Religion on Campus

Christian Century, Feb 13, 2002 by Jennifer E. Copeland

Religion on Campus. By Conrad Cherry, Betty A. DeBerg and Amanda Porterfield. University of North Carolina Press, 316 pp., $24.95.

COLLEGE IS a crucible in which opinions are formed, challenged and reformed; beliefs are redefined or perhaps defined for the first time, and attitudes become more resolute. That this is so life-shaping a time has something to do with the age of most college students--late adolescence to early adulthood--but also much to do with the campus milieu. Even on fairly homogenous campuses one finds a lively and diverse exchange of ideas, more diverse than that of most of the neighborhoods where students grew up and most of the workplaces to which they will graduate. The college campus introduces different cultures, allows exploration of new limits and offers tools for defining life. Conrad Cherry, Betty A. DeBerg and Amanda Porterfield provide snapshots of four different campuses in four different regions, ultimately concluding that in these places religion is alive and well.

Between them, the three authors have taught religion full-time in eight different academic institutions, including state universities and denominationally connected schools. Additionally, Cherry founded the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture. A prime impetus for this book was their experiences with students, experiences that did not conform to the oft-recited mantra that college campuses have become increasingly secular.

The writers saw themselves as ethnographers, in James P. Spradley's definition of the term: "The purpose of ethnography is to grasp the native's point of view, his relation to life, to realize his vision of his world" (The Ethnographic Interview).

Each writer spent one academic year studying an assigned campus, striving to grasp the "native's point of view" by immersing him or herself in campus life. During the fall semester, DeBerg actually lived on the campus of the large western state university. Besides looking in the usual places for religious expression (worship services, religious group meetings and religion classes), the three perused bulletin boards and student newspapers, paid attention to other events occurring on campus, and sought to hear the voices of dissension hovering at the fringes.

They quote students, ministers and professors or summarize the settings they investigated. Nevertheless, the authors admit that studying only four campuses allows only limited generalization. They do agree from the outset to observe the same kinds of events, interview the same kinds of people, and divide their chapters into the same subsections. This gives readers the opportunity to compare the four institutions more accurately--apples to apples, so to speak.

In the large state university in the west they found a plethora of religious choices, though little student participation--less than 10 percent of undergraduates were involved in campus religious activities, weekly worship services or religion classes, At the historically African-American college in the south they discovered higher religious participation but lower diversity, with only a nod to the concept of pluralism. Similarly, little pluralism existed at the Catholic university in the east or the Lutheran college in the north, though, again, overall student involvement in religious activities was higher. Apparently, church-related schools have lagged behind other institutions in the effort to create pluralistic religious environments for their student bodies. At the same time, however, the higher percentage of student participation shows the church's residual influence on these campuses. As long as the dominant religious presence on a campus does not undermine other religious expressions, this situation beats the alternative.

The authors set out to debunk some of the recent dour accounts of religion's place in college life. By focusing on "the religious practices of today's undergraduates, ... and the extent to which the study and the practice of religion are made available to undergraduate students," they offer a systematic report of each campus's ethos, inherent religious practices and religion courses. They have discovered a significant level of religious vitality on these campuses, responsible scholarship in the classroom and a surge in student volunteerism.

Their assessment appears to be good news for religion. Many students consider religion a viable option and some take it quite seriously. Campuses are much like society in general--there are a few serious faith practitioners sprinkled among people with moderate religious proclivities. It seems that college campuses, often maligned as secularist breeding grounds, are no worse than the culture at large. They may indeed be better, since college students are still in the process of being formed. If they awaken to their need for the transcendent while in the proximity of sound religious practices, they may actually become faithful participants instead of joining the wide ranks of the religiously apathetic. Today's college campuses offer ample opportunity for such an awakening and a plethora of faith communities from which to begin the journey.