For some college students in Boston, religious status is in flux

By Hanna Trudo, News Correspondent

Jason Chrisos has perfect posture. Sitting upright with his hands folded in his lap, he prepares for a contemplative dialogue within the confines of his mind. Usually, this is called prayer, but now, his head is not bowed. It hasn’t been in four years, since he first traded rigid pew benches for plush meditation cushions and a stretched-flesh Crucifix for a big-bellied master. Holding a copy of “Mindfulness in Plain English” in the hands that once held the Bible, Chrisos exhales as he proceeds to start his mid-week reflection as a “Christian-rooted Buddhist.”

“I was raised Catholic and I went to Catholic school, but I always had an eye for spirituality,” Chrisos said. “Now I identify myself as someone who practices Buddhism.”

Chrisos’s religious ambiguity is not an unusual phenomenon. Right now, as universities continue to exude messages of autonomous thinking, students are questioning the religious beliefs by which they were once shackled. For some, being Jewish one day and atheist the next is as effortless as signing an “add-drop” slip to revoke that dreaded calculus class.

In a 2003 study titled “The Spiritual Life of College Students,” the Higher Education Research Institute found that 42 percent of students polled were secure in their religious beliefs.

“Young adulthood is the time in our lives when we ask, ‘What’s the meaning of life?’”said Theresa O’Keefe, the contextual education director at the School of Theology and Ministry at Boston College.

Some students would answer O’Keefe’s question with precision and certainty in one word: religion. To others, the answer is not as concrete. That’s where the religious cartwheeling begins. For decades, students have experimented with everything from the chemicals in their mandatory labs to their hair color, major and sexuality. So why not use God as a guinea pig for new self-discoveries as well?

Traditional religious expressions, like Sunday church or Shabbat dinner, are no longer mandatory for many over-scheduled students. Bible study takes a back burner to required academic reading and praying means hoping a passing grade on the history test.

“No one loses their religion in an accounting class,” said John Schmalzbauer, Blanche Gorman Strong chair in Protestant studies at Missouri State University and author of “People of Faith: Religious Conviction in American Journalism and Higher Education.”

Although students may not lose their religions in 8 a.m. accounting, there is substantial, behind-the-scenes brainwork that happens in classroom interactions between peers that can prompt religious shifts.

“You have to use intellect, not just use your feelings for faith,” said Imam Abdullah Faaruuq, of the Mosque for the Praising of Allah in Boston and the Muslim chaplain for Northeastern.

William James, an American philosopher who wrote about the psychology of religion more than 100 years ago, observed that college students are particularly open to new religious experiences. And if they were receptive a century ago, they have only become increasingly interested. But what began as an initial curiosity to unhinge the religious gate a crack has turned into a revolving door, with students entering and exiting as they please. With college attendance rising nationwide, universities are accommodating students from more diversified faith backgrounds, allowing for boundary-free exploration.

“It’s always young people who are more likely to convert,” said sociologist Darren Sherkat, editorial board member of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. “The early part of life is one where young people make all sorts of transitions. What’s happened in the last 30 to 40 years, with the increasing rates of college attendance, there is a different poll of students who are [in college],” he said. “In the 1970s you would rarely find a fundamentalist Christian student in college because a lot of them didn’t go to college. They thought college was where the devil lives.”

The biblical split between good and evil is a theme that has plagued college campuses for decades. The good:  honors and scholarships, philanthropic involvement and nurturing of the mind. The evil: partying, promiscuity and most other social interactions. It’s no wonder students struggle in choosing their “new identities” upon arrival. Are you going to be an academic, religiously–inclined stay-at-home studier or a sorority–belonging flag-waving socialite?

“It’s a lot about social rewards [if you do] and also social punishment [if you don’t],” Sherkat said.

Some students feel the temptations of not-so-heavenly extra curricular activities are enough to push them toward the divine and not the drunk. Religion, for students, promises a remedy for this “what role should I play?” complex. If you turn your attention toward God, they say, He will guide you toward the right decision. But not everyone is convinced.

“I believe that having a specific religion really isolates you,” said Zack Gross, who graduated from Curry College in Milton with a degree in nutritional sciences and raised Jewish. “That’s why I like Buddhism. They don’t solely believe that one religion is the best. It talks about us being one world when religion is something that usually separates us.”

Brad Vandehey, who graduated from Northeastern with a major in English, said he can relate to the feeling of isolation.

“My parents didn’t give me a birthday present that year,” Catholic raised Vandehey said about his family’s reaction to their son studying Islam. Vandehey’s father, who switched from Catholic to Baptist, positively affirms his own faith fluctuated, but reprimands his son’s shift.

“I took a class at Northeastern called Understanding the Bible and we looked at all the different translations. Is this God’s word if you have 25 different authors?” Vandehey said.

Vandehey is not alone in this recognition. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights defines religious conversion as a basic human right:  “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief.”

Part of connecting with other human beings on a more intimate level comes from sharing traditions, practicing rituals and articulating beliefs together. Community, many students feel, is one of the most fundamental aspects to either enrich or detract from their college experience.

Joyce Schwartz, director of outreach for the Reform Jewish Outreach of Boston, emphasized the interconnection of conversion and community.

“For conversion there is a prerequisite course called ‘Introduction to Judaism,’” Schwartz said. “Its 16 weeks and it’s very comprehensive. It covers everything from Jewish history, holidays, music and Hebrew,” said Schwartz. “The person who is on the path to conversion will start living a Jewish life, going to synagogue and celebrating the holidays.”

Who doesn’t love a holiday? College is the first time many students are exposed to religions separate from the predominate faiths practiced in their homes. Embracing unfamiliar traditions is considered a rite-of-passage; something to say they tried in college.

Anusha Raju, a sixth–year pharmacy major at Northeastern, said she never considered converting while growing up.

“I was born Hindu and I never really started looking into other religions until college, but now I explore everything,” she said.  “I’m a reviver of the multi-faith group, so I’m always learning about new religions.”

And the holidays are Raju’s favorite part.

“I’ve celebrated Lent and one year I celebrated Ramadan,” she said.

As access to quality education continues to become more of a right than a privilege for more socio-economic classes, students are transforming into self-sponges; seeking out information on their own and internalizing what works best for them. Obtaining enlightenment is becoming less of a religious rat race to see which denomination can convert the most students, and more of an experiential learning process.

“What is starting to happen, and this is fairly new, is that we’re seeing active mobilization of Humanist groups and non-religious groups,”  Sherket said. In looking toward religion’s future on campuses.

Humanism, an alternative to the three major religions that emphasizes humanity’s potential for goodness and compassion, is gaining popularity among students who are bombarded with negative influences from all angles.

Sherkat said the space on college campuses will continue to expand for those who deny God’s existence. However, that doesn’t mean religious seekers will be pushed into the corner.
“When you walk into a college campus and go into a student union, if you look for religion it will be there,” Schmalzbauer said. “Even on the sidewalk in chalk. And there will be lots of different religious groups to choose from. It’s a religious marketplace.”

Whether stepping on a chalk-drawn Jesus on the way to class or eyeing a “God does not exist” poster in the central quad, it seems the umbrella of spirituality is inescapable, even to the non-religious.

“On a daily basis, I try to think of the reasons why I am alive and having a purpose in my life and connecting with the earth and what’s around us,” Gross said. “I define spirituality as having a purpose in your life and stepping away from the material world.”

The escape Gross talks about is the sweet spot most religiously–ambivalent students are trying to attain. In the midst of unsubsidized loans, take-home exams and happy hour mixers, colleges are filled with students who are still trying to find a place where religion can rest comfortably between their ideology and their schedule.

Even if this means becoming a Jewish-raised, Catholic–baptized, Buddhist–leaning Lutheran along the way. Mazel Tov.