crossing community lines
by eunice kwonasian americans and religion at cal
I'll be truthful. Until I was seven, I thought that all Asians were Christian, like I was. It just made sense to me at the time--my Asian American friends looked like me, dressed like me, brought lunch in Tupperware instead of brown paper bags like me. How was I to know about their secret lives of watching cartoons on Sunday mornings instead of attending church service? I was shocked to find that my peers did not know the hand movements to "Father Abraham" or own a Jesus coloring book. Truly shocked.
I got over it though. Eventually, I accepted that most of my school friends had their own beliefs and I had mine. I didn't talk to them about my faith and was happy to keep "church conversations" in church. But coming to college, I realized that I could not have a spiritual identity apart from all other aspects of myself. This pushed me to explore the divide between my faith and my ethnic background.
The Christian community has a large presence on the UC Berkeley campus. Though most of the campus fellowships are not exclusively Asian American, Eastbay Express reports that Asian American make up more than 80% of all members in Christian fellowships at UC Berkeley.
"A lot of Asian kids just flock to wherever they can find an Asian American community. They may not even be Christian, they just want the community," says Daniel Chang, a sophomore who checked out a fellowship during his first week at UC Berkeley and decided that it was not for him. "For some people, church is another Asian social network, like AAA."
Josephine Kim, a junior in Intervarsity Christian Fellowship (Intervarsity) disagrees, "People may check out fellowships to socialize, but committing to a fellowship means committing your time and energy to God. We're all busy college students and to suggest that we spend time praying and studying the Bible together for the purpose of networking is a bit far-fetched. We make a commitment because we believe in God, not because we want to meet more Asian people."
Whatever the case may be, it is indisputable that the Asian American Christian community at UC Berkeley has many members and consequently, a large sphere of influence. It is also true that the focus in these groups rarely ever concerns the outside Asian American community at UC Berkeley. Though many Christians on this campus do identify themselves as Asian American, it sometimes seems as if their faith is the sole defining characteristic of their identity. However, some see it a bit differently.
"My faith is the most important thing to me. But it shouldn't blind me from everything else; it should give me a proper lens to see everything through. God wants me to live by faith in my everyday life and what that means is approaching every subject with Him in mind, not just ignoring topics typically outside of the Christian bubble," said freshman Jessica Cao.
More Asian American Christians are beginning to take on this perspective. Senior Jennifer Chiang, a core member of Asian Pacific American Coalition and a representative for Intervarsity agreed that there is a problem with the divide. "Somewhere down the course of history, the two communities that once were partners in activism became separated and this is something I hope to see changed in the years to come," admitted Chiang. "Already, there are small movements to bridge this divide started by people who recognize that while the two seem to have completely different values, there are underlying commonalities that can be utilized to start dialogue and collaborative involvement in mutual issues of concern."
Chiang pointed out that Intervarsity's ethnic identity small group took a step forward to bridge that gap by joining the Asian Pacific American Coalition. Through this, she said that religious Asian Americans and non-religious Asian Americans have cooperated and found common ground on issues they want to work on together such as breaking stereotypes about the community and learning to live sustainable lives in activism.
The idea that a pursuit for social justice and a pursuit for a relationship with God are incompatible is slowly starting to deteriorate at the UC Berkeley campus. As an Asian American Christian myself, I'm starting to learn the importance of embracing every piece of my identity, including my ethnicity, because those pieces were all given to me for a reason.