Are College Students Losing Their Religion?
- Posted on April 8, 2011 at 6:17am by
Emily Esfahani Smith
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Conservative talk radio personality Dennis Prager thinks that God is not doing so well in our society. Why? The chief reason he cites is that college students are losing their religion.
Over at National Review Online, he writes:
Increasingly large numbers of men and women attend university, and Western universities have become essentially secular (and leftist) seminaries. Just as the agenda of traditional Christian and Jewish seminaries is to produce religious Christians and religious Jews, the agenda of Western universities is to produce (left-wing) secularists. The difference is that Christian and Jewish seminaries are honest about their agenda, while the universities still claim they have neither a secularist nor a political agenda.
The more university education a person receives, the more likely he is to hold secular and left-wing views. The secular Left argues that this correlation is due to the fact that a college graduate knows more and thinks more clearly and therefore gravitates leftward and toward secularism.
But if you believe that the average college graduate is a clear and knowledgeable thinker as a result of his or her time at university, I have more than one bridge to sell you. A radio talk-show host for 29 years, I long ago began asking callers who made foolish comments what graduate school they had attended. It takes higher education to learn that America and Israel are villains, that men and women have essentially the same natures, that human nature is good, that ever-larger governments create wealth, etc.
Conor Friedersdorf, a writer who attended Catholic school for 14 years, is skeptical of Prager’s argument.
Writing in The Atlantic, Friedersdorf thinks:
To me, there are better explanations for the fact that “the more university education a person receives, the more likely he is to hold secular and left-wing views.” One is that people who attend college leave home.
That is to say, they leave their church, the community incentives to attend it, and the watchful eye of parents who get angry or make them feel guilty when they don’t go to services or stray in their faith. Suddenly they’re surrounded by dorm mates of different faiths or no faith at all.
For many of these students, it turns out that their religious behavior was driven more by desire for community, or social and parental pressure, than by deeply held beliefs. Another reason education correlates with secularism is that secularists are more likely to seek advanced degrees, partly because they’re more focused than their religious counterparts on career.
Maybe it’s a little bit of both: maybe many students abandon religion at college both because they are away from home and because they are in an environment that does not value religious belief. That, at least, is what I observed when I was a college student.





















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Comments (102)
ImahaIngttta
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 9:52amMy oldest child is still 7 years from college. But I have already been thinking about this. If interested, there is more information here: http://www.crossexamined.org/
Report Post »Deutscher
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 9:48amI don’t understand this at all. Religion should be taught by parents, not public schools. If parents can’t educate their children in their particular faith and want them to get a degree, send them to a religious university. No one is forcing you to send them to state schools.
Report Post »How can you expect schools to teach religion? It would then be a question of WHO’s religion.
Chet Hempstead
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 3:49pmI think Conor Friedersdorf had it right, it’s not so much that schools are teaching religion or secularism as that they give them an opportunity to get away from people who are constantly trying to teach them religion. When kids get the opportunity for the first time in their lives to think for themselves and speak freely with people who have other views, it’s natural that a lot of them are going to change their minds about some of the things they’ve been
Report Post »UlyssesP
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 9:14amBecause Beavis and ******** grew up and became their teachers.
Report Post »1959
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 10:37amExactly!
Report Post »BlazingInSC
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 8:41amThe one world order calls for a completely secular society… Our kids have been drilled in the public k-12 school systems for years now – that religion was bad. College is just the final push toward pumping out humanist secularists into society to support the call to the one world order… This is all well planned out and purposely a long and drawn out process…
Report Post »ztkraptor
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 8:31amYou know, it has nothing to do with Leftist crazy things…And more to do with being enlightened that todays religion is not what we see Christ taught. Especially Christianity. There are many many times when I would go to Mass, and when leaving mass, see angry people beeping their horns at others who don’t let them out of the parking lot first, and also cutting eachother off.
Then we get to the Mass itself. And we have the pastors pushing leftist ideals. Ours had at one point said “he can’t talk about who to vote for“ but ”to not let little things like ABORTION play a part in the bigger picture”
In other words vote for Obama. I havn’t been to church since that day. And I don’t think I will ever go again. I have my own personal relationship with my Lord, and that is all I need. Todays Modern Christianity is a joke.
Report Post »Meyvn
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 8:31amUniversity is over-rated.
Report Post »thermonator
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 8:25amI love Dennis, I listen to his show all of the time. He is one of the clearest thinkers on the radio.
My favorite argument of the “educated” secular left is the belief that we evolved from mutant swamp scum.
Report Post »Somehow, this belief is supposed to be more “scientific” then a belief in an imaginary God…..lol
This kind of vacuous thinking explains why meaningless goals, like “hope and change”, have so much appeal to our youth.
fred299
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 8:07amYup it’s colleges and schools fault. How about blaming parents. We teach kids about fairy tales, easter bunnies, tooth fairies, santa clause and turn God’s word into childrens stories. Well if theres no easter bunny must be all the tales are false.
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 8:01am“a college graduate knows more and thinks more clearly”. I can tell by the thoughtful way all the teachers in Wisconsin act.
Report Post »Guerrino_P
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 8:41amOh, poor GONZO didn’t go to college. No surprise there.
Report Post »Proudmomof5
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 7:57amOr send your kids to Hillsdale, where my son is attending. Where they learn how important religion was in the founding of the United States and how important religion is needed in the United States.
Report Post »Oldphoto678
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 9:08amNow that’s indoctrination!!!! Not to mention revisionist bull crap.
JohnFourteenSix
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 10:31am@ OLDPHOTO678…….Would you please cite some examples and give links to your sources? Thanks
Report Post »beenaroundyaknow
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 7:46amHave you been on a college campus lately? Political correctness, diversity training, LGBT indoctrination as freshmen, etc. and the fact that religion is shunned especially in public institutions as separation of church and state issues. 90% of the faculty are liberals at most schools. ‘nuf said.
Report Post »WereTurtle
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 7:44amOf course they are losing their religion. They are being indoctrinated with leftist ideas and what ever religion they knew is being replaced with their “new religion” – Government.
Report Post »JanetFlorida
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 12:23pmExactly right!!
Report Post »Hugie 59 PA
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 7:40amWe saw this with Hitler when he assumed the Lutheran Church into the Third Reich and secularized it calling it the Reich Church. Many Lutheran Pastors like Martin Niemoller objected and were thrown into concentration camps. Many died for their Faith like Pastor Deitrich Bonhoeffer. The German people didn‘t realize Hitler’s intent until it was too late. I liken our situation in many ways to what’s happening today in our country and around the world. We will wake up and have lost our liberty along with our Faith.
Report Post »gwinfrey
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 8:05amYes, finally someone who really gets it!
Report Post »Oldphoto678
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 9:05amYes we will, and you tea party types will be the cause.
Report Post »UlyssesP
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 9:12am@Oldphoto678
Report Post »Move On. Nothing for you here.
Deutscher
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 9:43amI went a full week without a Hitler reference. So much for that For anyone who thinks the US is like Nazi Germany, I suggest you talk to someone who lived through it and get their opinion.
Report Post »SpankDaMonkey
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 7:34am.
Report Post »B&G (Beer & Girls) 1001 strikes again………
grafted2
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 7:28amSorry wrong page.
Report Post »grafted2
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 7:28amAnyone who would fire on a school bus or innocent civilian are vermin and should be exterminated.
Report Post »smithclar3nc3
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 7:23amIf Dennis is right and I believe he is then perhaps the title of GREAT SATAN in reference to America is a deserved one at least on some level.
Report Post »Danola
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 7:23amGo visit any college bookstore and see what they are being forced to study. Marx, Alinsky, Global warming, homosexuality, religion is bad, Republicans are bad, Conservatives are bad, America is bad, and much more. There are even books on how Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity, Rove, Bush have destroyed the U.S. Seriously. My daughter is in a state run college and I go visit the bookstore 2xs a year to see what is going on. Her textbooks are full of this stuff. Some of her teachers are loons and she laughs when the Conservative teachers play tricks on the liberal teachers. Why would they continue to believe in God if they are being brainwashed?
Report Post »Liberty Ink
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 7:03amI would argue based on my own college experience (I completed my degree last May) that it actually has less to do with college and more to do with public k-12.
I know many people that went to church every week at the chapel on campus and other nearby churches. The reason I wasn‘t one of them was that my religious commitment was already at an all time low by the end of high school and I’m still trying to find my way in that regard… I guess you could say I’m somewhat of a doubting Thomas (John 20:24-29) in that I like to know and see how things work. It is more of something at the core of my personality than anything in education in my opinion.
I now have a non-teaching job in a public k-12 school district and I’m (surprise) not a liberal. Though I can say that most of the teachers (there are a few conservative exceptions) are decidedly liberal. Here’s the rub, teachers have a large say in the decision on which textbook to use. From what I’ve seen of the history textbook…it has democrat written all over it, and combined with a liberal teacher… you can see how youth are becoming liberals.
There is hope though, I was actually liberal leaning upon entering college. The mentality that I had was that Democrats stood for personal freedom and Republicans stood for nanny-state security and imposing their values on others through law. I just didn’t know what the conservative movement was all about. Anyway, I saw the light shortly after the Obama election and I think a surprising number of others like me will show up in 2012 against liberalism.
Report Post »jedi.kep
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 6:49amI’m 40 and recently returned to college through a displaced worker retraining. It is unbelievable how left wing college is. Every class this semester, EVERY class, has been beating the left wing, anti religion, anti tea party dogma like you would not believe. It has kept me on my toes and kept me busy arguing with idiots! The text books hammer it through illogical arguments which don’t even address legitimate challenges. It has been a real eye opener. It makes me sick that conservatives have been so completely under represented in college. And these kids have no defense against the tidal waves that constantly beat against them day after day. It is no wonder they lose their religion.
Report Post »encinom
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 11:24amLet me guess, in a science class they said the earth was more than 6 thousand years old and wasn’t made in 6 days.
Report Post »teachermitch32
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 4:38pmTry again Encinoman.
Report Post »RockstarRepublic
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 6:38amUCSC Alumni here, I can vouch for the type of anti-god indoctrination I have seen run rampant at the universities. There is no such thing as equal employment, professors and staff are mostly all the same breed. Faith is mocked in lectures and the course work is mostly secular with an anti-conservative or religious bias. The students, especially new ones want to fit in, but find themselves lead like a lamb to the slaughter. The college even had a very strong pro-communist organization. Liberal speakers were invited to speak constantly, while non liberals were not. Ben Stiller for example was supposed to give a speech for a graduating class, but without notice someone higher up refused to let him on campus.
The big irony here is that universities were christian creations.
Report Post »foobear
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 6:46amYeah, I say the same thing at my UC school. All the liberal arts classes are just that.
Fortunately, I had enough knowledge coming into college to recognize the various Chomsky-esque lies they tried to sell me (no, the US is actually *not* the worst country in the world, thank you very much), but a lot of my classmates fell for it.
Report Post »1959
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 10:56amSo very sad that this is going on in our universities…..good posts, thank you
Report Post »momsense
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 6:30amLosing it in college—–My God—-If they‘ve been therough a state run high school there’s little left to lose any way.
Report Post »lillianrose
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 6:37amGood example as to why one should homeschool or send to a private christian school.
Report Post »hillbillyinny
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 7:56amSee my post under the John Stewart piece.
Children today without God in the home, don’t even know who God is and ask who He is or who Jesus is. They have no frame of reference from a young age–not at home, not at school and are exposed to church even for Christmas and Easter.
It’s a different world, and for me, a somewhat scarry one as I read about the end times and realized what will come to pass in God’s time. Maranatha!
gwinfrey
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 8:01amAmen! If we do not step forward and take over the schools and the judicial systems, it will only get worse!
Report Post »HappyStretchedThin
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 6:27amIf you’ve waited until college to determine your religiosity, you’ve started way late anyway. The kids going IN with a deep sense of their parents’ faith can usually weather the secularist storm.
Report Post »Hobo Boondocks
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 7:15amLast I heard, you must possess something before you can lose it. However, my experience is that most colleges are designed to obliterate faith in God and replace it with faith in unproven science (evolution) and failed political ideologies. Can I get an Amen on tha?
Report Post »Highland
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 8:09amParents should have their college-bound children read Frank Turek’s “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist” or Alex McFarland’s “Stand Strong in College.”
Report Post »TheBMT
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 10:42amI didn’t have the issue of being “secularized”. It all depends where you go, but I went to Penn State and never had that issue. Did I go to Church? Nah… its not my home church. College is a time where kids are figuring out what is important in life.
Its the church’s fault for not reaching out in a positive manner. All I ever see on campuses are just crazy solo guys screaming at kids telling them they are going to Hell. Yea… thats going to get kids excited to go to church.
Same goes for the “left” thinking that they get. Well… why the hell isn’t the right more involved?
So how bout we stop whining and start taking responsibility for what is happening on the campuses.
Report Post »Ironmaan
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 6:26amGod isn’t doing so well because the elites are trying to replace god with government and they atenhaving some success. Not really a mystery.
Report Post »http://guerillatics.com
Ironmaan
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 6:52amThat is—are having some success
Report Post »riseandshine
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 7:29amterrible use of words “God isn’t doing so well in our society”. I know what he meant but still a dumb way to say it
Report Post »riseandshine
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 7:32amsorry ironmaan. i meant that to be my own post. was talkin about the writer in the story. it’s early
Report Post »encinom
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 11:21amSo your argument is that a cabal of mortals are powerful enough to overthrow that all-power God, creator of the Universe. Maybe God’s power was a little overblown than.
Report Post »abc
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 1:23pmWrong. The elites are elites because they are smarter and richer than you. They go to top schools and, contrary to Prager’s ridiculous comments, they therefore know more than the average person. They might make gaffes, but Prager has made his fair share of them too, so that is hardly a counter argument. No, the reality is what the greatest scientist since Einstein, Richard Feynmann, stated clearly when he said that the more you study science the more disciplined your mind becomes and the less religion makes sense within that context. Or, as another great scientist, EO Wilson put it, you begin to rely on empirical sources of knowledge rather than faith-based ones. This causes students to feel the kind of experience that Tolstoy describes in his Confession, when he says that the wall of religion breaks from the moorings of support and come crashing down. This process occurs quite often to students when they are taken out of their homes and exposed to the world of more diverse ideas.
Now, whether this is a good thing or not remains to be seen. I personally think that religion has done more harm than good but others can point to the Nazi’s who got many scientists to commit atrocities. The reality is that neither science nor religion has proven itself to be much of a bulwark against the human tendency to do harm to his fellow man or his environment. I think that science, unlike religion, has produced material progress, which gives us more options to improve our lot (even as it creats more power to do the opposite), and I like progress, so I stand with science. Religion blocks progress by insisting on a stasis that doesn’t really exist.
One final thing to note. Tolstoy regained religion late in life. Presumably many people do and while I think this is driven by a fear of death, it is understandable that most folks would find some comfort in an even irrational belief that something lies beyond death. And far be it for me to deny them this, even if it cannot be proven.
Report Post »watchtheotherhand
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 12:13am26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 1 Corinthians 1
Report Post »American Capitalist
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 5:28pm@ABC
Report Post »Or maybe Tolstoy found religion in his oldage because he finally became wise, and not just educated.
sissykatz
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 6:25amGood Morning Blazers,,,,,,,,,,,Grandma I loved the cats in the boxes, Thanks. good morning Show, and Snowl
lillianrose
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 6:37amGood morning!
Report Post »ishka4me
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 8:18amyes, it is cool and hip for this generation to worship a new hibred religion: part witch craft, part vampir, part budhist, part hindu, part native american, but they expect extravagant christmas presents. multi cultural religion
Report Post »Polwatcher
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 8:44amIt’s pretty hard to keep religion while learning everything about sex and partying.
Report Post »DimmuBorgir
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 8:45amKids (which includes college students) say they are atheist because it’s considered cool now.
They follow trends and I could care less about their souls. When the day of judgment comes along at least they’ll be cool when they suffer.
oh and yeah, college students are most definitely kids, they mooch off of their parent, have their days pre-planned for them, and do whatever they want with really no consequences. the whole lot of them can eat a bag of ****
Report Post »jackrorabbit
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 9:14amWhy? Simple, it isn’t taught in school anymore, at least not real religion, only psudoscientific religion based on rational though, and no faith.
Report Post »TexasCommonSense
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 9:30amThe words of Johnny Cash come to mind, as they do so often in today’s political environment. These lyrics actually give me some comfort considering all the deception and lies being told.
You can run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Sooner or later God’ll cut you down
Sooner or later God’ll cut you down
Go tell that long tongue liar
Report Post »Go and tell that midnight rider
Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter
Tell ‘em that God’s gonna cut you down
Tell ‘em that God’s gonna cut you down
Tell ‘em that God’s gonna cut you down
gman46
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 9:54am“Maybe it’s a little bit of both: maybe many students abandon religion at college both because they are away from home and because they are in an environment that does not value religious belief. That, at least, is what I observed when I was a college student.”
—————————————————————————————————————————————————
That’s most likely it, sadly. It’s very easy to be swayed into group think.
Report Post »It was that way when I went to college years ago. But I was fortunate to find the Lord after leaving college.
benditlikebeck
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 10:15amThe answer is very simple. The more educated you are the less likely you are to be gullible enough to believe in fairy tales.
Report Post »encinom
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 10:33amLets see, you have religion based on myths and superstitions versus courses that depend on facts, reason, logic. Science is testable, religion one must blindly except the teachings, there is no verification. Creationism fails because it is a religious assault on the realm of science.
Report Post »independentvoteril
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 10:38amWell the answer is fairly simple.. People who raise their kids in a faith.. sometimes as these kids age they question EVERYTHING to some point their parents taught them.. some longer than others.. but as they find themselves it all comes back.. and even when they are trying to ignore what they were taught there is ALWAYS that little voice they can’t quite ignore.. that keeps them from getting into something sinister.. those who parents DIDN’T raise their kids with ANY kind of religious background well they are doing the same ONLY they tend to LOOK for the religion they were NOT taught..This is NOT something that is left to only COLLEGE kids but to a certain age group.. mostly high school kids but given the immaturity the government has insisted our kids have by treating them like idiots started later for many.. and it seems to be more BOYS than the GIRLS that question it.. I might add that the fact that many churches have gotten to involved in politics rather than JUST religion adds to the problem..
Report Post »Dan
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 11:29amProverbs 22:6
Report Post »Train a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
snidley-whiplash
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 11:39amLosing their Religion……………how about they lost their brains, they can’t reason any longer.
Report Post »KTSontag
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 1:33pmAll these are wrong. It’s simply because the majority of “educated” people are arrogant. They believe that they know better and know better than to believe in God. They can explain everything themselves and therefore there is “no need” for God. Then the most liberal of the liberal become teachers so that they can “teach” others. They tell kids what they “know” rather than what the facts are. The worst are the sociologists, psychologists, philosophers, political scientists, historians, and any other type of scientist.
Report Post »lindap1667
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 3:05pmThank goodness Jesus is patient, many people walk away but later come crawling back and Jesus is there with open hands.
Report Post »Beckofile
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 4:45pmThey are loosing their independant mind, money, ability to graduate without going into indentured servatude. Big Ed is worse then Big Biz. Saw a number today that the amount of the countries education debts are now at 900 Billion.
Report Post »watchtheotherhand
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 5:00pm2 Peter 3:3
Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.
Romans 1
Report Post »28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
GETLIFE
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 5:07pmOh ENCINOM, you just went and explained the meaning of life, and why religion is useless. Now what am I going to do on Sundays?
Report Post »encinom
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 6:15pmGETLIFE
Posted on April 8, 2011 at 5:07pm
Oh ENCINOM, you just went and explained the meaning of life, and why religion is useless. Now what am I going to do on Sundays?
___________________________________________________
To answer your first question, the answer to the meaning of life, the universe and everything else is
42, you didn’t ask the proper question. Of course, there is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
I have no idea why you believe in a useless religion, I figure that was between you and the diety you believe hears you. As for what to do on Sunday, instead of talking to a useless diety, you can read a book, spend time with your family or wait until Football season.
Report Post »I Love Section 8 Housing
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 2:57amyes they are losing their religion
why?
they are becoming educated. easy as that. no more magic hippie carpenters. sorry.
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