Kai Pottenger heads to campus a few times a quarter to approach random students and talk about spirituality and Christianity, mostly encountering students with different religious beliefs.
Pottenger, a third-year neuroscience student, is a member of Campus Crusade for Christ, an evangelical group on campus, and one of a growing number of Christians at UCLA and college campuses nationwide.
While there has been a decline nationally in students identifying themselves as a member of a particular faith, there has been an increase in some religions.
“More students (are) very devout Christians,” said Alexander Astin, the founding director of the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA.
But at the same time, more and more are saying they have no religion, Astin said. Almost one-third of UCLA students do not identify themselves with a religion, according to a study done by the Student Affairs Information & Research Office at UCLA.
“Students as a whole are more polarized,” he said.
Students who identify themselves as “other Christian,” a religious category that is increasing, are predominantly evangelical, Astin said.
This trend extends to UCLA.
“There has been a significant increase in “˜other Christians,'” said Jennifer Keup, director of the Student Affairs Information & Research Office.
“In 1974 it was 4.7 (percent). It has gone up as high as 12.5 percent. Most recently it was 10.5 percent.”
Pottenger leads a group of six male students in Bible study every week as a part of his work with Campus Crusade. He is also the MC of the group’s weekly meeting and a member of their servant team, which overlooks their community.
Campus Crusade is one of a number of religious organizations on campus that is growing among college students.
“I think that we’ve seen growth each year,” Pottenger said.
“I think to a certain extent what we try and do … (is) reach the freshman class every year.”
Pottenger said Campus Crusade has between 250 and 300 members involved.
“We offer everyone (the opportunity) to be a part of a community where they can hear the message of Jesus and respond to it,” he said.
This increase in students who identify as “other Christians” has been coupled with an overall secularizing trend.
At UCLA, approximately 31 percent of students do not identify themselves with a religion, significantly more than the national average at public universities of 19 percent, according to a 2005 study by the Student Affairs Information & Research Office. This number is up more than 10 percent from 1974.
Many campus groups target those very people who have no religious affiliations.
Campus Crusade gives out a survey at the beginning of each year, trying to get contact information for people interested in spirituality, Pottenger said. Campus Crusade has specific groups designed for people with no religious background.
Though most of the members are not new to religion, many became Christians in high school, he said.
Jerome Mammen, team leader of the UCLA chapter of the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, an interdenominational group, said he has seen his organization grow over the years.
“I’ve been involved about 12 years,” Mammen said.
“In the ’90s I saw a rise in the numbers, and in the past two years it’s fluctuated.”
Mammen, a UCLA alumnus, works with one other full-time staff member for InterVarsity at UCLA.
Like Campus Crusade, the group holds a variety of Bible study and small group gatherings in the residence halls.
“I think that (for) freshman coming to college it’s a confusing time,” Mammen said.
“People looking for answers, … part of the questions that they ask are spiritual.”
If the current religious trend continues, the disparate beliefs on campuses could create the conditions for interpersonal conflict, according to the Student Affairs & Information Research Office report.
“You would have the evangelicals being more overt with their beliefs … and the students with no religion being less open to proselytizing,” Aspin said. “So the result of that is the potential for some tension.”
But Pottenger said that though only about one-third of students will take the time to talk when he approaches them on campus, he has not felt any animosity from the student body.
“UCLA is a pretty tolerant environment,” he said.