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College is a time for students to examine and experiment beyond the parameters of their parents’ ideas and affiliations, said Mel Brinkley, campus minister for Crossroads United Campus Ministry, which caters to University of Wisconsin-La Crosse students.
“Students experience a freedom to question and test and incorporate or assimilate many different religious experiences — different in the sense of what they have experienced while living with their parents,” he said.
College students may choose to exercise their spiritual life in different ways than they did while at home, said Tom O’Neill, director of the campus ministry at Viterbo University.
Retreats and candle night prayers, Bible study and faith-sharing groups, praise and worship groups and more are opportunities Viterbo University provides to help students connect with religion.
UW-L has numerous religious and spiritual organizations open to UW-L and Western Technical College students.
“But it is up to students to choose how they are going to live out their own spiritual life,” said O’Neill.
Regardless of the method, it’s important that students find a way to stay connected to religion, O’Neill said.
“We all have a spiritual self, so to disconnect with it is to disconnect with a part of oneself” he said.
Scott Stine and Zach Johnson chose not to let their spiritual life deteriorate when they entered college. And while similar on that note, they have taken widely divergent religious pathways though college.
One saw his faith strengthen as new ideas emerged, while questions led the other to a new religion.
Ideas that ‘shake your world view’
Stine came to UW-L as a Christian. When he left years later with a master’s degree, he was Buddhist.
“When you move away from family to a different place, you are talking to people about totally different ideas than you have ... it can be a big time of change in your life,” said Stine.
In his freshman year, Stine searched for the truth and questioned everything, starting with his own Lutheran religion.
“There were too many things I couldn’t identify with in the religion, so I eventually decided it was not for me,” he said.
He later learned about Buddhism, began to study it and became involved in the Diamond Way Buddhist Club at UW-L.
He’s now been a practicing Buddhist for seven years.
“It seemed to fit with my life experience more closely than anything I had encountered before,” he said. “I don’t think I would have grown nearly as much without this practice or become as strong of a person.”
When people begin to question their religious beliefs, it either can solidify those ideas or shake them, said Stine.
“It is good to have ideas that shake your world view,” he said. “Otherwise, we have a narrow idea of what the world is like and undoubtedly that is not the case.”
Challenging views can strengthen faith
When Johnson started at Viterbo, his Christian views were challenged as well.
For Johnson, now a sophomore, that ultimately strengthened his Catholic faith.
He and a close friend, although with different religious views, learned to find common ground instead of squabbling over the small differences they found between religions.
Johnson’s faith has helped him get through the stresses of college life, such as finals week.
Moreover, it helped with the transition to college. Johnson would find peace and a familiar place at Viterbo’s San Damiano Chapel his freshman year whenever he was down or lonely, he said.
Without family around, Johnson turned to faith, he said.
“Everything else was moving farther away, but my faith was always within me,” he said.
He sees other students that have lost touch with their religious traditions.
“I think if you are on the fence about your faith when you come to college, it’s easier to fall off than stay on,” he said.
Yet it’s difficult for Johnson to explain why he has stayed on.
“God has called me there and I have listened,” he said. “I know he has called everyone to come to him ... I guess it is just the act of listening.”
Measuring spirituality
On the National Survey of Student Engagement, UW-L students were asked: “To what extent has your experience at UW-L contributed to you developing a deepened sense of spirituality.” Given four options — very little, some, quite a bit and very much — about 35 percent of first-year students said quite a bit or very much. Among UW-L seniors, 26 percent said quite a bit or very much. Those responses are above average when compared with other four-year University of Wisconsin System schools.
Source: 2008 NSSE
On the National Survey of Student Engagement, Viterbo students were asked: “Since you have been here, has your religious commitment grown stronger?” On a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being little growth in religious commitment and 5 being strong growth, first-year students gave the rating of 4.25 and seniors gave a rating of nearly 5.
Other questions Viterbo students were asked related to spirituality can be found on Viterbo’s Web site at www.viterbo.edu/ira.aspx?id=29946
Source: 2007 NSSE (Viterbo’s 2008 information not yet available)
