College Students Get Religion

High school students today are more likely to attend church than their parents. The Millenial generation or generation Y is responsible for a transformation from the “Me” generation (Generation X and the Baby boomers) to a “We” generation, one in which students in America are more active in volunteering in their communities.

At a recent event hosted by The Heritage Foundation, Harvard University’s Institute of Politics (IOP) released their latest poll revealing political trends among college-age students in America.

The poll revealed that 70 percent of college students feel religion is an important part of their lives, with 25 percent of students saying they had become more spiritual since coming to college.

And although the IOP’s survey showed that college students are “sharply divided along party lines as to religion’s role in politics: only twenty-one percent (21%) of self-identifying Democrats say they want to hear politicians talk about religion, while more than 2 1/2 times as many Republicans (56%) say the same,” 41 percent of college students consider themselves to be political independents. In determining what it means for a college student to be politically independent of party affiliation, the IOP did a cluster analysis of responses to11 questions in the survey. They found that 44 percent of college students could be identified as traditional liberals compared to 16 percent identified as traditional conservatives.

Similarly the IOP reported, “College students believe many issues at the forefront of political debate today are closely linked to morality,” issues such as gay marriage, abortion and stem cell research. But the IOP found that at least half of college students surveyed felt the “government’s response to Hurricane Katrina was a question of morality” as well.

While the survey showed that the most important issue on college campuses is Iraq, on their Website the IOP said, “Nearly three out of four college students (72%) believe the United States should let other countries and the United Nations take the lead in solving international crises and conflicts.” This is not surprising when you consider the article by Allen Quist posted on EdWatch April 10, 2006 about the curriculum for the International Baccalaureate Organization’s (IBO) International Baccalaureate. Quist said the program, which is offered on college campuses in 90 countries including the U.S., not only promotes the actions and treaties of the U.N., but many of the IBO’s instructional materials are written or overseen by the U.N.

In looking to the future, with student support of Senator Clinton and Senator McCain for President in 2008 split at 40 percent apiece, the IOP advised politicians to give strict heed to the fact that today’s college students are more politically mobilized and Websites such as facebook.com are growing in popularity. From the IOP report: “Of the seventy-six percent (76%) of college students who have a facebook.com account, fourteen percent (14%) have used it to promote a political candidate, event or idea—a number that is likely to rise as we head into mid-term elections and the 2008 Presidential cycle.” Politicians should also note that the number of students that participated in the 2004 presidential election was the highest number since 1972.

Chenoa McKnight is an intern with Accuracy in Media, Accuracy in Academia’s parent group.