TruthBook Religious News Blog

Religion doesn't always mean going to church, especially for young people
By RACHEL KIPP, The News Journal

Posted Wednesday, September 26, 2007

NEWARK -- When he first arrived at the University of Delaware campus, Isaac Hicks' first taste of freedom was "awesome." For almost three years, he did whatever he wanted to do -- including leaving behind the tradition and teachings of the Christian church in which he was raised.

During junior year, something changed. God reached him, Hicks said, in the only way that could have worked: through a girl.

"We broke up," said Hicks, 26. "But I never stopped chasing the Lord."

Thousands pass Hicks on campus every Tuesday and Friday, when he stands on a corner of College Avenue asking students to leave prayer requests in a box covered with colored construction paper. Many take Hicks up on the offer of cookies, muffins and bottled water -- things he started bringing along after realizing the requests for prayers intimidated students. A few also pause to scribble prayers on slips of paper and drop them in the box. Others ignore Hicks' good-natured entreaties -- "We've got mini-muffins!" -- refusing to look him in they eye or take free baked goods.

Their reactions reflect the different approaches college students take toward religion. The four years or more they spend on campus is the first time many can make their own decisions on what priority faith will take in their lives.

Research shows church attendance is lowest when men and women are in their early 20s. But a multiyear nationwide study by the Higher Education Research Institute shows that even if the traditional trappings of religion have taken a back seat for many college students, spirituality has not.

Search for meaning, purpose

Decades ago, religion was more prevalent in society, and that carried over to college campuses, said Tim Clydesdale, a sociology professor at the College of New Jersey. Clydesdale's studies are focused on the experiences of young adults during the first year of college. He found that freshman year "really isn't a time when students are abandoning faith and it's not necessarily a time when they're really embracing faith."

A majority of students in one survey said they are searching for meaning and purpose in life and think college has an important role in that quest. The survey is part of a multiyear study of spirituality in the lives of college students by the Higher Education Research Institute that began in 2003. About three-quarters of more than 100,000 students queried last fall told the institute that they had spiritual discussions with friends and considered "attaining wisdom" as essential or very important to their lives.

Churches try to appeal to young

Although colleges are criticized for the decline in 20-something attendance at religious observances, the decline is even more dramatic for young adults who don't get a higher education, said Mark Regnerus, a sociology professor at the University of Texas.

UD senior Lindsey Kling and a group of friends became the "founding mothers" of the Unitarian Religion on Campus -- or UROCK! -- group a year and a half ago. Kling, who has been attending a Unitarian church since she was a little girl, thinks other students have a tendency to bunch together some of the smaller campus religious groups.

Kling estimates that "50 or 60 percent" of UD students are actively participating in some sort of religious group. But she said that participation is just as likely to include community service or organizing a concert as it is attending services or prayer meetings.

Once a week, Hicks, who received a master's degree from UD last spring, and other members of the prayer group Uniting Campus in Christ, empty the requests from their street-corner prayer box. Then they pray for sick relatives and students feeling lost and alone -- or hoping for an "A" on an upcoming test.

"There are people on campus that are hurting and in our finite minds we don't see," Hicks said. "We're saying to students, 'Someone out there loves you. We love you. God loves you.' "

Labels: college, Higher Education Research Institute, Rachel Kipp, religion, spirituality, youth