Reports such as “Religion & Rebellion” (SN 9/29) dismay me but are not surprising. College years are for students to find themselves, and they certainly could find engaging new aspects of their own spirituality while learning other important things, enjoying new social scenes and exploring enticing possibilities for their futures.
America’s freedom of religion and inquiry have brought about not a decline of religions, as some have supposed would happen, but have promoted the growth, diversity and refinement of many faiths new and old and even forms of nonreligion (if that’s what secularism might be, though deplored by Pope Benedict XVI and others). If such freedoms make college years an escape from oppressive or pointless religion, some students might be gainers.
But we come across others whose disenchantment results in a sense of loss. The loss is unfortunate because there are ways to go and places and friends to find where one’s faith can connect to loyalties, values and courage that are highly rewarding and that keep one clear of hazards from overindulgences in alcohol, drugs, sexual misadventures or casual careless living that mess up the world. And beyond oneself, new associations you make in religion can take you to service adventures at home or abroad, bringing real learning and intercultural understandings beyond the classroom and even possibilities of careers and lifestyles of lasting value.
Some of those places or associations for finding freedom and exhilaration in faith may be hard to find, and I urge those who may be searching to not give up. There are places such as The People’s Church, 200 W. Grand River Ave., a unique experiment uniting four denominations into a single congregation specifically to respond to and serve students in lively activities and special groups. North off Abbot Road across from the city library are the venturesome Unitarian Universalists, 855 Grove St., seekers in a variety of ways in a building that hardly even looks like a church. Another unique place nearly buried in the neighborhood off North Hagadorn Road is the Edgewood United Church, 469 N. Hagadorn Road, fairly bursting with special groups and activities including a student-run group. The quiet, intriguing Quaker faith, while pervasive among individuals on campus, sought to built their brand-new place amid the ferment of renewal in Lansing’s Old Town, at 1400 N. Turner St.
And there are many other opportunities and places where students of this generation may enjoy finding unexpected fulfillment in their searches and faith.
Steve Osborn, East Lansing resident and MSU alumnus
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