Senior James LaRue, who is Bahá’í, said he was drawn to Pepperdine because it is a Christian university. An element of the Bahá’í faith is “independent investigation of the truth,” which means working toward discernment of one’s belief in Bahá’í teachings, LaRue said.
College is a time when students can explore their identity and step into their personhood, no longer tethered as they once were to the beliefs and values of their family. Students like LaRue said Pepperdine is the place where they have been able to discern their faith.
“It [LaRue’s spiritual journey] hasn’t been a straight shot,” LaRue said. “I’ve been learning throughout the entire thing.”
Discovering New Perspectives
A principle of the Bahá’í faith is to be in fellowship with and learn from those of different religions, LaRue said. Being at a Christian university encouraged LaRue to step outside of his boundaries and have meaningful conversations with other people of faith. He said these thought-provoking conversations have shaped his beliefs and understanding of religion.
“My life has changed because I’m being exposed to those other ways of thinking I wasn’t before,” LaRue said.
In the same way, junior Brent Long said being exposed to different perspectives of religion, particularly within Christianity, has positively impacted his Christian faith. Though the diversity of Christian beliefs has been a point of contention and disagreement, Long said he believes all perspectives are valuable and worth understanding.
“It feels like I have a whole box of different ways to look at the Bible that I get to put together [under] this beautiful magnifying glass,” Long said.
Similarly, being surrounded by different perspectives strengthened LaRue’s faith, he said, and he wants to provide other students with the opportunity to be exposed to different beliefs. LaRue, along with two of his friends — junior Micaela Shackleford and senior Colin Wiese — formed an interfaith group on campus called Beyond the Bubble.
“We wanted to try to offer to students [the opportunity to] explore their faith and share but also learn from others who are not like them,” LaRue said.
What is Faith Without Doubt?
Though exposure to a wide range of new perspectives and interpretations of text has transformed students’ faith, they said it has also challenged it.
During her first year of college, junior Alia Grogan went through what she described as a “faith crisis.”
Raised in a Christian household, Grogan said she always had a relationship with God. But, it wasn’t until entering college and engaging in spiritual conversations with others that she realized how surface-level that relationship had been all along.
“It was like, ‘Oh, whoa, this [my faith] is actually so much shallower than I thought,’” Grogan said.
One of her friendships, in particular, sparked Grogan’s questioning and doubt. In their friendship, Grogan’s friend — who didn’t know much about Christianity — brought forth a lot of spiritual and Biblical questions into their conversations. Grogan, not having the answers to these questions, said she realized her faith lacked a deeper understanding.
“I realized there were a lot of holes in my faith,” Grogan said.
Having been baptized in a Protestant church in his junior year of high school, Long said his faith was strong when he came to Pepperdine, and he was excited to continue his spiritual walk in college.
During New Student Orientation, Long said God called him to switch his major from History and Political Science to Religion. Being a Religion major has allowed Long to question and wrestle in his faith, which he said has made it stronger. Long said he believes questions and doubt are intertwined with faith.
“It’s [being at Pepperdine] made me challenge. It’s made me question. It’s made me doubt,” Long said. “It’s made me walk through the fire. And it’s a beautiful, purifying fire, but it still burns.”
This wrestling both Grogan and Long dealt with is not uncommon for young adults to go through.
Embracing the Wrestle
Both Falon Barton, University Church of Christ campus minister, and Rachel Collins, visiting assistant instructor of Religion, have made it their goal to understand how they as spiritual mentors/resources can care for and nurture those who are wrestling with their faith, have religious trauma or are religiously apathetic, they said.
As people who discovered their faith as opposed to being raised in it, Barton and Collins said they have a deep love for those seeking.
“I care a lot because I have been there,” Barton said.
When students have opened up to Barton and Collins about their questions or doubts, the two women act as a non-anxious presence, listen to students and ask them questions to help them process what they’re thinking and feeling.
“My goal is to hear their experience. Period. Full stop,” Collins said. “Their experience and their opinions and their feelings about all of that are worth being held.”
With years of experience in campus ministry, Barton said she has heard it all and doesn’t want students to feel ashamed of what they bring forth.
“They [students] are not alone in those experiences,” Barton said. “There are people who can hear them, won’t leave them and can help process it with them. For me, [I believe] that God hears them, believes them and is in it with them.”
Barton and Collins have learned to approach conversations of doubt with peace and understanding as opposed to problem-solving. She said this helps students feel at ease no matter how chaotic their feelings can seem.
“It can be tumultuous waters, spiritually,” Barton said. “As someone who’s hearing you and processing with you, I don’t need to be pulled into the waters as well. I can be something sturdy to hold on to, even for just a moment.”
At the end of one conversation, Barton and Collins know students’ doubts are unlikely to be resolved, but they said they hope it can provide healing.
As a mentor on campus, Barton recognizes her theology matters; it sets the standard for how she works with students. If one’s theology is based on the perception that God is a God of anger, they will approach doubt with anger. But, if one’s theology is based on the perception that God is a God of love, they will approach doubt with love.
“That [Our theology] is going to shape how we interact with other people, that’s going to shape ourselves and how we treat ourselves when we’re going through that suffering,” Barton said.
Faith Communities Embody God’s Love
Senior Natalie Alderton said she grew up in a non-religious household. When she first started going to church in high school, everything about it was uncomfortable to her.
Alderton quickly became aware that she didn’t speak the language of the church and didn’t know what exactly she believed in, she said. With time, she developed a deep love for God.
“I started to realize that God had always been there, I just [did] not know His name,” Alderton said.
Though Alderton believed in God, for a while she said she remained hesitant toward church. This was a result of seeing how hypocritical and hurtful the church can be. She came to realize congregations are made of flawed people who won’t always represent the gospel perfectly, Alderton said.
“That has been a big learning thing for me — [knowing] that church doesn’t have to be perfect to be the place that I belong,” Alderton said.
At first, Pepperdine’s Christian affiliation worried Alderton. She said she was weary of the church culture on campus. Reflecting on the past four years of being in college, Alderton said Pepperdine helped mend her view and relationship with church.
“I’ve realized that we are meant to be in community as Christians and that we can call each other higher and love each other and support each other,” Alderton said.
Alderton is a part of John and Sara Barton’s Bible study. John Barton is the director of the Center for Faith and Learning as well as a Religion professor, and Sara Barton is the University Chaplain.
Alderton said the Bible study has been life-changing for her. In their weekly meetings, she said they tackle the big questions of faith and reconcile them with an understanding of who God is.
“It is truly the thing I look forward to most in my life,” Alderton said. “Tuesday night Bible studies are so precious to me.”
Her involvement in Bible studies and the spiritual growth she’s experienced led to her decision to be baptized in February. Alderton said she took her time to get baptized because she wanted to be certain this is what she wanted in life.
“I did not want to get baptized and think that that was something that I could just take back or something that I could change,” Alderton said. “For me, it was a true decision to follow Christ for all of my days.”
Long and LaRue are also a part of the Bartons’ Bible study.
Despite having a minority religious identity, LaRue said he has not felt isolated on campus. He said he’s encountered a genuine curiosity toward different religions and an eagerness to learn more from other students.
LaRue said he feels his Bahá’í identity has been embraced at Pepperdine, and he calls the University his home. Students like LaRue said they are grateful for the space Pepperdine provides for students to learn and grow in their faith.
Collins said she wants students to know faith isn’t something you lose; rather, it is something that is constantly unfolding.
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Email Yamillah Hurtado: yamillah.hurtado@pepperdine.edu
