Study shows religion on the rise among college students

Students at Tufts and other universities are breaking the stereotype of the secular college student.

A recent study conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute of the University of California at Los Angeles indicated that 77 percent of students surveyed said that they pray, while 73 percent say that a religious tradition helped to shape their identity.

Recent trends at Tufts point to similar conclusions. Protestant Student Fellowship (PSF) president Vanessa Baehr-Jones said that three years ago, PSF only had one devoted member. It now boasts an e-mail list of up to 150 people.

The Muslim Student Association organization has also seen an increase in its membership, according to its president.

Leaders of other student groups, such as Hillel, the Tufts Christian Fellowship (TCF), and the Catholic Community at Tufts (CCT) say that while they have not seen an increase in numbers, they have seen an increase in enthusiasm among current members.

University Protestant Chaplain Laurie Rofinot attributes this surprisingly high interest in spiritualism to a demoralizing contemporary society. "We live in a day and age when our futures are uncertain," she says. "Students coming out of college are unsure if there will be anything in the job market for them. So where can a sense of self-worth and confidence come from?"

Baehr-Jones believes that the answer is religion. "College is the first time you're asked to look at your world and come to a conclusion independently about it," she said. "Religion can help shape what meaning that will take."

She also believes students are looking for a way to connect with other people. She believes a student's search for identity may bring with it a need to belong to a community.

Yet, others fear that religious devoutness may harm a student's development. Professor Daniel Dennett, a prophet of what he calls "brights" says that religion "gives you an excuse for not looking at the complexities [in life]."

"People like simple solutions," Dennet said. "But they're almost always wrong."

Dennett, a self-described bright, says he is "a person with a naturalist as opposed to a supernaturalist world view."

Yet, he says, "people often need to make a commitment." In fact, he believes the "key to happiness" is to "find something more important than you are and devote your life to it." The sticking point in his opinion is that "some choices are better than others."

College students are in the perfect environment to make the right choice, says Hillel President Josh Pressman. "It's the first great opportunity people have to explore spiritual ideas when they're not facing anything imposed by their parents or by anyone else."

Rabbi Jeffrey Summit, Executive Director of Hillel, believes that "students should take advantage of the fact that we are living in one community with so many different people."

CCT President Anna Brennan agreed. "Within three days and a few blocks, students can attend Christian, Jewish, and Islamic services. There is no other time when we'll have so much contact with so many diverse people."

The issue of education, however, brings up another controversial point. The UCLA study found that 58 percent of respondents had discussed religion and spirituality in class, and 8 percent had even talked about the meaning of life with their professors.

This however brings up the question of incorporating religion into the classroom. University Chaplain Reverend David O'Leary says that as long as professors are "examining religion comparatively and critically" in their classrooms, there is no problem. Otherwise, he says, students are just being proselytized.

Dennett agreed. "It's like taking a course in First Aid," he says. "Good intentions just aren't enough. If you don't know what you're doing, you can really hurt someone." Thus, "careful, objective scrutiny" of religion will "open [students'] eyes to what the options are and the strengths and weaknesses of those options."

Pressman says that despite recent bias incidents targeted at the University's Jewish population, he does not feel threatened, nor has he received that impression from other people.

Tufts also has a history of chafing with religious groups -- in 1999, the Tufts Community Union Judiciary de-recognized the TCF for refusing to allow an openly gay member run for a leadership position. The consequent outcry against the J forced them to re-recognize the TCF.

Erich Wasserman of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education says that "universities routinely target students on the basis of their religions." He points to Christian groups as the most beleaguered of all.

The views of campus religious figures vary. Brennan pegs Tufts as "open-minded and accepting."

Rabbi Summit observed the opposite, noting "a general hostility to religious groups on campus."

For now, the benefits of belonging to a religious group outweigh any of the negatives for these students. And being in an intellectual setting makes their faith even stronger, they say. "Anytime you try to balance faith and reason and work that through you'll be a better person," O'Leary said.