Trends in Campus MInistry & Culture

The following excerpts are from the Ivy Jungle Network's "Trends in Student Ministry, Culture and Higher Education"

Faith Gaining on Campus: Having joined the faculty at Harvard in 1970, Professor Peter Gomes may have some reference for his comment about the campus saying, “There is probably more active religious life now than there has been in 100 years.” Harvard is not the only place where faculty and administrators say they have seen a rise in religion on campus. Many professors say the enrollment in religion courses is up and more students are majoring in religion than any time in recent decades. A UCLA study showed that 80% of incoming college freshmen believed in God in 2004. Explanations for the rise of religion vary – from the insecurity of the Iraq war and the 9-11 attacks, to an increase of “red” state students at elite universities and an increase of international students on many campuses, to the children of baby boomers exploring a subject that was not forced on them by their parents as in previous generations. UC Berkley (hardly a bastion of conservative ideals) now boasts more than 50 Christian groups on campus. Some attribute the increase in community service to a spiritual longing in students. However others remain skeptical that student attitudes toward religion have really changed, but religion professors generally agree that they have at least seen greater enrollment in their classes. (NY Times online May 2, 2007)

Increasing Interest in Social Justice: As the election cycle heats up, both parties are taking notice of the increasing interest of younger Christian voters in a number of issues related to social justice. AIDS, poverty, and the environment are all of interest to a demographic long associated only with abortion and homosexual issues. One indicator is that evangelical Wheaton College (IL) boasts the second most active chapter of the Student Global AIDS Campaign – behind Harvard. Coupled with greater involvement by a number of campus ministries, today’s students see a very real connection between the gospel and social engagement. (Daily Northwestern April 25, 2007)

InterVarsity Back on Georgetown Campus: Last year Georgetown notified a six evangelical campus ministries, including IVCF that they had been “disaffiliated” as the university streamlined its “Protestant” ministries. After reconsidering the move, InterVarsity has now been readmitted. IVCF president Alec Hill is grateful – not just as a ministry leader, but as a parent of a Georgetown student too. (Christianitytoday.com May 9, 2007)

Cracking Down on Piracy: This spring hundreds of students at more than 60 schools received letters from the Recording Industry Association of America, informing them they had the choice to pay more for songs they had pirated over their school’s networks, or else they would face a lawsuit. At least 500 have paid the fines, some reaching into the thousands of dollars at a price seven times more than had they simply used itunes. Many of the culprits are now urging their schools to warn students about the cost of illegally downloading music. (Chicago Tribune May 14, 2007 sec. 1 p. 3)

Fat with an “F”: Surprising results from an ongoing study of the health of college students shows that nearly 50% of male students and 30% of female students are considered obese or overweight. The results, shared at a meeting for the American Physiological Society, attribute the increase in waist lines to both the college diet and lack of exercise. The survey followed 800 18-25 year olds and found that on average men consumed about 2700 calories a day, women about 1800. The nutritional content was lacking as well – 80% were not getting enough potassium, and most were low on vitamin D and calcium. 95% of men and 70% of women consume too much sodium. More than 1/3 of the students were “inactive” reporting less than 30 minutes of even mild physical exercise a day. (MSNBC.com May 14, 2007)

Taking Courses, But Not Ready for College: Twenty-four years ago, the Department of Education recommended a core course curriculum for students desiring to go on to college. This month, a new report shows that only about one quarter of the students who take the recommended courses are ready for college level work in all four core subject areas. Almost one in five are not ready in any area. The report by the ACT testing group demonstrates that while many high schools offer these courses, the quality may not be up to par for truly college preparatory work. (New York Times May 16, 2007 A21)

Passion Goes Global: Labeled by Christianity Today a the “most influential annual gathering of young evangelicals,” the Passion conferences have grown tremendously over the years with leading artists like Chris Tomlin, David Crowder, and Charlie Hall and gifted communicators like Louie Giglio, John Piper and Beth Moore. After more than 10 years of conferences, the most recent of which topped 20,000, movement leader Louie Giglio has announced that they will not have a Passion ’08 conference. Instead the group will take their message of the sovereignty and glory of God global. Exact details are still be formulated, but Passion tour stops will move from US college campuses to groups in places like Singapore, South Africa and Norway. (Christianity Today April 2007 p. 29-35)

Matters of Faith Find a New Prominence on Campus

http://www.nytimes.com/


Randall Bare quoted in the following article was once a campus minister here at U of MN.

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?"