As a faith-filled believer, it is doubtful that you will go through life without questioning why something is the way that it is, or what can be done about the challenges you face.
Perhaps it is with shear stubbornness that we hold onto what we believe to be true on our journey to our higher purpose because we are surrounded by so many other opinions.
Like trees, as we grow we develop strong roots that form the foundation of everything we believe. California State University, Stanislaus (Stan State), is a remarkable place to grow and develop our beliefs and understanding of others from a place of love and respect.
Gabriella Germann (sophomore, Communication Studies) is proud to be a Stan State student from the local area, and proud to be a believer of Christ. She stated that Stan State has been a wonderful educational setting to train her for workplace environments with mixed viewpoints.
“For the rest of your life you’re not going to be in a spot — I know I’m not — where you’re just with people who all believe the same as an individual and have the same ideology, so just that mixing of ideologies is important,” Germann said.
She feels as though as people think of faith as “something their parents do, or their grandma just prays,” which may cause individuals without strong faith to be swayed by different viewpoints. However, those viewpoints are invaluable because they open our eyes to the thoughts and feelings of our peers and mentors.
For example, Sara Buenrostro (sophomore, Biology) was required to read a story for her English class about the first person account of a woman who had been raped. Buenrostro described the story as a “very sexual traumatic experience.”
“The author got into detail of what happened, she was explaining how it happened, and I was not mentally or emotionally prepared to read that,” Buenrostro said. “I know I have strong beliefs with my faith, but that just really conflicted because I wanted to keep my distance from things like that, but I couldn’t because I had to for the essay we were doing, so I had to compromise that. I had to do it for my grade.”
We cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that there are victims of sexual assault living among us, and perhaps this was the intent of the professor.
However, the Bible states that we must “Examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good,” and “abstain from every form of evil.” 1 Thessalonians 5: 21-22
That being said, it is at times difficult for a student, who wishes to live by the Scriptures, to grapple with assignments that go against those beliefs.
Germann stated that often in her DNA class, students and the professor discuss embryonic stem cell research. The class also discusses topics such as In vitro fertilization, “which is basically like procreation in a Petri dish,” Germann said, “so I have a lot of moral problems with that, too.”   
According to Germann, the class’ assignment was to read an article about gene splicing prior to the embryonic stage and write a response on whether or not they agreed with the procedure.
“I don’t mind talking about my faith,” Germann said, “but it was kind of hard because I had to make sure I did it right and that I did justice to the side.”
Elizabeth Cole (sophomore, Biology) stated that she originally thought about attending a Bible-based school, as did Germann, but came to Stan State for its affordable prices and quality education.
Though she holds a different position on the theory of evolution taught in most biology classes on campus, she has found happiness in fellowshipping with other believers at Stan State.
“Christianity has that whole ‘Christianity is the religion of all the haters,’ but really it’s the religion of love,” Cole said.
Our faith in God is not something that we leave at home when we come to school, but it does give us plenty of opportunities to think more deeply about why we believe when given assignments that might conflict with those beliefs.
“We’re supposed to be — no matter where we are — working on getting better at our faith and being better people,” Germann stated. I believe that Stan State is right where we’re supposed to be to do that.