Faith on campus

Local and national media cover religion and education issues daily. At school board meetings, administrators, parents and activists regularly debate curriculum choices and issues influenced by religious beliefs. Opposition to a theory called “intelligent design” is at the core of most recent arguments that play out in the mainstream media. After completing the twelfth grade and becoming an adult, religious practice becomes a personal choice.

A multi-year study released on Oct. 6 by the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) indicates that most college students have faith in God. The institute, based at UCLA and funded by the John Templeton Foundation, discovered that most college students practice their faith in some manner. A majority of students in the survey felt their college experience should help their emotional and spiritual development.

“We live in an extremely diverse environment,” said North Lake College’s psychology instructor Christan Amundsen. “Religion is in the news all the time,” he said. Amundsen points to North Lake’s Major World Religions class as an opportunity for students to learn about faith. “It’s one of the most important classes students can take,” he said. Even if the course didn’t satisfy transfer requirements, Amundsen claimed he would continue to suggest the class to students of all backgrounds.

The HERI study of 112,000 freshmen at 236 colleges found that nearly 8 in 10 of the students believe in God and almost 7 in 10 pray regularly. Of all students surveyed, only 42 percent frequently attend religious services, though 80 percent had attended services in the previous year. The HERI study revealed that those surveyed show a high degree of interest in the topic of religion, or spiritual exploration.

“I don’t have a direct relationship with a church or pastor,” said North Lake student Joshua Lopez, “but all of my decisions are based on morals.” Lopez believes the college experience can benefit students’ spiritual lives, but our school doesn’t overtly influence religious beliefs. “There’s a time and a place for everything,” he said.

The study defined race and gender as characteristics that impact students’ religious practices. African-Americans proved to be the most spiritually active with 95 percent believing in God. Asian-Americans in the study were identified as the least religious, only 65 percent of those studied believe in God. Latino students fell between the high and low marks, with 84 percent believing in God. White students ranked at 78 percent. In comparison, several national pollsters report that approximately 9 in 10 U.S. adults believe in God.

The HERI research revealed that women, of all races, were more apt to believe in God, pray, and frequently attend services. The six-page survey did not appear to make distinctions about how students perceive the concept of God. The summarized results didn’t address core differences between Western and Eastern faiths that could have influenced responses.

Even accounting for racial and ethnic differences, religion or spirituality was determined to be a component of the (four-year) students’ campus experience. “At a [school] like this, you learn about man’s accomplishments,” said Lopez. Researchers found that students’ primary religious development occurs off-campus. All data indicated that a majority believed in God and that spirituality plays a role in the lives of most college students.