Living
University Daily Kansan / Thursday, December 8, 1988
9
KU religious leaders ponder trends
By Katy Monk
Kansas staff writer
By Katy Mumu
Kansan staff writer
For many students, college means exploration and sometimes rejection of values learned at home - values and beliefs such as religion. But religious activity among KU students is holding its own or even increasing over the years, according to ministers and others in a variety of worship groups around campus.
Jack Bremer, director and campus pastor of the interdenominational Ecumenical Christian Ministries, 1204 Oread Ave., said he thought activity had increased slightly, but only temporarily, on campus.
around campuses.
But explanations of the numbers' significance differ, and students themselves might view the situation in a different light altogether. 143
pus.
"There's a core, more serious tradition that has continued about the same for many years," he said. But, he said, "Here at KU, as elsewhere, the ultraconservative right-wing groups are currently being heavily funded and staffed."
being newborn. The country is in kind of a conservative mood. When a world is full of chaos and confusion and change, people try to hold on to some things and keep them from changing."
ECM has not seen much change in student interest in the past decade. Bremer said interest had been steady. About 18,000 people had attended ECM functions, including secular events, in the past year.
past year.
But Rick Clock, campus minister for the Baptist Student Union, said numbers should be viewed with caution.
with caution.
"You should never be too quick to say, 'People are more interested in religion; look at the numbers,' " he said. "Because people change; your advertising changes. Our organization has grown over the years, but that may have nothing to do with the overall religious mentality of the students on campus."
Minor upswing
Richard Orr, campus and resource minister for American Baptist Churches central region, said he had seen apathy at KU in the early- and mid-'80s, but since then he had seen an upseason.
"I'd like to think that there's a little more interest in spiritual life," he said. "It used to be, 20
T.
The country is in kind of a conservative mood. When a world is full of chaos and confusion and change, people try to hold on to some things and keep them from changing.'
— Jack Brenner director and campus pastor, Ecumenical Christian Ministries
years ago, we couldn't even use that word."
years ago, we could increase concern with spiritual matters may spring from a variety of bases. Daveen Litwin, director of KU Hillel, a Jewish religious and educational organization, said Hillel's membership had increased dramatically in the past few years. Some of the increase, she said, might relate to organizational changes rather than students' religious interest.
But Litwin said she saw an increase in religious life within the organization. Friday night shabbat, or sabbath dinner including religious rituals, are some of the most popular events there, she said.
Litwin explained the increased interest; "Jewish people feel more comfortable identifying Jewishly now than they did, say, five years ago, because there are more Jewish students now. Also, what we try to do here — there is no dogma. We try to enable them to explore their own identities."
Dramatic growth also has characterized the St. Lawrence Catholic Center.
"I think that there's a renewed interest among students," Father Vince Krische said. "When they know that the church is interested in them, then I think they make a response."
Bucking the trend
Joe Bucha, director of the conservative evangelical Joe Bucha, said students' shift in focus was the
The Catholic Center and other organizations seem to suggest steady or increasing religious interest throughout KU. But some groups buck the apparent trend. Campus Crusade for Christ at KU has seen a decline in membership since the early '80s.
cause. Students seem to be much more success- oriented and spend more time in their academic pursuits," he said. "They have a lot of interests, and the spiritual area is just one."
Students might drop away from church for lack of interest, but they also are limited by time and unwillingness to attend an unfamiliar church.
cause.
unwillingness to attend
Maria Davis, Overland Park sophomore,
attended a Presbyterian church every week before coming to KU. Not so anymore.
coming to KU. Not so any doubt.
"I guess I don't know about the churches around town." she said. "I don't want to be hounded to join a church. And there is no time."
a church in Airmann, Detroit graduate student,
attended a Catholic church regularly before coming to KU. He has stopped attending since then.
go to IC. He has said, "I don't feel a need for it," he said. "I still have my beliefs; I'm still a Christian; I just don't go to church."
Before, he said, he attended out of habit.
"I still lived at home with my parents," he said. "They didn't make me go, but they encouraged it."
"They didn't make me go, but they encouraged it. Tim Miller, assistant professor of religious studies, would not be surprised by those students' stories.
"My perception is, the great bulk of (students) don't participate regularly," he said. "On any given Sunday, you won't find a third of them attending."
Years of exploration
The Baptist Student Union's minister, Clock, said a drop-off was not necessarily cause for concern.
concern.
"College years are a time of exploring, breaking away, trying new things and setting aside the ritual and traditional. It's natural, and in some ways it's healthy," he said. "There's always some that never go back and some that do." with that
Although many ministers agreed with that assessment, Father Krische of the Catholic Center did not.
did not. hear that argument, but I don't see much exploring去寻 on. If they were really explorering, that would be one thing," he said. "But I think it's just an excuse not to do anything."
Students looking to religion for answers
By Katy Monk
Kansan staff writer
College students across the country face a world of complexity and change, and the role of religion in their lives seems equally uncertain.
"My general sense is that religious participation is beginning to increase (compared to the '70s," said Don McCrabb, national executive director of Catholic Campus Ministry Association.
McCrabb said young adults were beginning to look to religion to answer questions about who they were and what their lives meant.
twenty years ago, people were looking to the universities to do that. We know they're not doing that anymore. Well, if you're not looking to college for a coherent role view, where do you look?"
Religion, he said, is becoming a primary route for seeking answers to those questions.
Adam Kittrell, director of Campus Ministry for the Board of Educational Ministries, American Baptist Churches in the USA, saw the same situation from a different angle.
Campus ministers across the country, he said, were facing increasing difficulty in developing student groups, and churches reported less student activity.
pressures of college life, figure out who they are socially and sexually," he said. "And society provides very little to them.
"You've got . . . substance abuse of all kinds, things like AIDS; social ills that cause young people to be even less confident of where they're going. I think the church can play a critical role in being a friend to young adults.
'I think this is a very difficult time for young adults to handle the report less carefully.
"Lack of direction) will certainly lead to a weakening of the church and of moral fiber," he said. "Fewer and fewer young people will see the value of developing their own spiritual life and making their own personal commitment to Christ."
But McCrabb foresees the oppo site.
"I'm very optimistic," he said.
"I think the students are looking for something, and the church offers them something to pull together all the facets of their lives."
Whether or not college students think they need spiritual life, Kittrell said religious groups need the students.
sure to face it." Kittrell said. "Let's face it." Many of them are going to emerge to be some of our political and economic and educational and religious leaders. I think the church has an altruistic and a self-interest to be there for them."
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