TruthBook Religious News Blog

July 28, 2009

Some parents of faith have long worried about the possible impact of (secular) colleges on the religious observances of their children.

A new national study that looks at trends between study of certain subjects and religious observance provides some evidence to back up those worries, but also may surprise members of some disciplines and some faiths. And the research also finds that religious students are more likely than others to attend college. The study is by four scholars at the University of Michigan and was released Monday by the National Bureau of Economic Research (abstract and ordering information available here).

Among the findings:

Please click on "external source" for the complete study results

Labels: children, college, faith, National Bureau of Economic Research, parents, religion

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Friday, December 12, 2008

God and man at Yale

Eboo Patel

Chicago, Illinois - The Commons at Yale University looked like a cross between Hogwarts and Medina. Over 500 students, staff and faculty had gathered for a university-wide iftar, the meal where Muslims break their dawn-to-dusk fast during the month of Ramadan. Linda Lorimer, Yale’s Vice President, gave an opening talk, expressing the University’s commitment to religious inclusivity and interfaith activity.

Omar Bajwa, the University’s recently-hired Coordinator of Muslim Life, thanked Yale for its efforts to accommodate the unique dietary and prayer needs of Muslim students.

And when the Muslims left the dining area for the evening prayer, most of the seats were still occupied. Hundreds of Jews, Sikhs, Christians, Hindus, agnostics, Unitarian Universalists and others had come to support their fellow Muslim students, partake in some excellent South Asian food and celebrate the religious devotion and diversity that are increasingly a part of campus life at Yale.

It is a remarkable shift from when I was a student 15 years ago. Identity politics were all the rage then, but they were almost always about race, class, gender and sexuality. Academic departments, leadership programmes and residence halls – prompted by the Los Angeles riots [sparked by the acquittal of police offers charged with beating African American motorist Rodney King] – put on hundreds of diversity programmes every year intended to create a more inclusive campus environment.

Faith might play a role in some people’s private lives, we figured, but it barely registered in our campus discourse. Even as newspapers told of strife in the Balkans, Northern Ireland, South Asia, the Middle East, West Africa, the multicultural movement hardly turned its head. As Harvard professor Diana Eck wrote in Encountering God, “Religion (was) the missing ‘r’ word in the diversity discussion” at universities.”

This is the result of what I call secularisation theory hangover, a condition that afflicted universities long after the rest of society recovered. Secularisation theory emerged from lecture halls in the 1960s, advanced by scholars like Peter Berger and Harvey Cox who stated that as societies modernised they would necessarily secularise.

But an important segment of student life on college campuses was actually heading in the opposite direction. Groups like InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and Campus Crusade for Christ continued to grow, bolstered by a powerful Evangelical movement in the broader society.

Finally, the past two decades have seen the American-born children of the 1965-era immigrants arrive on campus in significant numbers and bring their Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist faiths with them. Sharon Kugler, the Chaplain at Yale, told me that the number of religious organisations at her previous post, Johns Hopkins, skyrocketed from eight to 27 during her 14 years there.

This combination of devotion and diversity occurred on campus just as religion emerged as a central force in the broader culture. 9/11 has done to religion what Rodney King did to race – put it front and centre on the campus agenda.

One way that universities are responding is by hiring leaders like Sharon Kugler – the first lay, Catholic woman in her position at Yale – to transform their historically liberal protestant chaplaincies into fully-fledged multi-faith programs. This means working with the existing Jewish, Catholic and Protestant (both evangelical and mainline) ministries, hiring new staff to work with Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu students, and organising interfaith service projects and multi-faith student councils.

We live in a society starkly polarised around religion. A 2007 Pew Survey found that twice the number of respondents had a negative view of Muslims than a positive view. If the colour line was the problem of the 20th century, as W.E.B. DuBois famously observed, it appears that the faith line will be the challenge of the 21st. And just as decades of campus activism on the issue of the colour line has helped to produce a more racially inclusive society, so will initiatives like Yale’s Ramadan Banquet ultimately produce one characterised by religious pluralism.

Labels: college, diversity, Eboo Patel, God, interfaith, religion

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Wednesday, September 24, 2008

More students 'searching for a spiritual meaning'

by Allison Stice

Page one of two: Please click on "xternal link" at the bottom of this page for complete article

College students at this university and around the country are increasingly finding meditation a part of their overall health care, as health care providers learn more about the health and cognitive benefits of meditating.

Student groups like the Meditation Club and classes through the University Health Center and Campus Recreation Services are proliferating and promoting meditation as a means to combat anxiety, depression and even drug abuse, while meditation techniques are an integral part of other therapies like the smoking cessation and stress management programs.

At the Center for Health and Wellbeing, Coordinator of Wellness Programs Tracy Zeeger said last spring's decision to add free meditation classes - which became popular right away and continue to bring in about seven students per class - twice a week was encouraged by University Health Center Director Sacared Bodison as a means to bolster the alternative medicine programs at the health center. Zeeger said she has also seen an increase in her appointments for wellness counseling, where she incorporates meditation techniques like concentrated breathing and guided visual imagery into offerings such as relaxation training.

"Meditation falls very neatly into the category of wellness in that it not only promotes physical health but mental and spiritual health as well," Zeeger said. "It can help with students who suffer from depression or mild anxiety. … There are alternatives to prescription pills."

Attendance at the meditation class tallies about as many as the main lobby for the Center of Health and Wellbeing can comfortably hold.

At the Meditation Club meeting on McKeldin Mall Monday, about 30 students gathered in a circle, casting long shadows under the glare of the street lamp as they practiced meditation in silence. The club encourages students from all religious backgrounds to attend, junior history major Ryan Zembik said, and has helped him with stress and controlling his temper.
Continued...

Labels: Allison Stice, anxiety, college, meditation, stress, students

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Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Counseling college kids to keep the faith

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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Friday, March 07, 2008

I'll have a side of Christianity with that

Amy Baack
Issue date: 3/7/08

We live in an era of freedom of choice. Everything in our society is designed to provide us with options; we like feeling we are in control of our own lives. Don't tell me what to watch on TV - let me choose from 100-plus cable channels. Burger King's slogan sums up our choice-driven culture, as it encourages Americans to "Have it your way."

A recent study conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life shows Americans are beginning to shop around more when it comes to selecting their spiritual beliefs. Based on interviews with more than 35,000 Americans 18 and older, the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey found that more than 40 percent of the survey respondents said they changed their religious affiliation since childhood.

In addition, 16 percent of those surveyed call themselves "unaffiliated," meaning they do not identify with one particular religion or do not have any definitive spiritual beliefs. This number is startling - it is twice as large as figures from past surveys.

Americans today are simply not willing to mindlessly absorb information thrown at them about what to believe. People no longer stick to one religion, and some are not committing to any religion at all.

The survey results indicate an important trend: Americans are challenging authorities and not accepting ideas as truth simply because they were raised with them, instead they first explore multiple sides of the issue.

The survey also found that among Americans aged 18 to 29, one in four respondents are not currently affiliated with any particular religion.

An additional study by Pew conducted in February examined the spirituality of college students during their undergraduate careers, with spirituality defined as "the students' search for meaning and purpose, … their values … and their self-understanding."

College is supposedly a monumental stage in one's life, when one's values and beliefs are solidified; the fact that students gain spiritual maturity throughout their college years is no surprise.

Our generation has been raised to demand choices, and it makes sense that in our pivotal 20s, we are exploring multiple religions and questioning our faith. What is unusual is that the rest of America seems to be following our lead in this collegiate route of self-discovery.

One of the strongest American values is freedom, and Americans are now applying it to their spiritual pursuits, exploring multiple religions to try to figure out what they really believe.

The survey also found that Protestantism, the leading religion in America for generations, is actually on its way to becoming a minority faith. In the 1980s, 65 percent of Americans called themselves Protestants, but the results of Pew's survey indicate this number is now down to 51 percent.

America is becoming more of a nondenominational country, freed from the boundaries of religious institutions. People are exercising their First Amendment rights and exploring whatever religions strike their fancy. As a result, religion is being shaken out of its traditional cut-and-dry mold as Americans begin to piece together their own individual beliefs, creating a sort of custom religion derived from a sampling of sources.

Spiritual beliefs are not one-size-fits-all; they are intensely personal, and we are beginning to treat them as such. No one can tell me what to put on my iPod playlists, and I can certainly practice whatever religion I choose. I don't need to settle on one religion at all; I can create my own. People are free to believe whatever they want; this is the beauty of modern America.

Religion is just the latest part of our culture to receive the choice-filled menu treatment. So what will it be today? Would you like to try some Judaism, or perhaps a bit of Scientology? I hear the Buddhism is fantastic.

Labels: America, Amy Baack, belief, choice, college, Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, religion, spirituality, students

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Sunday, January 27, 2008

Half-full or half-empty?

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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Tuesday, December 18, 2007

College becomes a time for soul-searching

College becomes a time for soul-searching

Students may be less likely to attend religious services while in college than they were as high school students, but that doesn't mean they're not wrestling with spiritual and ethical issues, a study suggests.

An increasing number of undergraduates express a desire to explore the meaning and purpose of life as they progress through college, it says.

The study reinforces other research showing a decline in attendance at religious services among college students.

Among incoming freshmen, for example, 43.7% said they frequently attend services; by the end of their junior year, that was down to 25.4%. Also, 37.5% of juniors said they did not attend services, up from 20.2% who said so as new freshmen.

Among findings:

•74.3% of juniors said "helping others in difficulty" was "very important" or "essential," compared with 62.1% of freshmen.

•66.6% of juniors said "reducing pain and suffering in the world" was "very important" or "essential," compared with 54.6% of freshmen.

•54.4% of juniors said they were committed to "improving my understanding of other countries and cultures," compared with 52.0% of freshmen.

•63.8% of juniors said they supported "improving the human condition," compared with 53.4% of freshmen.

Rebecca Chopp, president of Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y., says colleges need to adapt. For decades, "higher education has been nervous about talking about religion," she says. Now, "we're probably in a time of transition. … What's different is globalization, the presence of world religions."

Labels: college, religion, spirituality

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Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Students find it's cool to be Christian on campus

Mon Nov 26, 2007 By Andrea Hopkins

Page one of three pages. Please link to "external source" for complete article
CINCINNATI (Reuters Life!) - The students piling into a house near the University of Cincinnati are laughing, sending text messages, and lining up for plates of pizza -- then they all bow their heads in prayer.

This weekly pizza lunch at Wesley House, a ministry of the United Methodist Church, is just one of a half-dozen Christian events Nick George, 19, will attend this week with friends from the Navigators, a thriving campus evangelical group.

For while public colleges in America were once considered hostile territory for religious students, a revival among both evangelical and traditional churches on campus has made it safe -- and even cool -- to be a college Christian.

"I'm absolutely more involved (in Christianity) than before I came to college," said George, an engineering student.

Most of his friends are fellow believers who, like thousands of young Christians, have eschewed private religious colleges in favor of large secular U.S. universities in a sign of a wider shift in the United States towards acceptance of religion in all areas of life.

Eight of 10 college students attend religious services, 80 percent discuss religion or spirituality with friends and 69 percent pray, according to a 2004 University of California, Los Angeles, survey of 112,232 freshmen at 236 universities.

"The American university system is not so aggressively asking kids to question their religion as it might have been in past years, in the 60s," said Mark Regnerus, a sociology professor at the University of Texas.

Labels: Andrea Hopkins, Christian, college, religion, spirituality, youth

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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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Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Are college freshmen losing their religion?

UL campus ministers committed to reaching out, reversing trend; survey says higher-education students more likely to stray from Christianity

Trevis R. Badeaux

Chances are good your Christian teen will walk away from his or her faith within the college freshman year.

A recent LifeWay Research survey indicates 70 percent of church-attending Christian teens fit the bill; that's about 1.2 million a year. Most are in their latter teens, ages 17, 18 and 19.

Surprised? UL campus ministers aren't. What's missing, they say, is a sense of community. Churches have a strong focus on young children and families. Teens and those in their early 20s are left to fall through the cracks.

That's not to say that churches aren't doing their part to reach out. Many have outreach ministries on college campuses that throw a lifeline to those drifting away from beliefs and practices established in their younger years.

The Roman Catholic LIFETEEN initiative and others like it have a record number of teens attending evening services geared toward enhancing their faith and their relationship with God.

So, what's the problem? Why are so many college freshmen and other teens and young adults walking away from their faith?

Community. It's the answer that comes up time and again from anyone in the age category asked these same questions. Teens and young adults lack a sense of connection, a relationship with others in their religions.

There is no way to force anyone to believe in Christ or become an active participant in their faith. However, there are ways campus ministries are reaching out to reverse the trend.

Most facilitate small groups that meet across campus. Students gather to share their beliefs, struggles, ways they can live out their faith and encourage others to join in. Some, like Chi Alpha, host a weekly free lunch with a scripture message or community events that attract teens and young adults.

Labels: Christian, college, faith, religion, Trevis R. Badeaux, youth

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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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Friday, September 21, 2007

Faith on campus

Arelis Hernandez
Issue date: 9/20/07

Before junior Adil Zaman came to college, he said saying prayers five times a day during his Muslim upbringing was more of a holy nuisance than a religious duty.

During high school, Zaman said, his Islamic faith took a backseat to girls, friends and trying to fit in. That changed when he stepped onto the campus: Outside the reach of parental pressure, it was suddenly a choice whether to practice his faith - not a requirement.

"When Ramadan came" during freshman year, Zaman said, "I promised myself to do things right."

Zaman is far from alone when it comes to faith and spirituality among college students. Although it was once thought that previous generations of devout college students risked eroding their faith after being exposed to secular academic communities, a new study conducted on the campus shows otherwise.

For all the liberal viewpoints so commonly espoused in the university setting - evolution, gay rights and existential philosophy included - many students are flocking to pews and prayer rugs. More than 63 percent of students here reported attending a religious service frequently or occasionally and 55 percent said that they pray.

Only a tiny number of the 524 randomly selected students surveyed - just 6 percent - said they don't consider themselves on a "spiritual quest."

The results of the survey surprised Office of Campus Programs Director Marsha Guenzler-Stevens, who conducted the survey last year with graduate student Andrew Publicover.

"More students talk about faith than what we would've anticipated, more students pray more than we anticipated and more students discuss religion," Guenzler-Stevens said. "There is a growing interest in faith" on the campus.

Paolo Ugolini, who leads the Disciples of Christ campus ministry, said that the popular view that secular campus life is a powerful influence that leads religious students astray is a mischaracterization.

"When students leave their homes and no longer have a family atmosphere to prop up their beliefs, I think many students simply find that their 'faith' was more a product of the home culture," Ugolini said. "It was not really a faith of their own to begin with."

But it isn't just students who were brought up religious that are finding a spiritual awakening during their college career, Guenzler-Stevens' survey shows...

Labels: Arelis Hernandez, college, culture, faith, religion, 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