What are the ties between what we believe and what we teach others? Is it more important to believe in something if you’re telling others to believe it, or is it more important to educate them and let them come to their own conclusions? Arlington Tech junior Emelyn Coaquira seems to think the latter, as she currently finds herself volunteering for quite a curious position: a teaching assistant for her church’s Sunday school. This may initially sound quite mundane, and in fact it would be, if not for the fact that Coaquira is agnostic. For the unaware, agnosticism is a belief somewhere in between atheist and religious, meaning they don’t believe a god or gods exist, nor that they can prove a god or gods don’t exist. Therein lies the aforementioned curiosity: a student who doesn’t believe in a god helping to teach children about religion in Sunday school. This of course leads to the question: “why would she do this”? Unfortunately, the answer is rather lackluster, as it was just due to the fact that her parents, who are religious, wanted her to have an activity to do on the weekends. However, even if the reasoning is lackluster, the oddity is still very much there.

“It’s definitely strange,” said Coaquira. “Getting kids ready for their first communions and listening to them read bible verses without ever believing in any of it, but at the end of the day, if they believe in it, then that’s their choice.”