Thursday, December 20, 2007

SPIRITUALITY IN COLLEGE

In a multi-year study of how the college experience influences spiritual development, researchers found an increasing number of undergraduates express a desire to explore the meaning and purpose of life as they progress through school. The findings come from two retired UCLA professors and was funded by the John Templeton Foundation. Here is some of what they found:

• 43.7% of freshman said they frequently attend services. But that drops to 25.4% by the end of their junior year.
• 74.3% of juniors said "helping others in difficulty" was "very important" or "essential," compared with 62.1% of freshmen
• 63.8% of juniors said they supported "improving the human condition," compared with 53.4% of freshmen.
• 41.8% of freshman in 2004 said integrating spirituality into their lives was “very important to them. The percentage rose to 50.4% by the time they were juniors.

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