Brittany Johnson

October 9, 2014
UWRT 1103

Religion: A Cultural Controversy

Ever since I was six years old and had attended Vacation Bible School at my church I
have been a Christian. I have always loved going to church every Sunday morning for Sunday
school and for Preaching. All my life I have grown up believing that God created the heavens
and the Earth and that everything was made good, the creationist view. In the beginning God
created the heavens and the Earth Genesis 1:1.
I was brought up in a very Christian home, get up every Sunday morning and go to
Sunday school at 9:00 AM and then to preaching at 10:15 AM. My parents took me to every
event that my church offered and I even attended the daycare that my church had. Throughout
daycare we were also taught the word of the Lord and all about God. Every summer I would
attend Vacation Bible School which was a week long and for kids who were pre-school age to 5th
grade to attend. This program had many different stations for us to attend, snacks, crafts, and
bible story time with my favorite teacher Mrs. Gudi. Mrs. Gudi was the lady that brought me to
Christ, I remember sitting in her room and listening to her tell the story of the missionaries in the
jungles of Africa and how they were spreading the word of God, and afterwards how I wanted to
accept Jesus into my heart. Ever since that day I have tried my absolute best to live my life for

the Lord which is very hard growing up in the world we do. Church is very important to me and
it has made me the woman I am today.
Attending secular school is very hard and challenging at times. It is very hard to sit in a
science class and learn that I evolved from a monkey, and that my ancestors are monkeys when I
clearly believe and know that I came from the Lord. One way I have been really tested this year
is in my sociology class at UNC Charlotte. In my sociology class in the first week, my professor
stated that everyone in the world had evolved from different parts of Africa. This was very hard
for me to listen to and comprehend. My professor also likes to say that the world is a certain
amount of years old and Christianity believes that it is a different amount of years which is also
hard to comprehend. Although I believe in God and how the Earth was made I still have to know
all of the information that my professor gives for tests and so forth. Attending secular school is
hard but also a very good experience on what to do and what not to do.
It is a big struggle/challenge to have to learn about evolution and how we possible
evolved from Africa and know what my beliefs are and how they differ from my professors.
Having to keep them separated is a challenge I also face day to day because I have to know the
information that my professor teaches for tests, but I also have to know what I believe in for life.
After attending my sociology class I always come back to my dorm and get out my bible and
read different passages to help remind me of what I know and what I live by. It is somewhat
easy to keep them separated because I have gotten so use to attending a secular school and
dealing with teachers who have to teach what is in curriculum. Some teachers that I have had
throughout school have really not liked to teach the subject of evolution because they also are
Christian and have the same struggle of keeping them separated. Overall though I have learned
how to and made sure that I knew the things that my professor needed me to know regardless if I

believe it or not. This struggle and my religion have made me who I am today, and have really
shaped me in how I have grown up. I am so thankful that my parents introduced me to this at a
young age so that I could understand how much it means to me.