Religious Colleges

[pugbelly2]

Anyone ever attend a religious college and you're not religious? I have found a program that I love but am a bit apprehensive about because it's a really religious university. The on campus program has chapel requirements and required religion courses. The online master's degrees don't have those requirements. The textbooks all appear to be the regular college textbooks except for one which is a book of management proverbs. I'm not religious at all. This is what I'm struggling with. The university is open to all faiths and has a mix of students. I'm thinking this could make for some interesting talks in the ethics class! Everything I have read about the school and the discussions I've had with staff have been great and really supportive which as an online student is really important. Religion has not come up at all in any of my conversations which I think is a bit interesting. Has anyone gone to a religious school and what was your experience? What did you struggle with? What worked for you?

From a strictly academic perspective, learrning secular subjects through a Christian worldview, if you are not already a person of faith, could be quite rewarding. You're still going to learn the meat and potatos of the given subject. The faith-based perspective could be a nice academic extra if you allow it to be because you'll receiving some insight into the worldview of about 2.6 billion people. 

Pug

To this I would only add that in my own opinion, one need not take courses at a religious school in order to get insight into that worldview.  We are surrounded by that worldview.  It dominates our culture and this fact is at least near the core of much of the social debate in this country.  Beyond that I'd only point out that there are several other easily accessible ways to learn about religious culture.  Books are free at your local library.  Youtube, podcasts can be used as well.  



I would argue that the vast majority of Americans who claim a faith have absolutely no idea about it. They don't attend services, don't read related material, and certainly don't have a grasp on the worldview professed by the faith leaders. IMO, America today is dominated by secularism with a very loud, very vocal minority from the faith communities.