Something that has been on my mind throughout my experience at college thus far has been the question: Why do I believe what I believe? College is a time where we come into contact with copious different viewpoints, beliefs and mindsets. I had always believed what I believed until I came to college and those thoughts were challenged.

So, why do we believe what we believe? (Forgive me, I'm in a theory class right now.) The French theorist Louis Althusser came up with some terms to define social constructs in our lives: RSAs (Restrictive State Apparatuses) and ISAs (Ideological State Apparatuses). RSAs use force in order to enforce their beliefs (like the armed forces, the prison system and the police force). However, ISAs, which are the focus of my thoughts, are sneakier and use the process of interpellation to enforce their existence. Interpellation is when the ISA presents the beliefs and values to you and you decide to accept them subconsciously. Often we think that we believe something because we have rationalized all of the reasons that we accept that belief. However, Althusser argues that really, ISAs present those things to us, and we accept them without knowing it. Some examples of ISAs are religions, familial systems, and education. For example, the family that you grow up in determines what you value. For example, my family values education, therefore I am attending college to earn a bachelor's degree. You may choose to believe Althusser's argument or not, but it does offer an explanation for why we believe what we believe.

So, amidst all of the theory and explanations for why we believe what we believe, for now I have come to this conclusion: We all come from different backgrounds with different ideas of what should and shouldn't be true. This is okay; this is only human. We don't have to accept every single ideology that we come into contact with, but we can be respectful. I definitely don't agree with some ideologies. For example, I am a Christian, and I do believe with all of my being that Christ is our savior, who became man, died, and rose to accommodate to us despite our sins. I do not believe that you can earn life everlasting without a relationship with Christ Jesus. Additionally, I also believe that we should be respectful to all other people with differing opinions. You don't have to change what you believe when you encounter an ideology that counters your own. You may analyze all of the reasons why you believe what you do, and you may decide that the new ideology makes more sense. However, this is not a requirement.

So, even though that I believe Christ is the only way to truly have a fulfilling life on Earth and to earn eternity in paradise, I do not believe that living in constant friction with other ideologies is what God intended for life on Earth to be like. I think he would want us to be happy, to share the good news of Jesus Christ and to love others—not criticize them, or make them feel less than. We are all human, and we all are equally deserving of being in relationship with God. And he loves each and every one of us, no matter what.