Religious tattoos in today’s society are starting to become somewhat of a hot topic.
While some people get tattoos as a form of expression, religious tattoos bring controversy issues.
There are a lot of religious tattoos that a person may get and they may have different reasons for getting them. But for Kendrick Washington, 20, a third-year criminal justice student from Tallahassee, his tattoo is more than just body art; it is his way of life.
Kendrick has his tattoo on his stomach and it reads, “For God I live and For God I die.” The translation of Kendrick’s’ tattoo is, anything and everything I do, I do to acknowledge God. The tattoo represents how he carries himself and lives his life.
“A lot of people think that just because you have a religious tattoo, it means that you are a religious person,” Washington said. “No, the tattoo does not make you a religious person. Besides I go to church.”
People often refer to the Bible when it comes to tattoos. I Corinthians 6:19-20 reads: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body.” But people often have their own interpretation of the scripture.
“The Bible says you shouldn’t defile God, and your body is the temple and you shouldn’t mark your body. The Lord knows my heart and he knows the reason why I got it [the tattoo],” Washington said. Kiana Cogdell, 17, a first-year Spanish language student from Ocala, has a different perspective.
“I think that people who get religious tattoos are contradicting themselves,” Cogdell said. “If you are a religious person, [and] you know your body is a temple, why would you get a tattoo?”Gina Davis, 19, a third-year chemistry student from Hampton, Va., thinks that people get religious tattoos to show them off and have no religious aspects attached to it.
“Some people think that by getting a religious tattoo [they] can justify them and make it right even though they know they aren’t supposed to get them,” Davis said.
When Kendrick got his tattoo he wasn’t thinking about trying to find a way to make it right, he had his own reason.
“I was thinking about getting a Bible verse, but I just figured by getting ‘For God I live and For God I die’ it symbolizes the Bible as well as the things that I do day in and day out,” Davis said.