what it it could mean to a lot of people here at FNM and I kind of yeah when I first came I kind of realized it but uh so a lot of people Christianity can be a red flag a big red flag it can be yes something perceived as scary or just something they just somebody just doesn't know and they're not familiar with anything and all this many people here that didn't grow up with faith at all didn't grow up going to church at all and don't really care too much about it at all and I've talked to people like that but I've also talked to a lot of people here that do have grown up in the church grew up with a lot of religion and certain things they had to do and going to church a certain amount of times a lot of people grew up in the Catholic faith here so it's a lot of like like regimented things that they they grew up doing that now they're just from their own mouth like they're kind of they just don't really want nothing to do with it so yeah religion also for people here could kind of be scary I guess or something they just don't care about for XY reasons if that makes sense. Does that differ from your experience with religion back at home? Your experience with the people of Lancaster the people of FNM's community is it different when you go home the the atmosphere in terms of not specifically the people you know but within your community or the town that you live in how did how do they view religion in terms of I guess religious acceptance so like exactly what you're talking about. Yeah I feel like I feel like at home back at home at least the people that you know obviously I grew up around or saw or even people like I didn't know I feel like every more people were more into well they were more like yeah they were more into religious activity because they were also themselves Christians there weren't I feel like where I was from like there wasn't or at least I didn't know too many people that specifically that were into other religions or you know yeah and so like most people I hung around or met were religious Christians so I feel like it differs a little bit just here I feel like at FNM in some aspects just because I feel like there's a more of a wider variety of people of different faiths and religions international students people from different countries whereas at home you know most people grew up in Southern Maryland you know what I'm saying or from Maryland like that's their home so it's like Christianity is like you know the dominant I don't know just dominant common identity I guess if that makes sense. Yeah I got you and do you think that the that difference and and religious acceptance whether it's here in the FNM community or back at home in Southern Maryland where you live do you think that age has a factor in any of it in terms of the position that an individual may be in their life the difference between a 30 year old individual and maybe a 19 year old college student in terms of their religious acceptance do you think that age has has any factor in that at all or yeah no I think age definitely does have a factor and you know definitely yeah and in religion and your acceptance of it what you identify to be as you know obviously if you're a child that grows up the church is different than if you had new you know if you didn't grow up in the church or at all don't know anything about it but I feel like to even with the acceptance of it I feel like it's age sometimes yeah sometimes it's not a big factor just because I feel like you know even me with my injury it's like I grew up like I said I grew up going to church I grew up yeah going to church every week but it wasn't till about late high school junior year high school so I really started wanting to explore it for myself and really really for myself try to try to reach out and in in grow with God more and and so yeah and so I feel like everybody's like everybody's a different path in life to where some people when they're young they realize you know this is what I you know want to this is a religion that I want to identify with and this is what I want for myself and some people they don't realize it till later in life and so age sometimes yeah sometimes it matters but sometimes it doesn't because honestly it comes from your experience and and kind of what you want at wherever you're at yeah yeah no I see what you mean and I see many people at least now around our age in their 20s early 20s they they begin to seek religion when they feel like they're at the point in their life where they need some form of help whether it's from religion itself or from a particular person like they they seek that help or they seek religion and when they feel like oh like at this point in my life like this is the only thing I have left but then I see a lot of people who at least I'm Catholic so I grew up I grew up in the church as well and my family was very active in the church and I grew up going to church and and growing up with my faith and using that as a tool and and just to have a conversation even as a child and I feel like it's followed me up to this point where I feel like I've had that on my back sometimes but there's people that I feel like just didn't grow up going to church at all and just now that their life is actually starting they feel like they need to start which I don't think there's a specific point where you know you have to start you know you whenever you get that chance whenever you get that that that push that you feel like you need religion in your life and you've got in your life I feel like that's amazing and that's that's great and that's a great you know a great beginning to it to a journey essentially and I feel like I find that happening here specifically in Lancaster since I grew up here for a lot of people that I went to school with in high school like they weren't really religious at all and like I would still go to church and everything and they just their families never really found time anymore and then now they they they feel like they need to seek religion or they need to seek God because they're either graduating college or they're trying to find jobs or you know they're they're trying to apply for housing and you know when things get difficult it's it seems like a lot of people at least from this generation from my experience seek religion and you know what I mean definitely yeah no yeah I think that's yeah I think that's a valid point and yeah I think that's that's yeah that's a good point because I feel like yeah like like I said it doesn't really matter what age you what age you are at but it's like most people tend and this is from anywhere you look at because um yeah most people tend to to seek God to seek greater beliefs beyond themselves when you're going through a very difficult time and when you yeah when you when I feel like when you come to realize that um yeah life is very hard and you cannot do it on your own and I feel like that's when people come to turn to religion and soon for me come to turn to Christianity and Christ because it's like you realize just that you can't do it on your own and so and this is this I've had like I've and I've dealt with or not dealt with but I've I've been around like this summer I was in Baltimore doing a work in an internship and I remember just times when I was just out and about in the neighborhood I would I would talk to people that were dealing with homelessness and things of that nature and I would have conversations with some people some of these people that were dealing with homelessness and it was like the only thing that they actually wanted to talk like we would get into a conversation would be very like hey how's your day going or what's going on and as we would start talking the thing that almost every single person I would talk to will go to it would be faith to be about God and it's like you don't know anything about me I don't know anything about you but we're here talking about God and it's like for some people that's such like a it's like that's like the deepest level like you only talk about God when you're on this when you're in the deepest level conversation but it for that these people I would be talking to it'd be like that'd be the first thing we talked to and I feel like it's because it's it for some people it's the only thing that has meaning when everything around you is messed up like literally these people like so many people they don't have anything you know they're they don't have anything they don't have home they don't have food or something but the first thing they want to talk about is God is faith so yeah yeah no no that makes perfect sense I've actually seen many many many videos specifically online where I don't know a an organization is helping a community of the homeless and you know one of the first things I say is oh God bless you or or oh God sent you to me God God sent you to help me you know things like that and I feel like those people the people that have you know very minimum of anything but very very minimal resources they're they're the ones who I feel like like automatically submit to faith when they're when they're in these positions because I feel like that's to them it's like all they have you know what I mean so they just kind of hold on to that and I think that's really special and I think it definitely shows a lot about humanity and how even when you have nothing you still have something and that's you know that's safe at least for many of these people and I wanted to ask you um when it comes to to faith um how do you in terms of conversations about faith how do you how do you how do you do you think how do you think you successfully have conversations with people about faith when when they let's say they don't agree with your opinions let's say they they're very negligent of faith like people who just don't don't decide not to partake in religion or anything religious like how do you have those conversations with those people successfully if you have or you know if you would have to in the future like what steps do you think you would take? definitely yeah um yeah I think conversation of conversations about faith aren't as daunting as people make them to be sometimes but it depends on how you go about it and I think how you have conversations about faith it's just like you have yeah it's just like you have any conversation with somebody you know you it it always depends on your your relationship with a person um for example like some people just even here on this campus like I've met for the first time and it's like we've gotten in to conversation and like yeah we just started talking about you know things we like you know football whatever what's on the weather channel whatever whatever whatever and then sometimes like I'll just say like hey you know like did you like grow up going to church at all like and they'll be like yeah you know whatever I grew up in this don't doing this or no I didn't and kind of just from there we just like I said so like what's like what's your relationship like with with with church and faith now do you still go and sometimes like you know and then they'll get into kind of like why they don't go now or why they do go or if they're still curious about it so I don't know but I think conversations about faith are is they're not daunting for people to have because honestly it's it's it's either a part of you or it's not faith is either a part of your life or it's not and if it is that's because of a reason if it's not that's also because of because of a reason you know there's we have these people we have many different you know we can talk about academics we can talk about sports we can talk about friends and family you know what what's the problem with talking about faith you know and and why do you know why sometimes like it's it's it feels like such a scary area to talk to people about so sometimes yeah and so like I feel like people should have more conversations about it because it is an important area of life to talk about so yeah and with your second question I'm sorry I kind of went around in a circle there no no no that's actually perfect that's you you answered my question perfectly thank you I also wanted to bring up specifically in terms of education and religion what are what do you think about education and religion specifically let's say with your experience like your experience in school growing up in Southern Maryland and yeah I'm growing up going to church and teachings and teachings and how did that affect you know your perception of human existence based on what you learn about in school and what you're taught and what you hear from other students growing up in comparison to your experience in the church and what you learned there as well as with your family yeah well actually if anything I feel like I am learning more now about like just that relationship of education and faith now because I feel like here at college I've obviously I'm a real well I told you I'm a religious studies major so I've been learning about like Buddhism and Hinduism and I took a bio class and learned about evolution just different all different types of religions kind of now I feel like are being taught to me and so now that I'm so like you know I I have I see the world in a particular way I believe there is only one truth you know and so with that truth that I hold and and you know only you know believing that Christ is the only way it's like well if that's the case how like how can I be it was weird for me at first coming in college because it's like I'm getting all these different views that say the world works otherwise you can get to God otherwise and so in the beginning when I first got here in my freshman year I was having a hard time just sitting through classes like bro but this is not the truth so like why even learn about this stuff like why even bother but I think there's a importance there's a big importance of learning about different religions because at the end of the day these religions generations of people have lived according to this way of life generations of people are still living this according to their beliefs in this way of life so it doesn't really matter if you only if you you know believe in the truth that you I mean it does matter to a certain extent but if you want to affect other people if you want to somehow conversate and and and and connect with other people grow people like religion everybody has a different or not everybody has a different religion but many groups of people have different religions they follow and if you want to connect if I want to connect with people here at this school I gotta realize that there are people of other faiths and how could I still get to know this person how can I still get to connect with this person without hitting that being so closed off that you know what I'm saying like I can't I can't like what's hitting that barrier of religion or my religions right your religions wrong how can I still connect with that person and so I feel like there is value in in different religions being taught in education and even if you only hold one faith like if you only believe that one faith is true there's still value in learning other religions because it helps you connect with other people though you might not believe what they believe you can still connect with them in the sense that you're learning their traditions you're learning their ways of life and ultimately it'll help you in talking to them maybe about your own beliefs and how this might be conflicting or how this might not make sense or yeah so that yeah I feel like there is value in learning other religions and education. Yeah I mean it's a challenge it's humans I think humans are very selfish and in the sense of we always want to be right we always want to feel like what we believe is correct we always want to feel like we're we're on top and and you know it's challenging because it's difficult for people to expand our thinking and I mean it's perfectly ethical for one person to have a different belief or opinion than someone else just like it is for it to be multiple religions but people just need to make sure they're welcoming of others thoughts and I feel like as humans we find difficulty in that and and me personally I still work on that and just in general to this day you know no one no one likes to be wrong no one likes you know to be told like this is not true that's true you know but at the end of the day in order to have these conversations whether it's about religion whether it's about world world problems whatever the case may be these conversations can't be can't be can't be done they can't be had if people don't you know if people don't don't listen to what other people have to say and instead of dismissing people's ideas you know it's it's important that people encouraged to listen and encourage others to engage I feel like it helps people find out why the person thinks the way they do and and maybe that can spark your interest too like I feel like to me in my opinion I feel like that makes you honestly smarter like you have this this like this specific topic that you know something about this because you know the person just explained it to you that's their point of view there yeah yeah but yeah it was it was good talking to you I appreciate your time thank you for having this conversation with me and yeah yeah no thanks sir thanks for having me on is yeah I like talking about stuff like this especially yeah just the harder topics