Spiritual Life and College

In a presentation to our Greensboro College faculty, Chaplain Robert Brewer shared information about the spiritual lives of our students.  Over 60% feel the college supports their spiritual life (important note – we are a small, Methodist affiliated college). In addition to reporting on our students, Chaplain Brewer shared information from national studies of the spiritual life of college students.  He seemed dismayed.  I was not surprised.

Religious affiliation of college students declines during the college years. According to a survey of several thousand students, only 11% entered college claiming no religious affiliation, but 24% left college claiming no religious affiliation. Christian students showed confusion and ambivalence toward their faith.  They associated Christianity with good values and principles, but also believed Christians are judgmental, hypocritical, anti-gay and too involved in politics. Other studies of college-age Christians found their core beliefs can be reduced to "being nice", and that being nice entitles them to comfort and happiness. The studies also showed that college students find their Christian faith does not help them withstand the “storms” of life, and that it is a faith that does not last beyond high school.

My response to the chaplain was that he was describing a stage of life that should not surprise him.  After all, the studies focused on a time in life where young people step outside their familiar circle of family and friends and embark on a spiritual journey with new powers of reasoning that make it easy to be skeptical of absolutes and confused by the contradictions in their faith. After all, his own report acknowledged that the faith of childhood does not prepare young adults for complex concepts like forgiveness, loving your enemies, compassion, sacrifice, concern for others and justice.

Let me personalize this:

Nine years old: I lay on my back in the grass, sunlight fading away, a sliver of moon above the eastern horizon, a few early stars glimmering in the violet sky. Where was God?  Maybe the stars were portals in the dome of the universe and, if I had a spaceship, I could get close enough to see through a portal into heaven. The preacher said God was watching over us and could see all that we do, that if we had faith in Him and did our best, we would go to heaven.  Where was heaven? On the other side of the dome?  On Sunday mornings, we pursued God and heaven.  Days ended with homage to the pursuit. Mom knelt by my bed as I prayed. “Now I lay me down to sleep . . . if I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.”  Rote speaking, difficult to ponder.

Going to church was a weekly ritual. We all went to church, and I mean ALL - mom, dad, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins. Church was about sin and salvation. Sermons were pointed and fierce. Backsliding within the family was easily recognized and much talked about.

I wanted to be in the circle and safe from Hell. But I wasn’t always good.  I stole candy bars from the service station on the corner.  And prayed about it. I wanted to be made new and better. After being immersed in the baptismal waters, I checked my status the next day. I pinched my arm, wiggled my toes and waited for God’s voice to confirm that I was a new boy. An inkling of confusion came upon me when I could not discern any difference. From that day until now, life has been occasional moments of holiness interrupting a steady-state of non-holiness and backsliding.

My spiritual journey took its first detour during my college years when I became un-churched. I might be wrong, but I think that is the way it has to happen for some of us.  We have to step outside the circle of what we have inherited and find out where we really belong.  Maybe some of us belong within our spiritual inheritance, but I don’t think we know until we step outside of it and test it’s strength. College empowered me to be more fearless about matters of faith.

Many in my family would say I have lost my faith. I have long since accepted my spiritual state.  Backsliding is now someone else’s term.  I’m not a holy person, but I find spirituality, sometimes in a church, but often in a book, or in colors and textures of the earth and the sound and feel of water and wind. I have known people of many different faiths, Christian and non-Christian. I have friends who never speak of religious faith, but in their capacity for love and forgiveness I sense something strong and good. In the places I have been and the people I know, I am confident I belong to something bigger and more eternal than myself. That may not be satisfactory for you, but that’s between you and God.