Explore Student Religiousities

Presumably, a student has a choice of which educational institution to attend and goes through a process with their parents to select one that matches course offerings to future goals. If one of those goals is to remain steadfast in one’s beliefs, there are many excellent sectarian colleges. But even seminaries seek to challenge students so that they can better understand their faiths.

Many years ago, I had a choice between St. Rose, a Catholic college for women, and the State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany, a secular institution. I convinced my parents that the latter was the better financial deal. My parents were concerned until my uncle, a Catholic priest, reassured them that there was a Newman Club on campus.

Frankly, my choice had more to do with the diversity I saw at SUNY. I grew up in a small, homogeneous village where a mixed marriage was the one between my Irish Catholic mother and Dutch Reformed father. I longed for a different environment and found an enriching one on the secular campus with the activist priest. I also took a comparative religion class.

Years later, I married a Jewish student I met there. We had a Humanist wedding ceremony and raised our two children at the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture, where they participated in the Children’s Sunday Assembly. An important part of the curriculum is comparative religion.

From an early age, our children visited meeting houses of other faiths and learned what other people believe and how they behave. It was a wonderful preparation for college. Our son majored in religion at the University of Rochester, our daughter in psychology at Carnegie Mellon. Both remain Ethical Humanists.

The challenge, in my experience, comes from students being too fearful and rigid to take in all the wonder and awe around them. Each college has its own tradition, something that can be researched before matriculating.

Campus visits are essential. They provide opportunities for conversations with students and faculty. The campuses where I serve as chaplain, Columbia University and New York University in Manhattan, take great care with their tours and orientations. Their goal is less about students fitting into their traditions than it is about meeting the needs of their students, including their spiritual and religious needs.

We chaplains and religious life advisors are on hand at campus orientations. Our contact information is posted online. We work together in interfaith settings, as well as with campus wellness and counseling centers. A workshop offered at NYU called Faith Zone is especially helpful in opening up the conversation about beliefs. It is an award-winning program being replicated on other campuses.

To remain steadfast in one’s beliefs, one must study them, and chaplains are available to conduct study groups. It is through deep understanding of one’s beliefs, their origins, and practices, that students can confidently remain in their religious communities.

Seek out the interfaith center when you visit campuses and talk with the chaplains. On orientation day, stop by the chaplaincy table and pick up literature. There’s usually also a lot of swag there, so pick up the pens, water bottles, and bracelets, too. Go online to find contact information for the chaplains, the times and venues for religious services, and the names of student religious clubs. Visit all of the chaplains on campus, not just the ones from your own faith. You will learn so much, and we have all been trained in pastoral counseling.

I recently met with a Mormon student who was preparing to return home to Utah for the holidays. Her faith had been challenged, not by other students, but by her church’s discrimination against the children of LGBTQ parents. My role was to listen and reflect back what I heard her say so that she could better connect with her thoughts and feelings.

Attend interfaith gatherings. Sadly, interfaith vigils take place often these days. Recently I have mourned with my Muslim colleagues the murders of and attacks on their students. My interfaith work over the years has both reinforced my Humanist faith and given me great respect for other faiths, especially in the field of social justice, where we share much common ground. In Ethical Culture we talk about putting deed above creed. Belief is important, but only when it motivates and supports ethical action.