College environment, habits influence students’ religious observances

After a long week of classes and parties, students’ real
faith is put to the test Sunday morning: will they get up and go to
church, or hit the snooze and roll back in bed?

There are over fifty religious student groups to chose from at
UCLA, but this is hardly a guarantee of a faithful campus. Whether
a student partakes in these organized activities or chooses to find
religion on their own is entirely up to them.

With all the temptations and opportunities at UCLA it seems
unlikely students would be able to keep up with their religious
habits. There seems to be a general consensus that students may
become less religious since their parents aren’t around to
drag them to services.

“Just finding a new church and getting yourself to
actually go can be difficult at first,” points out Blair
Warner, a third-year communication studies and economics student
who has maintained her faith since coming to UCLA.

“My faith has definitely grown in the past few years, as I
have been facing new challenges and becoming more
independent,” Warner said.

Warner contributes her increased faith to the fact she
experiences church without her parents. She hasn’t partied
less or joined a bunch of Christian groups because she is
religious, but she does admit being religious makes her more aware
of her decisions.

“I think my ties to the church have grown since I started
thinking more for myself, and attending mass because I wanted to,
rather than I had to,” she stated.

Those who come to UCLA without strong religious beliefs, on the
other hand, often remain that way. Ariel Hankin, a third year
communication studies and psychology student, considers herself
spiritual rather than religious and hasn’t noticed any change
whatsoever in her religious practices.

Hankin goes so far as to say religion doesn’t affect her
daily life or decisions at all.

“My morals and ethics effect those things, but my religion
is secondary,” she said.

Jennifer Schwartz, a third year international economics and
political Science student, was confused about religion growing up,
being raised by Jewish and Catholic parents. Overall, religion
played a small role in her life, and here at UCLA. Schwartz finds
she doesn’t identify herself according to her religion.

“I’d never refrain from drinking or something just because
some people interpret the Bible in a way that prohibits that
activity,” she said.

Schwartz feels her moral standards are much stronger than
religion, and that they are what affect her daily choices.

Religion can be a comforting familiarity, though, for students
overwhelmed upon their arrival at UCLA. Rachel Posner, a third year
communication studies student, was very religiously active in high
school, partaking in weekly youth group meetings and religious
camps three times a year. At the start of her UCLA career Posner
became even more religious in order to feel at home in such a new
environment.

“I latched onto the Jewish life because it was something
stable amidst tons of change,” Posner said. She found that
with Hillel being located directly on campus it was more convenient
to attend services at UCLA than it was at home.

As for all those students supposedly abandoning ship, it
doesn’t appear college life and the religious scene are
necessarily mutually exclusive.

Posner, while agreeing that parents contribute to a loss of
religious activity, thinks there is a more even split between those
who become more religious, and those who become less. There are
religious groups that can “suck you in to their way of
life”, but other distractions to take students away from
religion as well.

Warner agrees, noting that the bigger factor is the new
viewpoints and experiences students face at UCLA. She said she knew
many people who actually became more religious once they were on
their own, rather than less.

“There are bound to be changes in your relationship with
God because you are making so many life changes,” Warner
asserted. “But I don’t think that means you will necessarily
become less religious.”

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