Search for direction takes varied routes
By SUSAN MUSHENO
Collegian Staff Writer
Interest In spiritual matters appears to
be growing at Penn State these days.
Indeed, as the Rev. Robert C. Boyer, of
United Campus Ministry said, “Students
seem to be looking for certainty and
direction."
Often students are looking for hope,
but receive doctrines of fear and hate,
Shelley .Hamilton, chaplain for- the
Metropolitan Community Church, said.
"We live in a broken, anguished, in
secure world and, having tried
everything else, people are turning tb
spirituality."
'We live in a broken, anguished, insecure world
and, having tried everything else, people are
turning to spirituality.'
Whatever a student may be looking for
in the way of a spiritual group to identify
with, he can probably find it on campus
or in town. Membership in the area's
Christian evangelical groups seems to
be on the upswing, but there are also
smaller religious organizations that offer
a place for the individual who is looking
for something else.
For those looking for direction and
certainty, there are evangelical groups
like the Campus Crusade for Christ and
the Navigators, which offer a high level
of these qualities, according to the Rev.
Mr. Boyer. He said these groups have
become very active in the past three
years.
Campus Crusade has 230 dedicated
members, according to Sherman Brand,
Campus Crusade director. Since its start
here in 1968, it has been growing every
year, he said. Dedicated members
conduct Bible studies in the dorms and
on campus, but there are many other
crusaders who haven’t committed
themselves, he added.
All of the evangelical groups such as
Campus Crusade, Lamb, Navigators and
Inter-Varsity are basically the same in
their doctrines, but differ in various
aspects of their minstry, Brand said.
"They all believe in the need for a per
sonal relationship with Jesus,” he
added.
The kind of person who joins Campus
Crusade "is one who begins to realize
that he needs to search for something to
fill out his life," according to former
student Crusade president, Darrell Barr.
Members have all kinds of
backgrounds, Barr added, "some from
harsh backgrounds involving heavy drug
use, and others from very straight
church-oriented backgrounds.”
Perhaps the reason the evangelical
Moral values and PSU lifestyle may conflict
By KAREN EGOLF
Collegian Staff Writer
“But all my friends get high every
weekend.
"My roommate's sleeping with her
boyfriend, but they're going to get
married anyway, so what’s the dif
ference?
“I used to go to church every Sunday,
but not now."
For most students, coming to college
means starting to live an entirely dif
ferent lifestyle. And with that new
lifestyle comes a questioning of
traditional values and beliefs that a
person has held throughout his life.
"This is common and desirable,”
David Brown, clinical psychologist at the
Mental Health Center, said. "Growth and
maturity arrive out bf conflict."
Even so, many students are troubled
by this uncertainty and question not
only the change in their values, but also
the change in themselves.
"Most students’ values and ethics
aren't formed anyway," Brown said, "and
tentative values do undergo some kind of
challenge, and then changes and
modifications.”
Problems arise from students’ needs
to fit in with their peer groups, according
to Jo Ann Farr, associate professor of
psychology. In trying to fit in, they
sometimes feel that their value system Is
being threatened, she said.
If students find the values they hold
being challenged, they must ask
themselves if these are values they wish
tin
groups are. growing is their structure
around the priclple of "spiritual
multiplication," which Ben Blakiston,
spokesman for the Navigators,
described as “one person learning how
to Impart his life and what he has learned
with others.”
While' the evangelical groups seem to
be receiving more attention, the peak
interest in Eastern religions seems to
have passed for Western students,
according to the Rev. Mr. Boyer.
Although students from Eastern
countries seem to be very active in their
homeland religions, Western students
only seem to 'be interested in certain
—Shelley Hamilton,
Metropolitan Community Church
aspects such as meditation and diet, he
said.
Buddhism, for example, is often just a
complementary religion for Christians,
according to Clifford Young, graduate
student who is teaching the Free-U
course in Buddhism this term. He said
many people ' value the Dhyana, or
Buddhist meditation, which is said to
give one an awareness of the world or
self.
Buddhism, a non-theistic religion
which has its roots in India, is not
represented by an organized group on
campus. Young said this is probably
because Buddhism is subject to dif
ferent interpretations, and people are
usqally in varying degrees of in
volvement.
One of the smallest religious groups
on campus, known as the Ba’hal, has
only three members. However, their
leader, Ira Graffman, said there are about
five Ba’hais here in total. This religion is
centered around the philosophy of a
"oneness of mankind." It had its origins
in Persia 100 years ago. Even though
membership is small, the Ba’hais have
had a student group here for seven
years, Graffman said.
‘‘Spiritually, it's the same as
Christianity, but it is socially updated,"
Graffman said. Ba’hais believe that
religion needs to be unified on a world
wide basis and that different periods of
timd bring new prophets because of the
need for changed The universal prophet
today, in Ba’hai philosophy, is the
Persian prophet Baha’U’llah.
Graffman, who was formerly a Jew,
said followers come from all strata of
society. They don’t indulge in the use of
alcoholic beverages or drugs.-other than
what a doctor might prescribe, he said,
and chastity before marriage is ex-
to hold, the Rev. John Wenzke of the
Lutheran Campus Ministry said.
Problems can arise when a person’s
actions conflict with his value system.
- “Anxiety is the result of doing a
behavior in conflict with one's value
system," Farr said. People should think
before taking action and check out If this
behavior coincides with the values they
hold, she said. They must decide if
they’re really willing to accept
responsibility for their behavior.
■ “Values and, ethics and attitudes are
supposed to be useful in here-and-now
situations," Brown said. "Taking in
values from childhood is much more
destructive than having them challenged
or questioned.”
Students also question religious
beliefs and organizations. Many people
come from a home environment where
religion Is stressed, even slightly, to the
University, where religion is diversified,
and atheism is common.
"At home, Sunday Mass Is a must,"
Father Leopold Krul, chaplain of the
Newman Student Association, said. “Up
here, you hear from all angles that it
isn’t."
According to Farr, religious values can
generate conflicts when people aren't
sure why they're doing something.
Problems arise when they don’t know if
they're doing it because they feel It’s
yvk/ff\
:.ka
Students may naturally question childhood beliefs
Students return to the Lord's told
By GINA CARROLL
Collegian Staff Writer
Johnstown is Catholic, Altoona is
Protestant and State College is pagan
■ or at least that's the way It's popularly
believed to be. Campus and community
religious leaders disagree about State
College’s pagan rating. Religion,
however, is badk in style in State
College.
No one seems to be able to say why
religion has enjoyed a return to
- popularity in the-last four to five years.
Organized religion was downtrodden
duripg the '6o’s because of the aversion
to institutions prevalent then. But the
radicalism has cooled, and organized
religion is again popular.
None of the religious leaders In
terviewed could say why religion was on
the rise. Students who were asked also
looked stumped. Their reasons forgoing
to churches or to synagogues varied
from “my religious fervor" to enjoyment
of the music to a review of the prayers
"so my parents will think their children
go to services regularly.”
Many reasons were given for not going
to church, though. Tiredness after a long
weekend of partying was the major
reason given for not going to church and
non-interest in religion or lack of output
from the service was ranked second by
students interviewed.
pected.' Their dress and lifestyle is the
same as any other students.
One spiritual group which very
definitely changes a person’s lifestyle is
the Hare Krishna sect. There is an active
group living on a farm near Port Royal,
south of State College, according ,to
Verena Visser, a University student who
visited with the Krishnas for a Speech
200 project.
According to Visser, there's an open
invitation for anyone to go to the farm
anytime and stay as long as they want.
The media accuses this spiritual sect of
brainwashing and kidnaping, Visser
said, but she added that she came to the
conclusion that Hare Krishnas are just
very persuasive and people who are
impressionable might be influenced by
them.
They focus their whole life on trying to
make peace with their maker. They live
their doctrines thoroughly, Visser said.
They lead self-sufficient lives, usually on
farms, and educate their own children.
“Their philosophy is ’if it doesn’t have to
do with Hare Krishna, then what good is
it,’" Visser said.
The Hare Krishnas are seen now and
then in yellow robes and the men often
have shaved heads except for one small
pony tail by which they can be yanked to
heaven. The group is devoted to the
major Hindu' god, Krishna. Indian
missionaries brought the Krishna faith
to the U.S. in 1966, but they have not
been extremely successful in gaining
converts, according to Visser..
Another local religious organization is
the Metropolitan Community Church
(MCC). It is a Christian organization that
is open to people from every ethnic,
'They (the evangelical groups) all believe in the
need for a personal relationship with Jesus.'
spiritual, social and racial background.
Hamilton said its membership is
predominately homosexual, but
members don't refer to their church as a
"gay” church.
"This fellowship is open to anyone
with an open heart who Is reasonably
intelligent,” she said.
MCC, which has 30 active members of
differing denominations, is fairly liberal
in the sense that members don’t in
terpret the Bible literally, and
congregation members are encouraged
to participate in some services.
“I preach the gospel as I interpret it,
but I make sure they (the MCC members)
realize that this is what I think, and their
perceptions are just as valid as mine,"
Hamilton said.
The Unitarian Fellowship also has
relatively liberal doctrines. "We like to
fight or because some religious slbility for his actions, Farr said. If he
authority tells them It's right. relies on the institution to tell him what
If the person says he knows what he is to do, then he accepts no personal
doing is right, then he’s saying he knows responsibility.
who he Is and he is accepting respon- “It’s one thing to glve a person a set of
Community religious leaders seem to
have left most of the responsibility of
getting students to church to the
campus ministries.
“You can’t build a church on
students," the Rev. Henry Shaffer,
pastor of the Assembly of God church in
State College, said. “Our family Is the
community. We invite the students to
join our family, but our services are not
student-based," he said.
Most of the students who said they
use town church facilities said they do
so because they live in town. Campus
students aren't drawn to the services in
town because of the availability of
campus services, transportation and the
lack of a more strenuous effort to bring
the studentslnto the churches.
Attendance at the town churches
seems to remain fairly constant —.none
of the clergymen interviewed said they
could discern any trends at any time
during the term. But many students said
they only went to church during times of
stress when they were having per
sonal problems like during mid-terms
and finals, or when they felt they needed
a respite from too much partying,
“I like to go every once In a while just
to make sure God hasn't forgotten about
me," a sth-term agriculture major said. "I
like t 6 think I can go there (to church)
after a particularly rowdy Friday and-or
think of ourselves as liberal,” Gerald M.
Moser, University professor of Por
tuguese and member of the local
Unitarian church, said.
Unitarians usually have an in
dependent nature. “Each member has an
obligation to develop his own beliefs,”
Moser said. Members may be agnostics,
humanists, evangelicalists, nature
worshippers' and even atheists. The
fellowship’s only qualifications, ac
cording to the local chapter's con
stitution,. is for members to have
"sympathy with its purpose and a
willingness to undertake the appropriate
responsibility of membership."
Unitarian Fellowship President
Barbara Seibel said there was a campus
student group in the late 50’s and early
60’s, but religion wasn’t popular among
youth then, and the group is no longer
together. Today there are probably 10
students among the 200 members who
attend the Unitarian Fellowship Church
on Ridge Avenue.
If no religion seems to fit your
lifestyle, perhaps you can identify with
the American Atheists Society, founded
in -1963 as the “Society of
Separatlonists" because their main
premise was to separate school and
business from the church.
Spokesman for the society, Secretary,
John G. ' Murray said they • have
60,000 family members of their
organization. However, he said mem
bership in the organization does not
represent all atheists in the country
since many people who are in business
and politics are afraid of public
criticism. Surveys in the past two years
show that 25 to 27 per cent of Americans
—Sherman Brand,
director, Campus Crusade for Christ
are atheist or agnostic in their views,
Murray said.
Atheists, who believe that there is no
proof of the existence of God and no
need of or use for a god, feel that
prayers in schools or government
councils are infringing on Americans'
rights, Murray said.
Atheism, naturally, is a very in
dependent thing, but there are a number
of atheist organizations spread across
the nation, Murray said. The closest one
to State College, however, is in New
Jersey.
Maybe it’s time to consider what some
of these organizations have to offer.
Whether it is Christianity, Buddhism or
atheism; they all involve a commitment
to a lifestyle. But it’s up to the individual
to investigate with care, and with an
open mind.
V#sDirtfcl
Saturday night and still feel that He
hasn’t quite forsaken me yet, even
though most of the time I forsake Him.”
Most of the students contacted said
they thought the sermons and teachings
of the churches were somewhat
challenging to them. "It gives me
something to think- about," Bianca
Rauch (6th-religious studies) said.
“We strive to make the church's
teachings intelligible," the Rev. Eugene
Gomulka, a priest at Our Lady of Victory
Catholic church, said. "We want to make
our teachings challenging, not just
adapt to current social and political
philosophies.” •
Students and clergy both agree there
is rapport, both ecumenical and per
sonal, among them. Father Gomulka
said his church has a professional
counseling service and employs outside
counseling as well, as do most of the
other town churches.
Campus ministries usually counsel
callers themselves and refer some calls
to outside agencies like OASIS, which is
run by the Lutheran Campus ministry.
Many of the Christian activities on
campus are used to help attract students
to join in the church services, according
to student members.
“We are also here to provide an op
portunity for fellowship and camaraderie
Diverse religious concepts
have traditional beginnings
By LUTHER H. HARSHBARGER
Professor of Humanities
and Religious Studies
In American society in general and on
our college campuses In particular, there
are myriads of modern quests for
salvation in search for adequate stan
dards of action, personal maturity and
social relevance.
There is also a certain pathos in the
pursuit of hope in some religious
movements which are poor in ideas, rich
in sympathy, mystic in piety and literal
in ethics.
This is a generation which clamors
after meaning In a quest which ranges
from “guru fascination" to “Jesus
freaks.” This new religiosity can be
described variously as faddish in quality,
traditional in its literalism, restorationist
in character and Promethean in its
alienation,.
Happenings like experiments in new
modes of communal living and the
yearning for ecstatic and charismatic
moments may seem a long way from the
time in 1874 when the president of Penn
State held a week-long revival meeting
and afterwards reported that “all the
students were converted;” or Frank
Buchman's launching of the Moral
Rearmament Movement 4\ Penn State in
the teens of the twentieth century. But
several of these stand
solidly, in the American tradition of
revivalism, especially of the Second
Great Awakening of the nineteenth
century.
This can be seen in two ways. It is not
always understood that tradition starts
by being radically upsetting,
representing radical change in thought,
behavior, manners and morals inspired
by a future hope. It is a way of making
the past relevant to the present and to
provide a means whereby personal
appropriation becomes possible.
This concern manifests itself in the
awakening of interest in the myths,
symbols and rituals of living religions.
' American culture and the University
itself are singularly barren of meaningful
rituals and symbolizations. Why not cut
entirely free of any appeal to the past
and concentrate rather upon the con
temporary world and experience?
What could be more irrelevant, for
rules," she added. “It’s another to expect
him to know how to follow those rules.”
Strongly religious groups also harm
many students. “The Image of most sect
groups does a disservice," the Rev. Mr.
Wenzke said. "It has a negative impact in
the long run.”
He said this Is due to the anti
intellectual appeal these groups have in
an academic community they try to
manipulate the emotions of the lonely.
Often it is a student's family who has a
lot to do with his adjustment and value
problems.
“A lot of Jewish families have ignored
them (children) and have not given them
strength,” Rabbi Elazer Grafsteln, Hillel
director, said. Basic value conflicts do
not arise with a number of Jews, he
added, "because their families have
forsaken their values.”
One way Jewish students can work
together and maintain their religious
values' and lifestyle is through Churvah,
a group of students who live at Hillel.
“Conflicts in values will not arise with
positive surroundings,” Rabbi Grafstein
said. "Conflicts can be resolved with a
group working together with similar
values.”
Many times, parents also interfere
with a student’s search for a new
lifestyle. According to the Rev. Ned
Weller, director of the Wesley Foun
dation, there are problems with parents
The Daily Collegian Wednesday, April 6,1977
among the students,’’ one Newman Club
member said. “But most of the in
formation circulated about our activities
is done during the announcement period
at Mass, so other students who aren’t
members, don't really know what’s going
on unless they find out from their
friends.”
Word of mouth is the primary means
of communication used to convey
messages of upcoming social events or
meetings or Bible study. Some of the
churches and organizations also use
fliers, mailing lists, newspaper ad
vertisements and posters to announce
their meetings.
Not many of the town churches
sponsor socials for students. These have
been tried in the past and were generally
unsuccessful. Some churches have open
Bible study sessions for those who wish
to participate, as do the campus
ministries.
Speculation as to why the social hours
weren’t successtul was focused on bad
timing, a lack of publicity, heavy
workload for classes and an abundance
of social activities available on campus.
The clergy agreed that religious ac
tivity among students will probably
continue to increase in the next few
years. Perhaps this increased activity
will eventually explode the myth of State
College’s paganism.
example, than University convocations
or the age-old office df the liturgy? Yet,
by these seemingly incohgruous acts of
marching in an academic procession in
academic regalia, kneeling in a cathedral
chancel and chanting antiphons, people
have spoken across the generations
concerning their own responses to the
mystery through which they found
themselves and gave meaning and
direction to the whole of human life.
Traditions grow through this suc
cession of generations reaching out their
hands to each other in the same spirit
spanning the ages. This means a return
to one’s sources, although each
generation has to understand anew the
meaning of these crucial works and
symbols.
A radical shift has been taking place in
the last 20 yearns in the scholarly en
terprise in religion. Until recently,
religious studies were among the fastest
growing disciplines, especially in state
universities. This development is a
remarkable event in the history of
American education and scarcely could
have been anticipated.
Religious studies, in the context of
public education, are relatively new. In
this context, religious studies are public
and cultural enterprises, not esoteric
ones. Moreover, religion as a human
phenomenon is studied widely in this
University as subject matter in many
disciplines.
At the very least, the existence of
religious studies’ courses and students’
interest in their study alter the cir
cumstances in which beliefs are learned
and commitments expressed. It means
that the process by which belief is in
formed ahd acted upon is that of serious
inquiry and testing. This can lead to
commitment or non-commitment, but in
any case, to better informed choices.
So I see these "happenings”, though
seemingly disparate, as curiously
related. It may well be that interest in ail
of them springs from personal probing
and searching for self-identity in a
chaotic world and from a profound sense
of the disproportion between the
prevailing myths and the prevailing
sense of life which seeks a sense of
place.
who want their children to be exactly as
they are.
“A child finds new values or lifestyles
and some of them (parents) tell the
children they can’t come home,” he said.
Many parents send their children to
school so they can eventually get a good
job, buy a home and support a family,
Weller said. Often the children find out
what life is all about and decide to do
something they think is more satisfying
and worthwhile for themselves.
College is a time to evaluate one's
values and to question what one wants
from life.
’ "Values don’t change drastically,” the
Rev. Robert Boyer of United Campus
Ministry, said. “Most people go through
a rebellious period, but most end up
behaving quite a bit like their families." .
The Rev. Mr. Boyer said he would like
life to be more free and revolutionary,
however. He said he would like to see
people working for peace, justice and
brotherhood and, to do that, society
must change. He said Christianity is one
way to achieve this, as any organized
religion is a means to this end.
"One can, hopefully, find through it a
way to relate directly to fundamental
values," the Rev. Mr. Boyer said.
Everyone must decide for himself
what he believes and what he values. As
the Rev. Mr. Wenzke said: “The
University is a time and place where
people begin to explore and decide for
themselves what values they want to
hold.” ' ■