Association of American Colleges and Universities Ponders Religion on College Campuses

Posted by Kendall Harmon

Professors at Elon University in North Carolina, which is no longer affiliated with its founder, the United Church of Christ, agree that understanding religion is clearly an important component to global citizenry, said Peter Felten, an assistant provost at Elon and director of its Center for Advancement of Teaching and Learning. "But," he continued, "almost all of our faculty will say, 'It's just not an important issue in my course.' "

While students may not be especially religious in the sense of attending services or identifying with a particular faith, their spirituality in college -- the search for meaning and purpose in life, and asking existential questions -- is on the rise, recent research has found. Yet the majority of these students also said their professors never encouraged discussions of religious or spiritual matters.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Education • Religion & Culture • Young Adults

7 Comments
Posted February 2, 2012 at 11:05 am [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]



1. TomRightmyer wrote:

The Elon College sports teams used to be called the “Fighting Christians.”  Elon was founded by a church originally called Republican Methodists. Bishop John Stark Ravenscroft, 1772-1830, first consecrated Bishop of North Carolina was a member about 1810. Some of these churches joined the Campbell Disciples of Christ, others formed part of the United Church of Christ 1957 merger.

February 2, 11:39 am | [comment link]
2. sophy0075 wrote:

Religion is “not important” at Elon, but leftist politics certainly is. My then high-school senior and I toured the school last winter. After fifteen minutes of the student-led tour, my child pulled me aside and said ,“Can we go now? I’ve had enough indoctrination for the day.”

February 2, 1:01 pm | [comment link]
3. Archer_of_the_Forest wrote:

I didn’t know that about Elon. We played Elon most years in football, but I never knew that.

February 2, 1:20 pm | [comment link]
4. David Keller wrote:

Here’s a question no one in the education industry has ever given me a decent answer for.  How can one understad Western World literature from about 1000 to 1990 without understanding the Bible?  Even if you don’t believe it, you have to understand it.  It would be like teaching Greek literature without any understanding of Greek mythology.  I suppose you could read Ilead as an interesting war stotry, you’d just have no idea what it was about.

February 2, 1:51 pm | [comment link]
5. TomRightmyer wrote:

North Carolina has a number of denominational colleges. In the mid-1990’s when we were looking for a college for our daughter Elon had the reputation of being a good place for those who had not done well in high school to discover and achieve their potential.

February 2, 2:57 pm | [comment link]
6. Jim the Puritan wrote:

#4—None of that is necessary any more.  Instead, students need to concentrate on important things that are relevant to modern life, like Gender Studies and Sensitivity Training.

February 2, 7:17 pm | [comment link]
7. David Keller wrote:

#6—So they can get really good jobs at McDonalds.

February 3, 10:29 am | [comment link]
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