God Goes to Harvard

It looks like Christianity is alive and well at Harvard:

The Reverend Peter Gomes, Minister of Harvard’s Memorial Church, says, “There are probably more evangelicals [on Harvard’s campus today] than at any time since the seventeenth century.” The Ivy League’s desire for diversity opened new doors for religious students. Evangelical groups today sponsor campus-wide forums, Bible studies, and debates about the relevance of faith to everything from science to international affairs.

In part, this can be attributed to the growing number of Asian-American students. On many Ivy League campuses, they have come to dominate evangelical groups. At Yale, 90 percent of the Campus Crusade for Christ members are Asian American; in the 1980s, the same chapter was 100 percent white. In fact, the growing presence of Asian-Americans on elite campuses may be the single largest demographic factor in evangelicalism’s ascent at places like Yale and Harvard.

Regional diversity has also been important. Harvard made a concerted push to recruit talented students from all over the country, and it now draws students from parts of the country where evangelicalism is vibrant—the South and Midwest. This, coupled with the fact that evangelicals are less likely than other religious groups to abandon their faith when they head off to college, has created an upsurge of evangelicals on campus.

Also see Faith in the Halls of Power by D. Michael Lindsay.

(HT Joe Carter)