On a normal day between the walls of a mediocre private Catholic school, a plain girl sits at her average desk, trudging through another Religion class with 17 other kids. The teacher tiredly explains the same lesson he's been saying on repeat for however long he's been working at the school. Who really cares, even he's lost count.
This day, however, the plain girl sitting at her desk, tossling her jet black hair, was growing irritated of what the teacher was saying. She dreaded coming to this class every day, but seeing a lack of passion even from the man who was supposed to love this topic made the environment even worse.
"God created all of us in His image. We have a soul that is made just like him, which is pretty beautiful," he said monotonously. "Science has tried to explain the very nature of our souls, along with the afterlife and the power of prayer, but has come short. These things, and lots of other things in life, remain a mystery, which is what makes it so beautiful."
The girl, feeling a sudden burst of courage, raised her hand. "Mr. Vettel?"
"Yes?"
"The mysteries are what make life beautiful?" She inquired. She wasn't satisfied with his simple nod, so she continued, "Life is full of mysteries, but shouldn't we be celebrating the things we found, I dunno, answers to?"
"Well certainly, but mysteries are worth celebrating too. We as humans can marvel at the sheer awe of the intellect of God. Some things are mysteries because He is that much more intellegent than us, which is pretty cool."
"No, I don't think you understand," the entire room grew tense, "that is the exact opposite of cool."
He put his hands on his hips and narrowed his eyes. "If you want to talk after class-"
"Mr. Vettel, I'd prefer it if everyone heard this," She persisted. "Why is it okay to just leave these huge gaps of information in a belief? That makes no sense."
"That's where faith comes in. The reason it's a belief is because you have faith in it."
"So, just believing something because someone told you to is just okay? Isn't that how Nazis ended up killing millions of jews? Because someone told them to believe it was right a-and they just went along with it-"
"Maribelle," he interrupted, "you have no reason to use that tired argument because I think you'll find your faith in science is just as blind as the faith of any fundamentalist. You believe whatever your textbooks tell you just because some famous scientist said it. That's why you and many others like yourself preach ideas like evolution, which, by the way, is just a theory."
"You know what else is just a theory? Gravity. And I really hope it's wrong if it means you could float away from me right now." She rubbed her eyes. She was becoming aware of the hole she was digging herself in to, but she figured she had to get her point across. "See, the point of science is that it adjust it's views based on what's observed, which is why so many scientists have been wrong over the years. Faith is the denial of observation in order to preserve beliefs." Maribelle took a deep breath before continuing. "And about those 'mysteries' that you love so much? They are so much more satisfying once they're solved. Ignorance is not bliss if you're teaching it to the youth, it's just stupidity. It's purposely blinding yourself to the answers because they might be scary. And you know what else? I think you'll find that throughout all of history, every mystery that has ever been solved has turned out to be not magic."
"How dare you call Christianity magic!" The teacher said passionately, "You are being extremely disrespectful and closed-minded! And frankly, I feel bad for you. You are missing out on the tremendous beauty of souls, spirits, and wonders of the afterlife that God has given the world!"
"Are you so blind that you dare to call someone with a different opinion 'closed minded'? Are you scared of the possibility that you just might be wrong, so you continue with the miseducation of kids because it's what makes you comfortable?" She was nearly screaming now, "Why do you need to hide behind spirits and prayers when there's so much more to the world? Isn't this enough?"
Mr. Vettel, like the entire class, fell silent. They uncomfortably readjusted in their seats. He lowered his head.
"I mean, isn't this one natural, complex world enough for us?" Maribelle continued, "How does it so fail to hold our attention that we need to invent supernatural ways to make it more 'beautiful'? There are things about this world that are so unbelievably intricate that it would blow your mind. Maybe we don't learn about because it's hard, so we ignore it and waste our time on this fabricated nonsense. But that's not how it should be. Don't we deserve more than that?"
She breathed a sigh, "We are all insignificant, ignorant little bits of skin inhabiting this Earth for however long we get. It's hard to accept the fact that we don't live forever. But now, thanks to modern medicine, we get to live twice as long as our ancestors! Twice as long! Twice as long to learn about who we are, where we came from, why we're here. We shouldn't waste it sitting around saying 'hmmm what a mystery, I guess we'll never know'. We should try and make our lives as meaningful and beautiful as possible, and honestly, I don't think insulting the universe's complexity by ignoring it is a step in the right direction."
The teacher didn't raise his head. Rather, he spoke quietly, "Go to the principal's office, now."
She left, and class resumed as it normally did.
