siTVf I.BONARD
Tim Martindale of the Great Commissions Church waves a
Milile in UT's West Mall while trying to shout above the din
of an antiapartheid debate in the background I have no
authority in myself to tell you how to live," he tells an
audience of about 20 students, but proceeds to do so in the
name of Christ. "You w ill all go to hell if you don't sign up
now and send money,” says a mocking passerby. Another
passerby makes an obscene gesture, while others smile
cynically as they stroll by "You have a warped mind think
ing you can make these judgments,” someone else shouts at
Martindale But the preacher refuses to be drawn into a
personal debate "It's tough to give up your own way of
thinking." Martindale calmly concedes
Most religious groups prefer less public methods
of bringing in converts "We teach bv our example rather
The religious
resurgence
reflects
traditional values
and family
orientation
than pushing it, like other
groups do,” insists S. Mi
chael Zargarov. chairman
of the Bahai Association at
LIT. "It’s abhorrent to me
t hut some groups go banging
door-to-door to tell people
about their faith.” (Bahaism
maintains that all major re
ligions teach an identical
truth i Some evangelists are
not above attracting an
audience through devious
means Recently, for exam
ple, the Duke University
chapter of the Campus Cru
sade for Christ advertised
"a free 90-minute seminar
guaranteed to improve your
grade-point average” At
the Friday-night meeting
Steve Douglass, a Campus
Crusade national vice presi
dent, began with a set of
study guidelines and time
organization techniques—
then abruptly shifted into a
discussion of his relation
Living by th« Booh: Donna
Washington (left> and
Felicity Eherle take
[xirt in a religious study
and discussion group
at Northwestern
ship with God. "These talks
areoneof the easiest ways to
promote our aims at aca
demic schools," said Paul
Konstanski, Douglass’s as
sistant, after the meeting
More than anything else,
however, religious students rely on personal contacts to
spread the word. At UT’sBeauford H Jester Center, a dorm
so large it rates its own ZIPcode, about a dozen students on a
single floor were inducted into the Great Commissions
Church through conversations with dorm mates. Religious
groups at Duke sponsor parties, ice-cream socials and even
weekends at the beach or in the mountains. They also
provide an alternative to the traditional fraternity beer
bust. "Students have told me they think it’s nice to be with a
group where they don’t insist you get drunk and go to bed
with them," says Duke’s Willimon.
Not that Greeks can’t be born-again Christians; Jed
Fearon, a two-year Delta Kappa Epsilon at UNC who
found his new faith six months ago, remains a Deke but
tries not to proselytize "By the same token that I wouldn’t
stand up at a chapter meeting and talk about Samsonite
luggage, I wouldn’t stand up and talk about ... God's
views,” he says. "I just try to show my friends that you can
have a good time without getting drunk and having casual
relations with girls."
Thn marriage vocation: Meeting members of the opposite sex
may be a more significant factor in today’s religious resur
gence than its participants sometimes admit. Colleen Dow
ney, a senior at Illinois, says she knows of at least 10
married or engaged couples who met through St. John’s
Catholic Chapel. "There are people who are really into the
religious vocation,” she says, "but that’s a minority. The
majority are looking for people to marry. Marriage is a
vocation, too ”
Some clergy question just how deeply the mass of new
worshipers feel their religious convictions. Pastor Will Bar
nett of the Lutheran Ministry at USC, for one, believes that
sometimes the interest can be pro forma. "When people are
comfortable materially, they tend to be complacent," he
observes. "And if they are involved with religious organiza
tions it’s more of a social thing, like a country club.” Interest
in Juduism is "booming,” says Rabbi Alan Flam of Brown
University, but in many instances it may be as much an
affirmation as a rejection of Yuppie values. "I sense that
many students think and feel that religious observance is
somethingtheyshouldbedoing...somethingadultsdo,"he
says. "People are looking for a kind of security and
stability."
Perhaps so—yet at campuses around thecountry, religion
is also reshaping lives. The religious revival is unlikely to
change the secular nature of most American universities:
one purpose of education istoquestion rather than to accept.
But religion is clearly fulfilling individual needs that are
poorly served by collegecurriculums: the search for meaning
and a place within the framework of eternity. Whether
future generations of students will embrace religion is a
question better left to God himself. On today’s campuses,
however, faith is a tempting proposition that is drawing
increasing numbers of students back to the fold—and threat
ening more and more clashes between fervor and freedom.
H a k k v Anderson with Ellen Willi a ms in Auntm,
Michael Milstein in Durham. Suzanne Schlosberc
in Pratidtnct, 1. A UK A R u w L K V in Champuinn anil
J i m Zook in ('nape/ Hill