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The Battalion
Page 3 • Tuesday, June 29, 20041
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Test of faith
Students’ religious beliefs lost and found in the classroom
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By Kendra Kingsley
THE BATTALION
It’s standing room only in Professor Richard Stadelmann’s phi
losophy of religion class. One student raises his hand and asks
about existentialism’s role in religion; another wants to know the
cifference between a “cosmic Jesus” and Jesus of Nazareth.
Itadelmann isn’t stumped. He’s been answering tough religious
c uestions from students for more than 30 years.
“Often students don’t know their religion, so when I go
fver the foundation of it they’re really surprised,”
tadelmann said. “I’ve seen many students who are here
Seeking belief and meaning.”
Stadelmann’s students aren’t alone. During the spring of 2003, a
tional study conducted by the Higher Education Research
Institute surveyed 3,680 students from 46 colleges and universities
religious issues. The study found that 76 percent of students are
Searching for meaning and purpose in life,” and 39 percent say
t|ieir religious or spiritual beliefs have been strengthened by “new
eas encountered in class.”
Stadelmann said his religious studies classes have been filled to
Japacity since Sept. 11, when students’ curiosity about different reli-
Jons soared. Now, Stadelmann said, many students are taking what
liey leam in the classroom and applying it to their own belief sys
tem. One former student, he said, made a remarkable career choice
ter learning about different religions.
“Several years ago, I had a student who was president of an athe-
t organization at A&M,” Stadelmann said. “He took every single
ligious class we offered and argued with professors the entire time
out why God could not exist. I got a call from him a few weeks
[go, and he told me that he’d decided to become a minister. I was-
’t completely surprised, because he put so much time and energy
into proving that a creator couldn’t exist that I knew he had a real
r interest in religion.”
I Stadelmann’s current students have a genuine interest in reli-
Hflious studies, as well. John Wilson, a junior philosophy major,
^ . said taking Stadelmann's class forced him to think more critically
reports Ir out h' s Christian beliefs.
;a j ne ir; I “It’s humbling because you can go into class and think that you
^Bnow everything, but what you learn can turn everything on its
p au | 5’ head,” he said. “(The class) has challenged me to look at what I
iley $f; believe and how to respond to people who have certain arguments
and c- against Christianity.”
vingr Wilson said some majors, such as philosophy and science, are
Coolep more likely to stir up religious debates and questioning. But for
1
Mandi Vest, a graduate student in plant pathology, an evolution-
based class strengthened her belief in creationism.
Vest said she dated an atheist in high school and during her
freshman year of college. That relationship, she said, forced her to
question her religion and find the truth.
“I grew up having a strong faith because my parents did,” Vest
said. “But, when my boyfriend didn’t believe in anything, I just
wanted to know how he felt that way. He was an intelligent person,
and I wanted him to believe what I did.”
After Vest and her boyfriend broke up, she said, she struggled
with rebuilding her belief system. While studying evolution, she
said, she found more evidence for creationism than against it.
“In class, we learned a lot about evolution, and I started realizing
that people make a lot of assumptions when they base theories on
evolution or naturalism,” she said. “But no matter what you believe,
you have to have faith. Some people have faith in science; some
people have faith in the Bible.”
In spite of the course’s emphasis on Darwinism, Vest said, she
left her class convinced that evolution could not have taken place
without a higher power.
“Seeing the complexity of life and seeing the processes that hap
pen all around us secured what I had always known,” she said.
“Some people use science to prove God doesn't exist, but for me it
proved the exact opposite and showed me that there’s a creator
behind all of this.”
Other students, however, find a different lesson in the classes
they take. Mike Surovik, a junior computer engineering major, said
a philosophy class weakened his belief in some of the Bible’s
teachings.
“I grew up in a very Christian home, but it was always hard for
me to believe a lot of the Bible’s miracles,” Surovik said. “My phi
losophy professor said you can’t be a true Christian and a true sci
entist, and I agree with that. I still consider myself to be religious,
but I don’t take the Bible completely literally anymore.”
Tori Sikes, a psychology graduate student, said she had similar
problems interpreting the Bible when she left her hometown of
Austin for Vermont’s Middlebury College.
“The Bible teaches that if you’re not a Christian, you’re going to
hell. I was really turned off by that,” Sikes said. “When I went to
college, I found that people were very open to (religious) experi
mentation.”
Sikes said one of her friends convinced her to attend a Sufi heal
ing session to learn more about Sufism, a mystic sect of Islam that
ed and'
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See Beliefs on page 4
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