Religion and Student Experience
Of course, not all staff and students have any interest in religion. We found numerous individuals who were, to use Max Weber’s term, “religiously unmusical.” The issue did not interest all those to whom we spoke by any means:
“I haven’t really experienced, sort of, any religion in university. It hasn’t really been a big part of my life. None of my close family is religious or has been involved in any religious activity or belief. So it’s not really been a part of my life, so it’s not really something I’ve taken steps to look into.”
(Undergraduate student, London, no religious affiliation)
Nevertheless, the majority of people who identify themselves with a particular religious tradition note that it plays a significant—if not always obvious—part in their time at university:
“[Religious belief] directs what kind of friends you’re going to have, once you’ve got that, once you’re in a particular circle of friends, then that directs everything else you do, where you go, what else you do. Like for me, in particular, me being more inclined to become close friends with students with a religious background, that got me into a situation where I became part of a society. Also I know various scholars around, because, maybe, their brothers are studying here. So it does help, in terms of my experience in [this university] with my religion, has a great effect, and it would be much different if I didn’t have the religious aspect to it. So I think the religion itself directs you towards what you want to do. It gives you a path to walk on.”
(Undergraduate student, north of England, Muslim)
Some expressed this as a frustration at having to deal with people having misperceptions about their faith. Occasionally complaints were made about other students (and sometimes staff too) denigrating their faith:
“It affects you, even though the person on the other side does not mean to attack your beliefs and I’ve noticed that. First year, I have just started the course and I have noticed that. Then again, I do think to myself they’re not deliberately attacking my beliefs, me personally. You know it isn’t a bad thing, like she said, it’s such a personal issue.”
(Undergraduate student, north of England, Muslim)
In some cases both students and student support staff working in areas, such as counselling, noted feelings of alienation from the university life among some, whose religious convictions meant they couldn’t participate. For most, this was not a problem, but some found themselves isolated.
