College And Spiritual Growth

Now Religion in the News, a report and comment on religious trends and events being covered by the media.This week’s item is from UCLA Newsroom December 18, 2007, with a headline:“Students Experience Spiritual Growth During College,” the following are excerpts:During their first 3 years of college students tend to become more caring, more interested in spirituality and more politically liberal, according to a UCLA study, the first longitudinal research project of its kind.Many students are emerging from the collegiate experience with a desire to find spiritual meaning and perspective in their every day lives, said UCLA Emeritus professor Alexander W. Aston, co-principal investigator for the project.The data suggests that college is influencing students in positive ways that will better prepare them for leadership roles in our global society.While their attention to spiritual and ethical values show marked increases, college students attendance at religious services indicates a steep decline.The rate of frequent attendance drops from 43.7% in high school to 25.4% in college, and the rate of non-attendance nearly doubles from 20.2% to 37.5%.“Students interest in spirituality and religion is at a level not seen since perhaps the 1950’s,” said Colgate University President Rebecca Chop, a scholar of religion and American culture.Religion and spirituality are important aspects of well-being and character development, and colleges need to support the growing interest and activities of our students.

Tom:

Dave, spirituality, it’s growing on campuses, but certainly not Biblical spirituality.

Dave:

Well, they want to be space cadets, and I think we mentioned it even last week.We talked to people who were New Agers.For example:Oh, yeah, I’m spiritual, but I’m not religious.And by that they mean, I don’t want any rules, I want to be able to flit around out there in the astroplane and do my own thing and get my spiritual feelings, I’m becoming very spiritual.So that seems to be what’s going on here.

Tom:

Well Dave, that’s being underscored in these words:“Students tend to become more caring, more interested in spirituality and more politically liberal.”How do those things work together?

Dave:

Well, more caring, not caring for the soul, not caring for the truth of the gospel, but interested in spirituality because these things come and go.This is the “in” thing now. There are so many people who are “spiritual.”By the way, I just had my hips done again—well, one of them, and I don’t look forward to it, but I have the next one in another 3 months, and the administrator was no longer there, a nun, it’s a Catholic hospital, and she has a Ph.D. in spirituality.And when I was in there before every doctor that had anything to do with me it was in my chart, all the nurses knew, I would like to see Sister, and I won’t use her name, so and so.Now, my wife and I used to own a convalescent hospital and I was the administrator, and I can tell you if a patient wanted to see me, the administrator, I’m right there! But this lady avoided me like the plague.What I wanted to know was, how do you get a degree in spirituality?And how do you define spirituality, and what is this?This is not Biblical stuff.The word, spirituality, doesn’t appear once in the King James Bible, so I guess it’s, or the New King James, so I would take from that, that God is not interested in spirituality!

Tom:

Right, so what is He interested in, Dave?

Dave:

He wants us to be filled with His Spirit, in submission to Him through Christ.Tom, that comes from studying the Word of God.It comes from meditating, not Eastern meditation but contemplating—thinking.

Tom:

But not Eastern contemplation, not mysticism.

Dave:

No, no.There is so much that we could think about.I could write a few letters to this program that would give us something to think about.But if you start reading the Bible—there is so much depth of meaning that you would never get to the end of it.So why then do we have to avoid that and empty our minds and go in for these vain repetitions that Jesus forbid?

Tom:

Dave, this is a study by UCLA, but it’s supported, interestingly enough, by Sir John Templeton.His program, in which he gives these awards for spirituality, growth and development.But again, it’s not Christian, it’snot Biblical, pseudo-Christian, certainly not Biblical, as you’ve been saying.But Dave, this is a reflection of what we are seeing, this is the apostasy, not just in the church but drawing a world to a spirituality which is anti-Christian, anti-Biblical, and so on.

Dave:

Sir John Marks Templeton, and we don’t have time to go into those details, he is one of the most dangerous men out there.He writes books that are like New Age books—there’s no such thing asheaven orhell, they are states of mind—you’re God, I’m God, everybody’s God.And yet, Billy Graham endorses him, Robert Schuller, of course, endorses him,— who has accepted his prize for progress in religion.In other words, toward the one world religion and the Antichrist.Well Billy Graham accepted it, Charles Colson accepted it, Bill Bright accepted it.So Tom, again, Why?Why isn’t this man reproved?So you have the whole back cover of Christianity Today, advertising one of his books with endorsements by leading Christians.

Tom:

Well, it’s just another indication that discernment has gone by the boards. This spirituality in higher education, students search for meaning and purpose, supported by and funded by the Templeton Foundation, it’s another spirituality, it’s totally bogus!