When students make the move from home to college, it is understandable that considerable changes take place. Students are faced with new situations, some of which they have never encountered before, and as a result some of their views on life can be altered. Students’ religious beliefs are oftentimes one of those alterations. While some students remain steadfast in their previously held religious beliefs, others change religions in an effort to find one that better suits them.
“Putting a young person in a new environment can cause them to reevaluate a lot of things,” Dr. Rupert Nacoste, professor of psychology, said. “They’re faced by lots of new ideas and it could be the first time that religion is questioned since it’s not necessarily questioned in the home.”
A change in religion or else an increased dedication to a previous religion can be seen when examining various students around N.C. State. What follows are four students, each with different stories that led to their current beliefs.
Brianna Craig, a sophomore in computer engineering, is a Pentecostal Christian. From the time she was little she would attend church camps and later, youth groups. She was greatly influenced by her father, who was a minister, and has continued to integrate Christianity into her life ever since. Now she is on the Worship Ministry of Chi Alpha Campus Ministry, an official club at the University, where at large group meetings she plays guitar for praise and worship songs.
Craig also prays with friends before Chi Alpha meetings, reads the Bible in her own time, and prays while walking to class, while in her room, and while she’s going to sleep. Outside of campus, she is a part of the worship team at her church where on Sunday mornings she does sign language to express her love for God through signing, which she says is more expressive than words.
“I’ve grown closer to God over the years and I have a deeper relationship with God now than I did before I started college,” Craig said. “Part of that has been me being more independent and also because I’ve found other people to walk with as I follow God.”
Craig said that she has not explored other religions because she believes that she’s found the right religion for herself. “I’ve developed a relationship with God and I don’t want to find something else when I believe that I’ve found the best that I can,” Craig said.
Kimberly Hoer, a junior in history, is an atheist who was raised Catholic and attended Mass every Saturday evening, was baptized, went to first communion and was confirmed at age 13. As she got older, though, she found that Catholicism did not necessarily mesh with her world view. Once she reached college, she stopped attending Mass altogether and stopped identifying as a Catholic.
“Gradually I became more atheist; I was against organized religion at first, and then the more and more I thought about it, I realized that I didn’t believe in a higher power,” Hoer said.
Hoer’s major also played a part in the development of her beliefs.
“The more I learned about history and the way people make up belief systems and use religion to their benefit, the more atheist I became. My parents never forced me to be Catholic, but once I moved out of the home and became more independent, the more my feelings about organized religion really came out,” Hoer said.
Taylor Elkins, a sophomore in psychology, said she is currently questioning her beliefs. She was raised as a nondenominational Christian, participating in youth group and Christian summer camps as a child. Though she stopped regularly attending church in high school, she continued to pray before she ate and went to sleep. It wasn’t until her freshman year of college that she said she began to truly question her beliefs.
“The diversity I was exposed to in terms of religious backgrounds really opened me up,” Elkins said. “I have a lot of friends that I care about that are different religions and I couldn’t understand why their religions couldn’t be accepted, couldn’t be right too.”
Elkins continued to pray because she found it comforting, but she said she was more open to talk about her questioning with people like her roommate and her mom.
“At first my mom tried to counter everything I said with something she knew about Christianity, but in the end she had nothing concrete to say. It was then that I became more firm in my questioning,” Elkins said.
“I haven’t completely let religion in general go. I feel it comforting to believe in a higher power, but I would like to be more knowledgeable in other religions before I make a decision. I don’t want to believe in something because it was bestowed upon me, because it’s what I grew up with,” Elkins said. “You have to make your own decisions. You can’t do religion to the extreme, because then you become naive to diversity and society as a whole.”
Zak Smith, a sophomore in economics, said he is a Buddhist. He wasn’t raised with any specific religion in mind, he said, but since his mother was Buddhist he learned some of the ideals early on.
“What really resonated with me was the idea that everyone has the equal potential to be happy and enlightened,” Smith said.
When he was 16, Smith said he went through a car accident and a few other mishaps that caused him to turn to Buddhism for comfort.
“When things get out of control you just kind of need something to make you ok, to admit that some things are kind of out of your control, to keep you trying because there’s a force greater than you helping you along the way,” Smith said.
Smith has become more devoted to his religion since he’s left home, since he has had to make it more of his own practice and seek out ways to practice outside of campus.
Whether students are exploring new religions or becoming more devout to their own, it seems as though college is the time to find new ways to understand their beliefs.
