TruthBook Religious News Blog

Study finds students grow more “spiritual” as they progress through college, but are much less likely to go to church

Colleges are not the “bastions of secularism” many believe them to be, reported the Jan. 5 Los Angeles Times. The newspaper reached that conclusion based on a study carried out by UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute, which says it found that interest in spiritual and ethical issues increases as students go through college.

The study, the results of which were announced in a Dec. 18 news release from the institute, was based on a survey of 14,527 college students on 136 U.S. campuses. Interviews with students commenced when they were freshmen in Fall 2004 and resumed when they were juniors in Spring 2007.

According to the study, college juniors are more likely than freshmen “to be engaged in a spiritual quest, are more caring, and show higher levels of equanimity and an ecumenical worldview.” In 2007, 55.4% of juniors (as opposed to 41.2% of freshmen in 2004) said they considered “developing a meaningful philosophy of life ‘very important’ or ‘essential.’” And, while 48.7% of freshmen in 2004 said “attaining inner harmony” was “very important” or “essential,” 62.6% of juniors expressed that sentiment in 2007.

“Spiritual” life goals that students said were very important or essential were “integrating spirituality into my life” (41.8% in 2004, to 50.4% in 2007), “seeking beauty in my life” (53.7% to 66.2%) and “becoming a more loving person” (67.4% to 82.8%).

Other “spiritual values” that saw an increase in acceptance from freshman to junior years were “helping others in difficulty” and “reducing pain and suffering in the world.” A larger percentage of juniors than freshmen indicated an attitude of “being thankful for all that has happened to me.”

Yet, while “spiritual values” were supposedly up in colleges and, indeed, "student interest in spirituality and religion is at a level not seen since perhaps the 1950s," according to religion scholar Rebecca Chopp, “college students’ attendance at religious services,” says the study’s news release, “indicates a steep decline: the rate of frequent attendance drops from 43.7 percent in high school to 25.4 percent in college, and the rate of non-attendance nearly doubles, from 20.2 percent to 37.5 percent.”

The study also found that, during their college years, “students become more liberal in their political ideology and attitudes toward socio-cultural issues.”

Other studies have found a decline in religious observance and commitment to the Christian faith among young people. According to a study released in September by the Barna Group, a Christian research organization in Ventura, over the past 10 years, the number of non-Christian youth who feel “favorably toward Christianity’s role in society” has plummeted from a majority to only 16%.

Labels: Barna Group, Christianity, church, college, Higher Education Research Institute, spirituality

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Friday, December 28, 2007

Students' spiritual interests increase on campus

Issue Date: December 28, 2007

Though college students’ attendance at worship services declines, their interest in spiritual matters grows during their time on campus, a new UCLA study shows.

UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute compared the views of students who were freshmen in the fall of 2004 with the same students’ thoughts in the spring of 2007, when they were juniors.

The survey of more than 14,000 students found that more than 50 percent of students considered “integrating spirituality into my life” very important or essential in 2007, an increase of almost 10 percentage points from 2004.

Slightly more than half the students said they attended services in college at about the same rate as they attended them in high school. Almost 40 percent, however, said they worshiped less frequently. Seven percent said they worshiped more.

Researchers also concluded that an increasing percentage of students had an “ecumenical worldview.” In 2004, 42 percent said they endorsed “improving my understanding of other countries and cultures”; 55 percent said the same in 2007.

Students showed increasing agreement over time with the idea that nonreligious people can lead lives as moral as those of religious believers, with 90 percent approving the statement this year.

“The data suggest that college is influencing students in positive ways that will better prepare them for leadership roles in our global society,” said UCLA emeritus professor Alexander W. Astin, co-principal investigator for the research.

The research included 14,527 students attending 136 U.S. colleges and universities. Its margin of error is between 1 and 2 percentage points.

The project, which is in its fifth year, is funded by the John Templeton Foundation.

Labels: church, college, Higher Education Research Institute, John Templeton Foundation, religion, spirituality, students, UCLA

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Friday, November 02, 2007

ASU students amid 21-day prayer marathon

No agenda, just 'people hungry for God'

John Faherty
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 1, 2007

In the middle of the day, in the middle of the week, in the middle of the Arizona State University campus, it is easy to miss the students sitting with their heads down and their hands together.

They are part of a group of Christian students on the Tempe campus who are praying 24 hours a day for 21 days.

All through the day and night, they pray outside the Danforth Meditation Chapel, their stillness and quiet in marked contrast to the nearly constant rush of the 51,000 students on the campus.

Many students on campuses nationwide are speaking to God, or, at the very least, hope to.

A survey of more than 112,000 incoming college students in 2004, today's seniors, by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA revealed that a significant number of them describe themselves as spiritual.

• 80 percent have an interest in spirituality.

• 76 percent are searching for meaning/purpose in life.

• 80 percent attended a religious service in the past year.

Jennifer Lindholm is the project director for the study and knows that college students are often portrayed as being focused entirely on getting a job or having a good time.

Lindholm's study further indicated that students have no intention of putting issues of faith or spirituality aside during their college years.

Reasons to pray

The patch of lawn next to the Danforth Meditation Chapel has informal stations where poster board and pens allow students to write down what they are praying for, or who they are forgiving, or Bible verses that have resonance for them.

There is no particular agenda. It is, instead, prayer for the sake of prayer.

The people who come are absolutely college students. They sometimes stop in midprayer and text-message or shout a hello to a passing friend.

Some arrive on skateboards, others have tattoos and piercings.

They know their public act of faith may result in people looking at them as different, but they are fine with that.

Mostly they sit quietly with their heads down and their hands together. Others pray out loud in groups of two or three or more.

They ask for peace and wisdom and forgiveness.

When students on the busy campus notice the praying, most walk past, looking surprised or confused.

An important value

They started praying on Oct. 8, and will continue to do so through Monday.

So far, more than 200 students have signed up to cover shifts, and countless others have simply stopped by to join them.

The UCLA study indicated that more than two-thirds of college students pray and four in 10 consider it "very important" that they follow their religious teachings.

So far, there has been no controversy regarding prayer at a public university.

Yuhchang Hwang, faculty adviser for a Christian Students club on campus, said the rights of students to express themselves are paramount.

"The campus promotes free speech," Hwang said. "All voices should be heard, including believers."

One night on campus, Jacqi Nicholson did not stop to pray, but she was glad students have the option.

Labels: Arizona State University, Christian, college, Higher Education Research Institute, John Faherty, prayer, spirituality, students

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Thursday, September 27, 2007

Spirituality alive on campus

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

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Thursday, May 03, 2007

Religion gets an 'A' at U.S. colleges

Nearly half of the freshmen said they were seeking opportunities to grow spiritually, according to the survey by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles.

Compared with 10 or 15 years ago, "There is a greater interest in religion on campus, both intellectually and spiritually," said Charles Cohen, a professor of history and religious studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who for a number of years ran an interdisciplinary major in religious studies. The program was created seven years ago and has 70 to 75 majors each year.

University officials explained the surge of interest in religion as partly a result of the rise of the religious right in politics, which they said has made questions of faith more talked about generally. In addition, they said, the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, by Islamic zealots underscored for many the influence of religion on world affairs.

And an influx of evangelical students at secular universities, along with an increasing number of international students, has meant that students arrive with a broader array of religious experiences.

At Berkeley, a vast number of undergraduates are Asian-American, with many coming from observant Christian homes, said the Reverend Randy Bare, the Presbyterian campus pastor.

There are 50 to 60 Christian groups on campus, and student attendance at Roman Catholic and Presbyterian churches near campus has picked up significantly, he said. On many other campuses, though, the renewed interest in faith and spirituality has not necessarily translated into increased attendance at religious services.

The Reverend Lloyd Steffen, the chaplain at Lehigh University, is among those who think the war in Iraq has contributed to the interest in religion among students. "I suspect a lot of that has to do with uncertainty over the war," Steffen said. "My theory is that the baby boomers decided they weren't going to impose their religious life on their children the way their parents imposed it on them," Steffen continued. "The idea was to let them come to it themselves.

Increased participation in community service may also reflect spiritual yearning of students.

"We don't use that kind of spiritual language anymore," said Rebecca Chopp, the Colgate president. "But if you look at the students, they do."

Some sociologists who study religion are skeptical that students' attitudes have changed significantly, citing a lack of data to compare current students with those of previous generations. But even some of those concerned about the data say something has shifted.

"All I hear from everybody is yes, there is growing interest in religion and spirituality and an openness on college campuses," said Christian Smith, a professor of sociology at Notre Dame. "Everybody who is talking about it says something seems to be going on."

David Burhans, who retired after 33 years as chaplain at the University of Richmond, said many students "are really exploring, they are really interested in trying things out, in attending one another's services."

Lesleigh Cushing, an assistant professor of religion and Jewish studies at Colgate, said: "I can fill basically any class on the Bible. I wasn't expecting that."

When Benjamin Wright, chairman of the department of religion studies at Lehigh, arrived 17 years ago, two students chose to major in religion. This year there are 18 religion majors and there were 30 two and three years ago.

Presbyterian ministries at Berkeley and Wisconsin have built dormitories to offer spiritual services to students and encourage discussion among different faiths. The seven-story building on the Wisconsin campus, which will house 280 students, is to open in August.

The number of student religious organizations at Colgate has grown to 11 from 5 in recent years. The university's Catholic, Protestant and Jewish chaplains oversee an array of programs and events. Many involve providing food to students, a phenomenon that the university chaplain, Mark Shiner, jokingly calls "gastro-evangelism."

Among the new clubs is one established last year to encourage students to hold wide-ranging dialogues about spirituality and faith. Meeting over lunch on Thursdays, the students talk about what happens after life or the nature of Catholic spirituality.

Gabe Conant, a junior, said he wanted to contemplate personal questions about his own faith. He described them this way: "What are these things I was raised in and do I want to keep them?"

Labels: Christian, college, Higher Education Research Institute, Iraq, politics, religion, spirituality, UCLA