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{"id":1075,"date":"2017-04-07T12:55:58","date_gmt":"2017-04-07T17:55:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/invisibleboston.micheli.emerson.build\/?p=1075"},"modified":"2017-04-11T11:37:05","modified_gmt":"2017-04-11T16:37:05","slug":"the-significance-of-religion-on-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/invisibleboston.micheli.emerson.build\/?p=1075","title":{"rendered":"Bridging the College Campus\/Religious Divide"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/iframe><\/p>\nEmerson College’s new director of religious and spiritual life talks about the challenges of helping students find spirituality on campus. (Video by Vishakha Mathur)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nBy Corallys Plasencia<\/strong><\/p>\nAt many college campuses in liberal Boston there are few, if any signs, of religious life. <\/span><\/p>\nBut that doesn\u2019t mean students aren\u2019t seeking answers to some of life\u2019s biggest spiritual questions and interviews with several college chaplains indicate that their services may be needed now more than ever.<\/span><\/p>\nThey say religion often takes a back seat to progressive social causes, sometimes making religious students hide their conservative beliefs to avoid confrontation.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cBelieve it or not at Emerson that’s been challenging for a lot of students,\u201d said Brian Indrelie, a protestant chaplain at Emerson College since 2014. \u201cI know particularly when I first came here trying to assess the need, students felt like they had to hide. They couldn\u2019t really talk much about their faith, particularly Christian students.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nNew Spiritual Director at Emerson College<\/strong><\/p>\nHarrison Blum, the new director of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emerson.edu\/spiritual-life\">religious and spiritual life at Emerson College<\/a>, reaches out to help students of all beliefs feel more comfortable on campus and with their spiritual lives.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cI do think there can be a silencing of faith in higher education,\u201d said Blum.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cUnless you present yourself as explicitly religious, the assumption can be that you are secular.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<blockquote>\n\u201cI do think there can be a silencing of faith in higher education.” <\/strong><\/p>\n— Harrison Blum<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<hr \/>\nIndrelie said Blum\u2019s arrival earlier this year was long awaited and he is excited to have someone with a different religious background than most college chaplains head the school\u2019s office of religious and spiritual life. <\/span><\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s very cool to have someone from a Buddhist background,\u201d Indrelie said. \u201cHe connects students with spirituality. He wants people to feel very comfortable in being themselves whatever their background is.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nIndrelie said Blum\u2019s interaction with students is very positive and that people are engaging and interacting with the center for spiritual life in a way they haven’t before. <\/span><\/p>\n\u201cHe\u2019s not just sitting here. He\u2019s going out and building those bridges and his relationships and that what we really need here,\u201d Indrelie said.<\/span><\/p>\nExploring Faith at MIT<\/strong><\/p>\nMIT Chaplain Adam Reynolds describes himself as non-traditional. He’s part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.blueoceanfaith.org\/\">Blue Ocean Faith<\/a>,\u00a0a denomination from Cambridge known for being \u201c<\/span>richly spiritual and supernaturally-focused.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cFor me, I\u2019m a bit non-traditional for a campus chaplain,\u201d Reynolds said. \u201cOne thing I do is I help students who are interested in exploring faith (for) the first time. I\u2019m more focused on holistic health, mental health and offering support. I also work with students of various religions, or no religion, who want to work on <\/span>integrating spiritual with the academic.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nAt MIT, the literature department allows students to take bible classes but Reynolds said most campus religious activities take place outside of the classroom.<\/p>\n\u201cI try to help students find ways to apply either religious practice or spiritual wisdom to have lives that are balanced, holistic and sustainable,\u201d he\u00a0said. He explained that this often isn’t easy as students find it\u00a0hard to\u00a0balance religion with the rigorous academic requirements at MIT.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\nThe Right to be Religious at Boston College<\/strong><\/p>\nMark S. Massa, the dean of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bc.edu\/schools\/stm.html\">Boston College’s School of Theology and Ministry<\/a>, said prospective students\u00a0should consider whether a school is religious or not\u00a0before deciding to attend there, but choosing a secular school doesn’t mean they’ll\u00a0suffer or be silenced for being religious.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nHe noted Yale University is a secular institution that has a very large percentage of Catholic students. \u201cJust because they go somewhere secular doesn\u2019t mean they are deprived for being religious,\u201d he said.<\/p>\nOne of the major religious challenges at Boston College is making Catholic theology understandable to a wide variety of students from different backgrounds, according to assistant theology professor <\/span>Gregorio Montejo<\/span>. He noted that our culture often places religion in direct conflict with scientific progress and that when students approach him with these concerns he introduces “them to an alternative way of doing theology that is more in keeping with rationality.”<\/span><\/p>\n(Xiangqiong Liu contributed to this report.)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Emerson College’s new director of religious and spiritual life talks about the challenges of helping students find spirituality on campus. (Video by Vishakha Mathur) By Corallys Plasencia At many college campuses in liberal Boston there are few, if any signs, of religious life. 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