ZU Magazine is a publication of ZU Media. The following is an article from Issue 5: Revolution.
Staff Writer | Heather McCarthy
Most assume Christian campuses are filled with students who spend their spare time reading the Bible and their Sundays in church pews; true to an extent, perhaps. However, Christian campuses such as Azusa Pacific are far more religiously diverse than many might think.
“I personally believe that APU isn’t as Christian as they think they are.”
Lillian Powers sat at a metal table, shielding her face from the sun.
“I thought it was going to be a cool Christian spot with a bunch of good people just doing life together,” Powers laughed, referring to a common saying on APU’s campus.
Powers is agnostic but comes from a Baptist family.
“I didn’t mind the chapel requirements if I could get behind what they were saying,” she said.
That changed for the senior criminal justice major when she arrived at APU expecting to fit in with the community; only then did she realize she didn’t actually agree with the beliefs of many of her friends at the university.
The Office of Institutional Research and Assessment claims that it is hard to say exactly where the faith percentages at APU lie as they are self-declared statistics, and many students choose not to place themselves within a particular denomination.
Nonetheless, a mere 25 percent of students declared themselves to be “Christian.” The remaining percentages include students who identify as atheists, Catholics, Baptists and other denominations.
The facts show that students are of various backgrounds and beliefs, yet the curriculum and requirements of campus serve the evangelical, Wesleyan tradition.
Powers commented on the religious requirements to which the majority of APU students must adhere.
“The chapel requirement and the Bible classes [are] a lot to have when you are openly accepting people who aren’t Christian,” she said, “Then you’re trying to push religion on them.”
As far as chapel is concerned, Powers believes that, “even if it’s one chapel a year that we hear from someone not of Christian faith talk about their walk in life, I feel it would be helpful.”
Powers acknowledges that being a non-Christian on a Christian campus is not always a negative thing. She said she can “offer different points of views” that her classmates might not have.
“While it is a Christian school and that is understandable, I think that there should still be an open conversation allowing dialogue about the fact that there are people who go to APU who aren’t Christian,” she said.
A Pew Research Center study found that Americans were claiming to be less religious and yet growing more spiritual. Numbers rose significantly between 2007 and 2014 both for self-proclaimed Christians and those who identified as unaffiliated.
Azusa Pacific’s mission statement says the university “encourage[s] students to develop a Christian perspective of truth and life.”
The mission statement further says that APU is “a Christian community of disciples and scholars.” Both the religious and academic aspects of this community come together to make the university whole.
“I understand that a Christian perspective of truth and life can be understood as a lens of peace and love,” Powers said, “but why do they accept non-Christians students and then not focus more on the lens of peace and love that is not necessarily straight out of a bible verse.”
Having difficult conversations that create understanding can connect all those in the community, despite differences in beliefs.