CampusProgress.org | Ben Adler's Blog: Atheism isn't contagious on college campuses

Community Blogs

Post from Ben Adler's Blog:

Atheism isn't contagious on college campuses

By Ben Adler - Jun 16th, 2007 at 12:53 am EDT

Also listed in: Campus Progress Blog

Comments | Mail to a Friend

Tags: Higher Education, Religion

Bad? Brilliant?

You can rate this post.
Register or login now and
tell us what you think.

Via Kevin Drum over at the Monthly: Inside Higher Ed reports on,

a new study that suggests students who attend and graduate from college are more likely than others to hold on to their faith.... for all the talk about how intellectuals are out to destroy students’ relationships to their religions and God, the main obstacles to such relationships have to do with maturing and how young people spend their time.

I can't possibly imagine what young people might be doing on weekends instead of attending services while their in college.

Reader Comments

It's surprisingly true

By sekai.no.kakumei Jun 16th 2007 at 3:15 pm EDT

It was one of the last things I expected to see on my college's campus (we have no religious affiliate anymore), but the Christian group is huge! They even drive off-campus to go to services, and then the later one on campus. But the one thing that I found the most interesting is how persistant some of them can be--two of my best friends at school are part of the Christian group, and they tried their best to drag me along to any of their events.

Re: It's surprisingly true

By Nicole Jun 16th 2007 at 6:48 pm EDT

I met a couple of people on my campus who started a Bible study group and it was the same thing. One girl had my number and email and would write and call me constantly to go to church with them. Sometimes they'd see me in the library and interupt my studying to show me passages in the Bible.

Re: It's surprisingly true

By zach Jun 16th 2007 at 7:04 pm EDT

"One girl had my number and email and would write and call me constantly to go to church with them."

How dare they?! Progressive organizations like Campus Progress would never stoop to such a level of reaching out to people and inviting them to their conference three times a week!

Re: It's surprisingly true

By Nicole Jun 16th 2007 at 9:03 pm EDT

hm...from my experience they're very different. I don't have a problem with religious groups trying to reach out to people and increase their numbers but when they do so it tends to be in a very condescending, pushy way.

I like many aspects of religion in general and don't consider myself an atheist but having a group of people coming up to me constantly telling me I have to adhere to their ways so I don't go to Hell or something puts it on a different level..especially if while doing so, they're interrupting my study time at my secular college.

If they just emailed it would be one thing, but the rest was a bit too much.

Re: It's surprisingly true

By Cara Boekeloo Jun 18th 2007 at 10:17 am EDT

It makes me sad that this is the way that you were treated on your campus. I would hope that most Christian groups wouldn't be that way, but just like any other group, they're human and sometimes don't go about things in the right way.

However, I must take a little bit offense to the fact that in this conversation people are amazed at the Christians who go off campus to a service. Driving 15 minutes to church doesn't make me a radical, just like driving 15 minutes to the bar doesn't make me an alcoholic.

Please remember that Campus Progress' terms of use do not allow promoting or endorsing any particular political party or candidate for office. Posts or comments that do this will be deleted.