Faith on Campus

An Op-Ed piece from the New York Times, "Matters of Faith Find a New Prominence on Campus," a week ago, May 2, 2007, comments on the interest college students have with religion. Peter Gomes, the Harvard University Chaplain writes, "There is probably more active religious life now than there has been in 100 years."

Some college officials attribute it to the influence of the religious right in politics, to a renewed interest in religion as a result of 9/11, and a large influx of evangelical students and international students who practice their faith. Even Berkeley has seen a large rise in religious students.

I would also suggest this phenomenon is a function of our inherent need to worship, the subject of last Sunday's sermon. I find it particularly ironic in light of Freud's belief that with the scientific revolution and the increase of knowledge religions would atrophy as knowledge increased. The very place where one would expect Freud's thesis to be most evident, is in the university.