My primary interest is in the sciences, which is something I largely attribute to being a confused child wondering about where the universe came from. Being raised …show more content…
My immediate family is comprised of devout Roman Catholics who expected me to attend church regularly and participate in their traditions. I grew up under the impression that the Christian portrayal of reality that I had been taught was objectively accurate. My seemingly unalterable certitude was challenged when I encountered a Hindu student at my elementary school. She would talk about the beliefs associated with her culture frequently, and the other students enthralled by her stories. She once asserted that the universe came to exist via the dismemberment of a cosmic man. Statistically, most of my classmates shared the religious beliefs I was accustomed to, yet they did not express skepticism when presented with another set of beliefs that contradicted their own. This was perplexing to me because, being a young child who could not comprehend ambiguity, I had assumed that my parents would not have asserted that the universe was designed by a singular deity with such conviction if they lacked objective proof. How, then, could the conflicting story told by my foreign classmate be regarded as equally valid? This caused me to question how the universe actually came into existence. Additionally, the topics of the Big Bang and the origin of life on earth were mentioned briefly in science class during the same