Saturday, September 5, 1998

Religion is catching on on college campuses

By Lynn Franey

Knight Ridder Newspapers

Meri Stoklosa dived right into college life on her first weekend in the dormitory two years ago at the University of Kansas.

"I moved in on a Saturday. I went to church on Sunday. It was a great way to get to know people," she said.

Since then, Stoklosa, 20 and a lifelong Catholic, has maintained her faith in God, attending Mass each weekend, singing in the choir, and discussing Scripture in a peer ministry group.

She's not the campus rarity she might have been as recently as a decade ago. College officials say religion is a growing force on many campuses, and students today have no trouble finding peers who share their faith, and their desire to exercise it.

As students head back to college over the next few weeks, many of them will seek out religious activities of various faiths, the observers say.

They're seeking friendship and familiarity, as well as a chance to make a difference in the world through activities like feeding the homeless or building homes for poor people in foreign countries.

"Religion is more mainstream on campus than it used to be," said Ken White, 37, spokesman at Northwest Missouri State University.

White said the prevalence of Christian students has led the university to begin advertising next month on a teen-oriented Christian radio show on KCCV, a Kansas City area Christian radio station.

Mary Kay Poljan, who helps run the university center at Southeast Missouri State University, has seen how popular religious organizations are on her campus.

"We have at least one religious group meeting here every day," she said. "The groups are very active and very organized."

Observers say they're not surprised more young people are embracing religion on campus. They say the students are simply reflecting a general conservatism and religious renewal on the rise in America as a whole.

That doesn't mean that every religiously active student is avoiding the drinking, drugs and sex that are still popular among the college set. And it doesn't mean that thousands of students on every campus are holding hands and singing religious anthems like "Kumbaya, My Lord."

Although statistics are hard to come by, observers say the percentage of students active in religious groups, while rising, is still small.

But, ministers and students say, more students are turning to spiritual groups for sustenance in a time of transition.

"There are temptations," said Benjamin Alley, a 21-year-old churchgoer from Jefferson City, Mo., who is a senior at William Jewell College, a Baptist-affiliated college in Liberty, Mo. "You come here and all of a sudden you have all this freedom. You can do anything you want to do. It comes down to: Who am I, down deep? Am I this person that's going to do all these things that aren't good for my body and my future? Or am I going to stick with what I know and what I believe?"

Attendance at William Jewell's chapel services is on the rise. And more students like Alley are taking leadership positions, such as starting Bible study groups or being religious "shepherds" in the dormitories.

"I don't have to beg students to take responsibility for ministry on campus," said Peter Inzerillo, director of student ministries at William Jewell. "They are coming to me looking for ways to serve. If that's any kind of evidence, the desire (for religious participation) is growing." (at)brk:Need for grounding

For students like Meri Stoklosa, who grew up with a strong faith, it can be scary entering a new world where many peers put the pursuit of knowledge or fun before the search for spirituality, ministers say.

"Students are looking for some kind of meaning in their life," said the Rev. Vincent Krische, chaplain/director at the St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas. "Also they're looking for standards to live by. They're looking for guidance, for principles. Today, everybody's left on their own in terms of the culture and they have to find out everything on their own. The students desire to look to a higher source."

About 2,100 students are registered with the center. Members participate in activities from abstinence education for teen-age girls to fun leadership retreats such as one last week that included a day practicing teamwork at the Adams Challenge Course in Lawrence, Kan.

College students are trying to find out who they really are and how they fit into the larger society. There are many questions to be answered, questions that many try to avoid by getting drunk or high or having multiple sex partners.

That wasn't the lifestyle Stoklosa wanted.

"I go out with my friends and have fun," she said. "But people get trashed and drive drunk. I think that's such a shame. I think St. Lawrence grounded me in that respect."

A need for grounding brings many college students to maintain the faith they grew up in, or to try out new denominations or religions, said Don Ehlers, director of the Wesley Center, a Methodist organization, at Northwest.

"They're going to be making choices. To be able to make a choice from a faith perspective is a different kind of choice than from a social perspective," he said. "(Faith) weaves itself into every aspect of their lives. It can be a real anchor for them."

The growth in spirituality among college students can also be traced to two additional factors, observers say.

First, students are forming more spiritual groups in high school, and bring those strong convictions with them to college.

Also, university administrators are offering greater recognition to religious organizations on campus.

Welcome Week activities often include booths set up by various spiritual groups. Campus directories often list groups ranging from Campus Crusade for Christ and the Baptist Student Union to student groups for Jews and Muslims.

When Ehlers first came to Northwest in 1980, the university seemed closed to campus ministry's participation in collegiate life. Now, he said, administrators trust religious organizations as a legitimate part of the college environment.

"What we do in campus ministry is a benefit to the university in terms of (reducing) attrition," Ehlers said. "If students are involved in a positive way in organizations, they're more likely to stay in school."

The way students participate in religious organizations, too, has changed over time, ministers say.

"We don't see a lot of deep thinkers today," said the Rev. Andy Pratt, campus minister at the Baptist Student Union at Southeast Missouri State University. "We see more doers."

"Doing" their religion takes many forms. Students counsel teen-agers about not getting pregnant. They feed the homeless. They go to Africa or Central America to build schools and houses and churches. They tutor kids who are struggling in school.

Pratt also teaches religion in the philosophy department. He said religious diversity, including interest in Eastern religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism, and even neopagan (modern, nature- and woman-oriented) faiths, is growing on college campuses.

"When I came here 10 years ago, students felt very much that they had to color within the lines," he said. "Students feel much more free to explore different religions. Now, they're very much eclectic in their religious lives."

(c) 1998, The Kansas City Star.

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