God's name is everywhere from dollar bills to the Pledge of Allegiance of the United States, but ASU students differ in regards to the importance of religion in their personal relationships.
Cassidy Thompson, president of Campus Crusade for Christ at ASU, a Christian student organization, said religion is a deciding factor in her dating relationships because she feels there are benefits to sharing religious beliefs, such as spiritual connections and a greater level of trust.
"People have more reason to serve and love the other because they know that God is a part of them too," Thompson said. "I would not date anyone I couldn't marry, and I couldn't marry anyone that wasn't a Christian."
Thompson said she doesn't want to be pressured to accept ideas in which she doesn't believe, and which directly counter her moral beliefs, for the sake of being politically correct.
"We have a pressure ... to stop seeing sin as sin because we aren't ever supposed to deny ourselves anything," Thompson said. "We aren't ever suppose to believe a certain thing if it might offend someone."
But Mandi Coleman, an educational mathematics junior, said she doesn't feel religion is a factor in dating relationships.
"Religion is not a topic of conversation initially in my dating relationships," Coleman said. "It might become an issue later, but not in the beginning stages."
Coleman said she sees society as a factor on in relationships, not religion.
"Culture is more accepting of diverse groups of people," Coleman said. "They base it on individuality, not on religion."
If one person in a relationship tries to press the other person to alter his or her religious beliefs, the individuality of each partner could be threatened, Coleman said.
"If religion was imposed on me in a relationship, it would create issues in the relationship," Coleman said.
Mark McPherson, council president at the ASU Institute of Religion, said he thinks religion is positively correlated with the success of people's marriages. The Institute of Religion is a Latter-Day Saints organization that holds classes four days per week.
But McPherson added that religious conflicts can affect people's ability to have a successful relationship.
"I've seen it go both ways," McPherson said. "I have a friend who plans on being baptized and his girlfriend isn't ready. I'm not sure what will happen to their relationships but I sense it might be a strain on the relationship."
McPherson said religion in his personal relationships is important and he "would use it as a deciding factor in whether or not to initially ask the girl out." He added that the relationships of many others from his church are strongly influenced by religion.
"I have found that most members of my church hold strong convictions that do influence who they date and the manner in which they date," McPherson said.
Allison Gusdorff, president of Hillel Jewish Student Center at ASU, said religion is important in her personal relationships, but she does not use it as a deciding factor.
"Each student's beliefs and morals concerning relationships differ," Gusdorff said. " I do not feel that a specific religion is relevant in making individual decisions."
Dave Schembri, a construction management junior, said he feels it is important for people to have a religious basis, but not to limit themselves. He said religion matters but only to a certain point. If he really liked a girl he would date her, regardless of her religion.
Schembri said he believes college students are fearful of being too committed to religion.
"Kids are scared of missing out on the college life by being that devoted to religion," he said. "It's the stage of life we are in."
Reach the writer at alissa.espinoza@asu.edu.
