The Worst Class Taught Me the Most

What does a Comparative Religion Class have to do with Politics?

I wanted to hate the class. I really did. Brother Frances was a quiet wisp of a man. And he talked just as quietly. However, if I wanted to get my Associates Degree and transfer to the college I'd been dreaming about attending since I learned at a young age they offered Horseback Riding Lessons, I had to complete this course. No choice. Violation of my rights or not.

Even though I wasn't Catholic, I attended a Catholic College. They required I take at least one Religion Class and one Philosophy Class. I, at the enlightened age of nineteen, thought that requirement violated my Constitutional Rights, and I railed against it. But Brother John persisted, and I found myself enrolled in a Comparative Religion Course taught by tranquil Brother Francis.

Now, for the record, I never took a single Horseback Riding Lesson while I was there. I had a barn full of horses at home, so I already knew how to ride, but I was young. And priorities were priorities no matter how misguided they were.

Brother Francis, on the first day of class, explained our method of study would be to examine the ways the different religions' beliefs, values, and ceremonies were the same. Once we'd done that, we'd look at the differences and possible reasons for those differences examining Culture, Terrain, History. For example, the Eskimos' religion would be different from Native Americans living in the South West.

With that frame of mind impressed upon us, we proceeded to look at the major religions of the world through the focus of how they were similar and why they might be different. As each week of the semester passed, my dislike for the class receded from view.

Hopefully, Brother John isn't reading this from the afterlife. I don't want him to know he was right. But I found myself anxious to go to class. It became one of my favorite courses. And to this day decades later, probably the course from which I learned the most.

What I didn't know then was his framework for examining religions would carry me much farther than Comparative Religion Class.

From accounting problems to studying for tests, shopping for products, and mastering dance steps for my Ballroom Dance Teacher's Certification, I looked for what they had in common. Once I understood them, learning the exceptions was a piece of cake. If I understood the reason for the differences, then I didn't have to memorize the material. I could use my powers of reason. Huge relief when you're trying to learn volumes of anything.

More importantly, it worked with people. If I looked at how they were the same, then listened to them with discovery ears instead of judgment ears, I found a road to understanding why we believed differently—acted differently. Some people are harder than others. Sometimes you have to listen really hard and push aside the bitterness that emanates from them or yourself. Sometimes the false faces have been in place for too long. The forced smile has been there so long it takes time to get behind the mask. No guarantees, but more often than not, sooner or later, people will show you how they are the same and why they are different.

It seems to me in a country as divided as the United States of America is approaching the 2020 election, Brother Francis might have been onto something. Could we look at how we are the same? Listen to understand the reason for our differences? Might we find we aren't all that divided? Perhaps we'd stop letting those who are invested in and gain from our divisions separate us—just a thought.