Christians so disillusioned
that they began an unsuc
cessful campaign to abol
ish the student government
altogether.
A similar fracas occurred
at Duke in 1984 when lead
Eating by the rules:
Jewish students at
Brown's new Hebrew
House enclave choose
to observe the Sabbath
and eat kosher meals
ers ol the Campus l ritsade tor t hrist encouraged their
members to apply for positions as residential advisers (r a.'si
within the dorms Before long some students began to com
plain that their advisers were using the dorms to conduct
Bible-study sessions that offended students of other persua
sions. After consulting with the university’s religious lead
ers, the administration banned r.a.’s from conducting the
sessions within their own dorms. "What we were saying."
recalls Richard Cox, dean for residential life, "is if you want
to participate in Bible studies, go participate. But don't do it
where you are intensely a role model
The cross and tho ring: The response to the decree was
overwhelming. From around the country alumni wrote in to
complain that Duke—which was originally founded as a
Methodist school—was discriminating against the devout
The prohibition also produced an outcry from many of the
students it was meant to protect. "It was a huge blowup,"
recalls a Methodist minister, the Rev. William Willimon.
who had tried to defend the university’s decision. "The
students were talking about taking over the [administra
tion] building. I’d never seen anything like it on a similar
scale." Now the school faces another religious dispute: Jew
ish students are pressing for a new, alternative school ring
Controversial circles:
Prayers at Duke, whose
adm in istrati>rs made
r.a. 8 stop leading Bible
study in their dorms:
Duke rinp (insetI
PHOTOS BY (’ll \KI KS I FI>F<>KI»
HMttHtJ iivi.f n ru n i.kmi »•
that would not lx- engraved with the cross that is part of
Duke’s official seal
Elsewhere, however, religious students have been turn
ing away from political activity and focusing more attention
on spiritual growth In Rhode Island, for example, the hot
test political issue is Question 14. a referendum that would
ban abortion and some forms of birth control. Hut while
feminists and others have been active in their opposition.
Brown University Christians have contented themselves
with writing letters to the Brown Daily Herald to express
their support. Some religious leaders worry that the empha
sis on personal salvation amounts to a kind of selfishness
"There is in a private sort of way a growing excitement, but
there still tends to lx- a division between private and public
life,” says Kevin Offner, staff coordinator of the Brown
Christian Fellowship. "We need toget beyond the personal
and talk about social and po
litical things.”
Devious attractions: Other
students would prefer that
religion were more private
still. Colette Jordan, a senior
at Illinois, says she resents
the "Bible thumpers” who
have ambushed her in the
dorms. 'They’d ask you
what you believed or if you
believed and try to suck you
in," she com pla i ns The reac
tion was even stronger at
IT, where in 1981 students
organized Students for Free
dom from Religion, an athe
istic organization created
"tofurthertheFirst Amend
ment separation of church
and state " The group dis
banded in 198,'f ("Atheists
are a hard group to organ
ize," says its former "pope,"
Jay Cherint but evangelism
at Texas continues to stir up
occasional fights.
On a typical afternoon
Religion fosters
a sense of ethnic
identity—but it
can also breed
intolerance and
ethnocentricity