Being Observant When It's Fashionable to be Atheist

Sarah Harding is a student in the International Baccalaureate Program at Vanier College in Montréal.

I appreciate the “On Campus” section of the Tolerance.ca Website because the articles deal with issues that concern us as students. One article that particularly touched me is "Being Catholic Today, or How to Resist Conformism" by Ulysse Bergeron. This article made an impact on me because I agree with the author, whose says it’s not easy to be observant in today’s consumer society.

I discovered Tolerance.ca through Sue Harrison, my French professor at Vanier College. I find your Website highly informative; the articles are interesting and diverse. The various sections and the many hyperlinks make it easy to browse the Website. Your Webzine on tolerance reflects the values fostered by the International Baccalaureate program in which I am studying. One of those values is open-mindedness, which your Webzine advocates elegantly.

World Youth Day

I appreciated the “On Campus” section of the Tolerance.ca Website because the articles deal with issues that concern us as students. One article that particularly touched me is "Being Catholic Today, or How to Resist Conformism" by Ulysse Bergeron. This article made an impact on me because I agree with the author, whose says it’s not easy to be observant in today’s consumer society. The decreased importance of religion is a result of our capitalist society. As a participant in World Youth Day in Germany in August 2005, I agree with the point made in the article: that while the number of young Catholics is not high, the movement remains dynamic. Few young people openly state that they believe in God and/or that they are observant. The author, Ulysse Bergeron, claims that it is more popular for young people to declare themselves atheists or non-believers, backing up his statement with statistics.

I also liked the “Social Issues” section because the articles teach us a lot about the people around us. The article I most enjoyed in this section is "Alcool et islam : une relation controversée" by Yvan Cliche. I liked it because one girl in my class is Muslim and the article helped me to accept her traditions, which are very different from mine. It is often hard to understand other societies’ customs. However, the article gives an objective description of the relation between alcohol and Muslims. Yvan Cliche is very open-minded and doesn’t treat the subject from an ethnocentric point of view. His article does not contain prejudice or received ideas. He deals with the delicate subject skilfully and in a pertinent manner. The references to studies by researcher Laurence Michalak are justified and well illustrate the reality. I appreciated Cliche’s introduction, in which he says that the subject would make a good topic for PhD study.

I admire your initiative in producing such a fine research and reference tool on tolerance and open-mindedness, values that are extremely important to our society. Your determination has opened the eyes of many young people and will continue to help people to show compassion towards others.

English translation: Christine York

The “On Campus” series is presented with the financial support of:

^** Sue Harrison (centre) with her students.

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