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May 2, 2007

Matters of Faith Find a New Prominence on Campus
By ALAN FINDER

Peter J. Gomes has been at Harvard University for 37 years, and says he remembers when religious people on campus felt under siege. To be seen as religious often meant being dismissed as not very bright, he said.

No longer. At Harvard these days, said Professor Gomes, the university preacher, “There is probably more active religious life now than there has been in 100 years.”

Across the country, on secular campuses as varied as Colgate University, the University of Wisconsin and the University of California, Berkeley, chaplains, professors and administrators say students are drawn to religion and spirituality with more fervor than at any time they can remember.

More students are enrolling in religion courses, even majoring in religion; more are living in dormitories or houses where matters of faith and spirituality are a part of daily conversation; and discussion groups are being created for students to grapple with questions like what happens after death, dozens of university officials said in interviews.

A survey on the spiritual lives of college students, the first of its kind, showed in 2004 that more than two-thirds of 112,000 freshmen surveyed said they prayed, and that almost 80 percent believed in God. 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, Los Angeles.

Compared with 10 or 15 years ago, “there is a greater interest in religion on campus, both intellectually and spiritually,” said Charles L. 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 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, means students arrive with a broader array of religious experiences.

Professor Gomes (pronounced like “homes”) said a more diverse student body at Harvard had meant that “the place is more representative of mainstream America.”

“That provides a group of people who don’t leave their religion at home,” he said.

At Berkeley, a vast number of undergraduates are Asian-American, with many coming from observant Christian homes, said the Rev. Randy Bare, the Presbyterian campus pastor. “That’s new, and it’s a remarkable shift,” Mr. Bare said.

There are 50 to 60 Christian groups on campus, and student attendance at 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 Rev. 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,” Mr. 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,” Mr. Steffen continued. “The idea was to let them come to it themselves. And then they get to campus and things happen; someone dies, a suicide occurs. Real issues arise for them, and they sometimes feel that they don’t have resources to deal with them. And sometimes they turn to religion and courses in religion.”

Increased participation in community service may also reflect spiritual yearning of students. “We don’t use that kind of spiritual language anymore,” said Rebecca S. 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 the University of Notre Dame. “Everybody who is talking about it says something seems to be going on.”

David D. 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.

At Harvard, more students are enrolling in religion courses and regularly attending religious services, Professor Gomes said. 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.

At Colgate, five Buddhist and Hindu students received permission to live in a new apartment complex on the edge of campus this year. They call their apartment Asian Spirituality House and they use it for meetings and occasional religious events.

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 created last year to encourage students to hold wide-ranging dialogues about spirituality and faith. Meeting over lunch on Thursdays in the chapel’s basement, the students talk about what happens when you die or the nature of Catholic spirituality.

Called the Heretics Club (the chaplains were looking to grab students’ attention), the group listened to John Gattuso talk about his book, “Talking to God: Portrait of a World at Prayer” (Stone Creek Publications, 2006), a collection of essays and photos about prayer in world religions.

“Do you need to believe in God in order to pray?” Mr. Gattuso asked.

The discussion was off and running, with one student saying one needed only to believe in “something outside yourself” and another saying that “sometimes ‘Thank you’ can be a prayer.”

Afterward, several students talked about what attracted them to the sessions, besides the sandwiches, chips and fruit. 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?”

Yay!

I have added a userpic. I hope this works. Thanks to thekinginyellow.

So I have been tagged by thekinginyellow for the letter meme, and "L" is my legacy. Herewith:

1. Legacy. What you leave to your progeny is a question that haunts me. Not just the physical stuff, of course, though that too. Mostly, I am selfish enough to worry about what feelings towards me they will be left with. The basic conflict is, of course, between not wanting to nag too much and not wanting them to go too far astray. I keep telling myself trust is the key. I hope I'm right. Legacy is also the code word for helping your offspring get into the school you went to. It doesn't seem necessary. It may also suck; I'm not sure.

2. Lemonade. I like to drink it. It means it's summer, or almost. I like it tart. Pink, yellow or flavored, I like it.

3. Lime Jello(tm). I once knew a geologist in Oklahoma who actually had--or claimed to have--a hot tub filled with lime Jello that he invited other employees of his oil exploration company to come bathe in with him. He also carried a gun everywhere, and thought the Mafia(tm) was out to get him. When he got fired for terminal weirdness, he sued his company, which is where I came in. He scared me.

4. Lotos-eaters. They dwell somewhere in the tropical regions, and forget everything that ever troubled them. This is supposed to be bad? Where do I go to find some lotos? So you don't remember that your client is about to be executed and you are meant to be in court making a last-ditch plea for something or other--so what? Or more likely, a surreply brief is due on that summary judgment motion--so what? Don't I deserve a little me-time? Let me at the lotos. No? OK, back to the trenches!

5. Lethargy. The next best thing to lotos-eating, but easier to arrange. The state of not having enough energy to deal with all the things you remember you're supposed to be doing. Comes from "Lethe", the river of forgetfullness, which suggests it's actually closer to lotos-eating than you might think. The only cure for lethargy is doing LJ memes, or else doing something you actually enjoy doing, or talking to people you actually enjoy talking to.

6. Law. A field I know something about. You can really accomplish something in law. I don't. There are those who accomplish things by representing important interests and bringing about legal results that favor those interests (which may simply be individuals subjected to injustice), and there are those who accomplish things by thinking about the philosophy of law, and helping to explain why law works, or should work, and how to validate the notion of law. Some people become rich from law. They are by and large not the same people, although there is some overlap. Many people seem to think law is a waste of a life. It needn't be.

7. Levites. Generally speaking, all descendants of Levi, singled out for special divine service. More specifically, those other than the descendants of certain of Aaron's sons, who were made Cohanim, and thus are usually not thought of as Levites. The rest of the Levites have special tasks assigned involving the transport of the Mishkan, and they stand upon the dukhen and sing during services. They also help the Cohanim with their ceremonial ablutions. Doesn't it sound fun to be a Levite? Don't you wish you were one? We usually think of Judaism as a religion without hierarchy--"What Christians demand of their clergy, we demand of every Jew"--but Cohanim still get the first aliyah, and Levites the second. Why do we retain these distinctions? And why would I object to abolishing them (I'm not even a Levite)? What does this say about my attitude toward religion? This I can tell you in one word--"Tradition"!

8. Literature. The body of fiction admitted to the canon. I love to read, and some portion of what I read is literature. Mostly, nowadays, I find my interest in reading divided between sf/fantasy, courtroom thrillers, non-fiction explanations of the universe, and 500+ year old religious texts. But I have read a fair sampling of the canon over time. I'm not sure why, but I adhere to the view that people who do not read the canon are the poorer for it. Does any school, secondary or college-level, still teach the canon, or even believe there is a canon to teach? This is certainly an unoriginal rant, but I hate it when the AC category is "Literature", and--as so often happens--my team is woefully unprepared. It came naturally in my youth to expect to read the "classics". Does anyone still think so?

9. Liver, chopped. Love it. Must have onions. With a bagel. It's what being Jewish is all about.

10. Lycanthropy. Because what would life be without werewolves?

Note: Life and Love are beyond the scope of this blogger.

Hmm, so TMBG is now writing songs for Dunkin' Donuts' new ad campaigns, and the ads are getting great reviews. Donut Man fights Bagel Man? Coffee Man wins?

http://www.slate.com//id/2140402/

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday, dear [tries to say "Hastur", gets eaten]!
Mabi blibgay glub oo!

I know 21 doesn't mean anything special to you, but it does to me. May the next 21 be blessed, and bathed in light, song, and possibly camels. Love from the untreifable ovenmaker who succeeded!