University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, December 3, 1986
7
Religion
Continued from p. 1
him from the Catholic church
At least twice a month he drives to St. Mary's and attends a Latin Mass. He said the people there were warm and nice.
"They keep the church alive," he said. "They have a good choir and say beautiful prayers. The gospel is chanted in Latin."
Burnett has been known to distribute roses, candles and holy cards to friends. On certain saint holidays, the Natives people to his home to celebrate.
"I share with people." Burnett said. "Particularly those things that will help them. That is the essence of Christianity."
Burnett said he turned people toward St. Judie because St. Judie helped those who despaired and to St. Judie, who helped people in their romantic involvement.
At a recent celebration for St. Jude, Burnett and some friends said a few prayers for their school work, loved ones and world peace.
"We didn't need an hourlong Bible reading to show our faith," he said. "We just took some time out from our day to share some pravers."
Cotton said she went to the St. Jude celebration with Burnett. Her Baptist religion does not recognize the saints in its teachings.
"If they do, it's a new one on me." Cotton said jokingly. "I like when Robert invites us. The saints and angels are new to me. I learn a lot."
She said Burnett was full of information and knew everything about her work.
"If I don't understand something," she said, "I can just sit Robert Dowd, and he explains everything to me. I know he'd do it."
When Cotton came to the University of Kansas as a freshman she said she did not attend Sunday services here as often as she did back home.
"I don't feel right in the church here." she said. "If you don't feel right, then you shouldn't be there."
She said she preferred the environment of her hometown church to the one in Lawrence. She grew up in that church and sang in its choir.
She described her church at home as formal.
"All the women wear dresses.",
Cotton said. "Pants are considered inappropriate. People aren't rude to people. They wear pants, you will be asked to leaver."
She said attending another church or not attending at all did not make her feel any different about her feelings about Christ or her religion. She was still a Christian and loved him
"I don't need it," she said about attending church. "But it makes me feel better to see people so happy for the Lord."
Questioning a faith
Other students choose not to go to church, follow a faith or adopt an alternative religion for different reasons.
"When students leave home for school, they question all values." Burnett said. "They question the religious faith of their parents."
Edward Haralson, staff worker for KU Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship, said many students practiced religion if it was convenient.
"There are two groups of people." Halarsal said. "One can afford to put religion off, and the other feels it is important and foundational and can't
But he said that students were more willing now to go back to religion than in the recent past and that the increased interest could be a reflection on the national surge toward religious revival.
Caspari said people took a break from religion when they went to college.
"But they always seem to go back," she said. "When people come up to school, they rebel for a while. When they fail, it can be something they rebel again!"
Donald Conrad, Lutheran minister and adviser to the Lutheran Campus Ministry, 1204 Oread Ave., spurs interest in churchgoing through analogies and practical examples.
For four years Conrad has been placing ads for the Lutheran church in the Kansan. He compared attentive football game to attending church.
The ad said that 40,000 people would attend the KU football game on Saturday, pay $15 for a ticket and sit in the cold. It also said that 40,000 people would not go to church on Sunday, even though admission was free and the seats were warm and comfortable.
"I thought it might prompt people to think," Conrad said. "We advertise to let people know we here are and we have something to offer them."
Conrad said he was thankful for the worshipers the church had but said that room for improvement always existed.
"I'm never satisfied," he said.
Dewayne Nickerson, Raytown senior, said he was not raised under any particular faith but said that his parents were going to Catholic Masses with friends.
Finding a new faith
"It interested me," he said. "I grew up with a lot of strict Southern Baptists. I didn't like it because they would get upset if you breathed wrong. Fire and bristle was just not for me."
Nickerson said that if he chose a religion for himself, it would be Catholicism.
"Most of my friends are Catholic," he said. "The priests don't preach at you but speak from the Bible."
Nickerson said he thought students often chose religions when they went away to school. He thought that people were turning to churches even more because of the recent surge in the country's conservatism.
Dean Welch, Gardner senior and a Presbyterian, said he went to church services because being with people, at least once a week, who felt the way he did made him feel better.
"The fellowship aspect is important." Welch said.
He said that not attending Sunday church services while he was at school would be easy but that he attended anyway.
"When people are at college, they like to party on Saturday night, and it's hard to get up and go to church on Sunday." he said.
Welch said the most important aspect of his religion was Christ.
"I wouldn't call myself a devout Presbyterian, but I am a Christian," he said. "For me, it's a way of life."
He said marrying someone of the same faith was a plus but not a must.
Laura Reinhardt, St. Louis senior and a Catholic, agreed that Christianity in a marriage was important, dating someone who is Methodist.
"Both are Christian religions," she said. "They have the same doctrine on things, such as no premarital sex, regular church attendance and no divorce. We would raise our children as Christians."
She said that if she and her boyfriend did get married, she would not ask him to convert to her religion, and she would not convert to his.
"We wouldn't switch religions — ever," she said. "If it ever came to the point where it was a problem we just have to work something out."
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