LINDSAY PHILLIPS
Staff Writer
There is no questioning the fact that Pepperdine is a Christian university, but does attending a religious college make it easier to be a Christian?
Last fall, 112,232 freshmen entering 236 U.S. colleges were surveyed within their first week of school. This national study found that 80 percent of students expressed interest in spirituality, but less than half considered nurturing their spiritual growth necessary. Many claimed to believe in God, but also found it unimportant to follow religious teaching in everyday life.
This survey was administered by UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute, an organization founded by Alexander W. Astin.
“I think it’s the difference between beliefs and actions,” Astin told the Los Angeles Times. “It’s not that the interior is less important, but they give external material things more priority.”
Karen Spurney further explained this to the Los Angeles Times by saying that while attending classes at UCLA, she is a “Catholic on pause.” She went on to clarify that she came to college to experience new things, not grow spiritually.
Pepperdine senior Chris Mayer was not surprised.
“Maintaining a spiritual life takes a lot of cognitive effort,” said Mayer. “With the stress of new classes, new people, and a new place, many don’t have time to focus on their spiritual lives.”
Although the results of this survey seemed normal to Mayer, he thinks freshman at Pepperdine are different. He believes that it would be nearly impossible to ignore spirituality while attending Pepperdine.
Jen Rojas, another senior, agrees. “You can’t put your spirituality on pause. It’s everywhere at Pepperdine and students are forced to think about it.”
Rojas believes her spiritual life has changed drastically because of this. As a freshman, she was uncomfortable with how open people were about their spirituality. Rojas said that it was when her friends gave her space to figure things out on her own that her spiritual life became a priority.
Senior Jessica Day believes her spiritual life has become more of a priority to her as well, but the reason has had nothing to do with Pepperdine’s religious affiliation. “If I hadn’t already been strong in my faith, I think some people at Peppedine would have turned me off to Christianity,” she said. “Many students are extremely closed-minded and judgmental. If I hadn’t already been grounded in my spiritual beliefs, this could have turned me off from Christianity completely.”
Rojas agreed that religious tolerance is lacking at Pepperdine. “People are often closed-minded and judgmental,” she said. “I have a problem with Christians giving Christians a bad name.”
On the other hand, the UCLA report showed a high level of religious tolerance. More than 80 percent of students concurred that “nonreligious people can lead lives that are just as normal as those of religious believers.” The majority agreed it is possible to grow spiritually without being religious, and disagreed with the idea that refusal to believe in God would lead to punishment.
“You get hit by so many different beliefs in college and other distractions,” Dionna Muldrow, a USC junior, told the Los Angeles Times. “I needed that community of Christian believers to help keep me focused on the things that are important.”
This community is what Pepperdine is trying to provide. Mayer Believes that Pepperdine is fulfilling its mission to those students who come as Christians. However, those freshmen who are not Christians are not exposed to enough diversity of beliefs.
“If you are a student and are searching at Pepperdine, you are exposed to one ‘right answer,’” said Mayer. “Because of this narrow exposure, those students who don’t fully accept the common viewpoint simply give up on spirituality completely.”
Astin suggests colleges offer classes focusing on personal goals and reflecting on what is important to students.
“An atheist student needs that just as much as a believer to make since of their lives and understand themselves better,” Astin told the Los Angeles Times. “Having an academic basis for it would make it all the more powerful of an experience.”
Obviously Pepperdine could be doing a better job of fulfilling its Christian mission. Opinions on how the university should do this vary.
Mayor believes that Pepperdine should offer a variety of religious courses so those who are searching will have more than one place to look. Rojas believes the university should focus on accepting students who place more value on their spiritual lives. Day believes that “Pepperdine should focus less on the ‘shoulds’ and ‘should nots’ of religion and more on helping develop and strengthen the individual’s unique relationship with God.”
All of these suggestions point to one thing. Pepperdine needs improvement. Spirituality is evident on campus, but not always in a positive way, and not always in a way that makes it easier to be a Christian.
12-15-2005