Inundated with a mass of divergent perspectives, many students find their prior religious convictions strained upon entering the college world.
Before college my entire life was bombarded by Catholicism. I went to church every Sunday
and then every week during school I had religion class. I did that for 12 years said Susan Hilvert, an Ohio University sophomore majoring in film. I haven't been to church since I got to school. I've learned many things that make me not want to be in an official religion or claim that I'm a Roman Catholic. College has given me a chance to experience other things.
Far from the exception, Hilvert's experience parallels that of hundreds of other students across the country.
According to a UCLA poll published in the Nov. 21, 2003, edition of the Los Angeles Times, 52 percent of U.S. college students reported regularly attending religious services the year before entering college. Only 21 percent said they did the same by their junior year.
Brian McCollister, advisor to the OU division of Campus Crusade for Christ, said the trend is present locally. I would say that most students from a Christian background practice their faith far less vigorously during their college careers.
The key factor in this transformation is the newfound level of independence experienced by college students, Hilvert said.
Many people
including me
have been so sheltered they don't know about different religions or different lifestyles
she said. Just being in the dorms
completely separated from your roots is what makes such a dramatic change. All of a sudden you're cut off from your family and have to decide if you want to continue the things you were forced to do your entire life.
Conversely, some find the general movement away from traditional religion to be nonexistent in their personal college lives.
I think that my religious beliefs have actually been strengthened as a result of meeting others and finding encouragement from other believers that share the same faith as I do. I attend services more than I used to
said Natalie Fullenkamp, an OU freshman majoring in English. College can be a time to break loose
but it also can be a chance to build upon or even create a new foundation.
Attempting to serve as an anchor for a variety of religious communities throughout campus, The Navigators, Campus Crusade and many other church-affiliated clubs and organizations make their presence known to both incoming freshmen and upperclassmen.
When I came to college
I wasn't a Christian. My feeling was that if there is a God
it's certainly a non-Christian God. I changed my mind partially through the Navigators
