I think it is interesting that the subject of religion be brought up and how the Catholic identity of Loras is suppose to make us more socially responsible in this world. I have mixed feelings on this.
There are many people that do not attend masses at Loras, but are still very responsible. You see this at many schools that have no religious affiliation. These people sometimes have more "freedom" because they won't necessarily be criticized for their views because they aren't Catholic or aren't Christian. However, they are socially responsible just the same.
I'm Catholic, and I go to mass nearly ever Sunday. However, with the reasoning above, I don't know if a strong Catholic identity is necessarily a good thing for social responsibility. It definitely can be, but if people become overly identified with the Catholic identity and aren't open to other ideas, then the negative effects can set in, and that can be considered sin in the Catholic church. This is where I think Loras does do a pretty good job. Most of the Catholic identity courses that Loras offers discusses various religions. Our own Catholic identity course discussed Catholicism, Protestantism, and Judaism. I believe that understanding these various religions is what makes us more socially responsible in today's world.
Think about it for a second. How did most of the wars of the world begin? It usually had a religious cause. Someone didn't agree with another, and before you know it, countries are trying to kill off other countries and thousands, sometimes millions, of lives are lost. All because the leaders did not think the other person was right...thus they didn't deserve to exist. That is much of what I see today. There are many people who are quite narrow minded and do not see both sides of the bridge. They only see their own shore and stick with it for dear life. Low and behold, there is another side, and it seems that if someone tries crossing that bridge, they get blown to $h^t.
That is why I believe Loras does do a decent job at educating us on more than just Catholicism. This makes us more socially responsible because it gives us the opportunity to discuss other views and consider them in our solutions to various social and economic issues that face us today. We all need to work together, and that is one thing that I learned from my religion classes in high school and at Loras.
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I agree that most people don't attend mass regularly. I like how you say that it isn't necessarily because they aren't responsible though. I also liked how you put in that it is good to have that religous identity but to not become so wrapped up in it that you lose sight of what the rest of the world is like. I think that is what happens sometimes in our society, not just with religious groups but with all groups, republicans/democrats, etc. What would Nussbaum think? She talks about the standards of colleges like BYU and Notre Dame. Notre Dame still has issues in trying to change things to make everyone feel equal on campus. They especially have issues with male/female equality. I think that you have a good start on how religious identities come into play with society.
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