TruthBook Religious News Blog

Rebecca Rosen Lum
Contra Costa Times
06/16/2008 12:01:03 AM PDT

Losing their religion? Statistics suggest that for college students, it is virtually guaranteed. Studies show as many as 80 percent of college students shed their beliefs and faith practices during their undergraduate years. Reasons range from the rigorous questioning inherent in academic study to robust secular socializing. East Bay religious leaders offered counsel on how to sustain faith throughout the move into adulthood.

Father Wayne Campbell, St. Monica's Catholic Church, Moraga: They often shed their beliefs because beliefs often change. It's the values that we hope are more solid. That's why I always encourage families to not focus so much on teaching beliefs as instilling values. Values create a stable place from which to draw in making choices.

Rabbi Dan Goldblatt, Beth Chaim Congregation, Danville: We live in a world where there is so much pressure to succeed. So many high school students head off to college thinking that they are supposed to know what they want to do, and become. In the Jewish tradition, the act of becoming is itself a very sacred journey. College is one of those rare times in life when the purpose of one's existence is to learn, experiment, seek meaningful stimulation, develop, and immerse oneself in exploration and growth. This is such a precious gift that can be easily squandered by rushing into premature decisions regarding the future.

Rev. Sylvia Vasquez, St. Paul's Episcopal Church: The biggest danger is that their structure has been taken away. They right now live in a situation in which parents are their main source of authority and support and structure. The issue isn't really that they lose their faith or doubt what they've been told, they take advantage of the fact that there is no school Sunday. There's no need to get up out of bed unless somebody comes and bangs on your head. Spirituality is a discipline that gets ingrained. When you learn a language and you are somewhere where that language isn't spoken, well, if you don't use it you are going to lose it. It's a discipline.

Now, longing for God, the knowledge that there is a higher being, that is something I think we are born with. Even though they are on a journey -- and as Episcopal we encourage them to explore ... we are not afraid of somebody looking and doubting and questioning.

Senior Pastor Jon McNeff, NorthCreek Church, Walnut Creek: I encourage students to stay grounded in the word of God and in prayer first of all. The Bible is the only eternal book that doesn't change according to the whims of the crowd or the latest educational fad.

Secondly, I encourage them to read outside their assigned classes. Unfortunately, most college professors are some of the most closed-minded people on the face of the earth. To be truly educated, students will need to read other views in subjects like biology, history, psychology, sociology, and philosophy if they want a truly balanced education. That is hard to do when they have all of the other work required of them, especially if they have to work part time.

Lastly, I encourage them to get involved in a local church. They need the fellowship and perspective of people outside the campus to stay grounded.

Father Barnard J. Campbell, CSP, pastor Holy Spirit/Newman Hall, UC Berkeley: I do find in over 22 years in campus ministry work that young men and women are coming and going, connecting, disconnecting, roaming. Yet, at Berkeley and other exceptional vigorous secular environments students articulate and live out their faith commitments. Interestingly, studies that I knew of 15 years ago showed rather consistently that student personal faith commitment was GREATER at the vigorous secular university than at the religious institutions.

In my life with students I have found their struggles best addressed by inviting them into a community of (in my case) Catholics of their own age and hopefully also a varied generational community — including faculty members from the same vigorous secular environment — who are intellectually curious about their faith and their academic discipline, who are spiritually alert and who recognize the need to help their neighbor, locally or internationally.

Rev. Steve Harms, Peace Lutheran Church, Danville: `The mind is a profound gift. Use it to explore everything. Ask endless questions — especially of your faith because that is how you grow. Know that knowledge alone can make you clever but cold. So keep your mind grounded in the heart. To just become a data bank of information is completely unsatisfactory. You will want to learn the ways of wisdom so you can discover real joy in life.

There is nothing to fear: If what you learn is true, it is the Spirit of God. Ideas, views, perspectives change — that is how people mature. Even your ideas about God will change but that doesn't mean the wisdom and compassion of God will dissolve.

J.P. Singh, president, Sikh Center of the San Francisco Bay Area: Religion is something that is passed on in the family. Parents with good communication can help their children reconcile outside pressure with their own culture. I preach to both kids and parents, become good listeners. It has to be done in a friendly way.

We encourage (students) to become part of cultural activities, because that's where they get their strength. The Internet has been very, very good in the respect that Sikh youth groups use it to communicate and solve their problems. They have discussion groups. And there are the national Sikh camps.

Rabbi Mark Bloom, Temple Beth Abraham, Oakland: 1. Don't be afraid to questions your beliefs. God and our 4,000 year old tradition can certainly handle it. 2. Learn from others and their religious points of view. If your foundation is firm, the diversity will only strengthen and enrich your Jewish identity. 3. There's a whole new Jewish world for you to explore as a college student. Try Hillel. Join a Jewish fraternity or sorority. Take a Jewish studies class. Go on a Birthright Israel trip. Attend a rally. Meet Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform Jews. 4. Most importantly, call home every once in a while. By that I mean, come to synagogue during Thanksgiving with your parents on a Saturday morning where you would otherwise be sleeping. Attend your rabbi's get-together for college students.

Rebecca Rosen Lum covers religion. Reach her at 925-977-8506 or rrosenlum@bayareanewsgroup.com.

Labels: advice, college, Rebecca Rosen Lum, religion, students

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Saturday, January 12, 2008

Prayer and spirituality said to aid healing

Posted on Sat, Jan. 12, 2008
By REBECCA ROSEN LUM
Contra Costa Times

Scientists are taking a hard look at the value of faith as an instrument in healing -- including the "intercessory" or healing prayers said on behalf of others.

Numerous studies show a link between faith and outlook, faith and well-being, faith and healing times.

Scientists at such prestigious institutions as California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, Duke University in North Carolina, and the George Washington University Institute for Spirituality and Health in the nation's capital are exploring the relationship of prayer and faith to healing.

More than half of physicians in an April survey by a group at the University of Chicago said that religion and spirituality significantly influence patients' health.

But the exact mechanism by which it works remains elusive.

Religion can help those with chronic conditions, including traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, stroke and arthritis, say the authors of a study at the University of Missouri at Columbia.

Yoga, reading of religious texts, meditation or the laying of hands have value in a clinical setting, the researchers concluded.

Hospital officials have long left patients' spiritual needs in the hands of chaplains, but they increasingly are reaching out to faith communities.

Official recognition

Parish nursing, or faith-community nursing, which combines spiritual and health services, has exploded since the American Nursing Association recognized the specialty in 2005.

Today, an estimated 10,000 faith-community nurses work in American congregations.

In San Francisco, a leading researcher in mind-body medicine found a positive link between intercessory prayer and the well-being of people with AIDS.

Prayed-for patients in a study by late University of California-San Francisco professor Elizabeth Targ had fewer setbacks and lived longer than a comparison group. A follow-up study found the same results. Targ later found a link between spirituality and well-being among women with breast cancer.

THE CONFLICT

Some academics recoil at the blurring of the line between faith and healthcare, saying prayer, meditation and other faith practices resist definition or measurement.

Far more studies show no link between religious belief and healing than a positive one, said Richard Sloan, a Columbia University behavioral medicine professor and the author of Blind Faith: The Unholy Alliance of Religion and Medicine. Suggesting one can mislead people and put an unfair burden on them, he said.

"Look, nobody disputes that religion and spirituality bring comfort in a time of difficulty, but when spirituality is brought into medical care, it is another issue entirely," he said.

"It can do all sort of harm because it causes people to confuse medical care with other aspects of their lives," he said. "It can lead them to avoid conventional medical care. And it can lead them to believe their health problems are from inadequate faith and devotion."

Labels: American Nursing Association, faith, healing, health, intercessory prayer, Rebecca Rosen Lum, science, spirituality