In my temporary home in Edison, I often witness and must mitigate the tension that arises between my Hindu and Catholic relatives.

Whenever there is conflict, my mother and father, two people who I love the most and hold to the highest moral standard, degrade themselves to religious insults, using derogatory words like “heathen” and “infidel” to spiritually attack one another. Of course, when I was younger, I did not understand these conflicts, thinking of them as arguments that were typical of a normal family that I’ve seen on television shows. However, as I matured spiritually, I saw the gravity of comments like these and vowed to cultivate understanding between the two sides of my split-faith family.

In an effort to achieve this goal, at UNC Chapel Hill, I wish to pursue the interdisciplinary Religious Studies program to achieve understanding in multiple faiths and perspectives. The multi-religious approach that combines philosophy with theology would provide the knowledge base to teach my relatives Hinduism and Catholicism for religious understanding in the home.

While I won’t be able to eliminate conflict in my home completely, (because with my parents’ personalities, that isn’t feasible) I will be able to lessen its aftermath. I no longer wish to hear of the superiority of one religion to another or the disgusting words “heathen” and “infidel.” Instead, I wish to cultivate religious harmony so that my five siblings may also comfortably seek out their own spirituality, unhesitant of offending our parents or each other.