Introductory Blog

Hello, my name is Mitch Schapker, and I am a sophomore Civil Engineering major at the University of Evansville. I was born and raised in Evansville, and unlike a lot people who have spent all their lives in Evansville to this point, I am not dying to get out of Evansville as soon as possible. I actually kind of like Evansville a lot, but I wouldn’t be opposed to leaving it after college. I enjoy watching sports, playing golf, fishing, playing video games, and hanging out with friends. Since coming to college, I’ve done many things I may have never thought I would do before arriving on campus. I’ve gotten involved with engineering organizations such as the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Concrete Canoe competition team. I also joined Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity upon arriving at UE, and I spent the fall 2014 semester abroad at Harlaxton College.

I am not going to lie to you, I signed up for Religion 305 just to fulfill general education requirements without even really knowing what topics of Religion would be covered in the course. After the first class though, I am very intrigued about the things that we will be discussing in this course. The topic of religion and social justice seems to me almost like some kind of politics class that you look through with a religious lens. I am very interested to examine how religion has played a part in many of the major social issues of the past and the present. One of the main things I am really interested is how someone can interpret the bible to support their side of an issue, while someone on the opposing side of an issue can interpret the bible to support theirs as well.

I am interested in seeing how liberal and conservative views can interpret the bible to support their beliefs. I was raised in a Catholic household, and as you may know, Catholics can tend to be very conservative with their religious beliefs and how they interpret them when it comes to social justice issues. I’ve spent so much time just seeing this side of the issues with a religious aspect that I almost can’t even imagine how someone could use the bible to support the opposing side on some of these issues. Although I may not always agree with the conservative catholic perspective on all of these issues, I still find it hard imagining someone using the bible to support some of the opposing side of the social justice issues they oppose, but I am very eager to open my mind and see what kind of other perspectives can be taken from the readings in the bible to support these kind of issues from the other side.