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Volume CXXXIII, Number 17 |
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Community reflects on prayer, Passion
EVRON LEGALL
STAFF WRITER
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| The Bowdoin Chapel is one reminder of Bowdoin's Congregationalist roots. Today, the College is home to students from a variety of faiths. (, Bowdoin Orient) |
The College Jury condemned the practice of reading papers in church 114 years ago. Since then, the College has moved away from its Congregationalist roots-and the face of religion has changed drastically at the College-with an immense spectrum of involvement levels in a number of different faiths.
Bowdoin Hillel is a group that serves the Jewish student community. Neal Urwitz '06, a leader of the group, estimates that at least ten people attend the monthly Shabbat services led by Daniel Leeman Cantor of the synagogue in Bath, Maine. Attendance at Passover Seders often approaches 80 people-many of whom are non-Jewish. Figures from the Office of Institutional Research show the percentage of entering first years who indicated a Jewish "religious preference" was 6.7 percent.
At the High Holiday celebrations Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, a few Brunswick residents regularly join with students in ceremonies usually officiated by a guest rabbi. Jewish observances at Bowdoin tend toward the reformed tradition, said Urwitz. To his knowledge, there are no Orthodox Jews at Bowdoin.
Urwitz, who describes his personal beliefs as "conservative"-meaning a bit closer to Orthodox, was able to view the controversial film The Passion of The Christ that has stirred up controversy among many Jewish and Christian commentators. Urwitz was critical of the movie.
"I'm not a fan of it," he said. "I don't understand why many Christians like this movie."
Urwitz, who is a religion major, took umbrage at several portrayals in the movie he thought were inaccurate based on what he had learned in his studies. He didn't perceive the film to be deliberately or overtly anti-Semitic, saying, "If you were looking for it, yes it was."
On the topic of anti-Semitism, he said that he hadn't heard of any such incidents at Bowdoin or in the community at large. Although the Arab-Israeli conflict is particularly thorny, and although he believes that "the vast majority of students are sympathetic toward the Palestinians," Urwitz doesn't think this is indicative of anti-Semitism.
"There's an old joke," said Urwitz, "Two Jews, three views," emphasizing that opinions differ even among Jews. "Bowdoin College has been very supportive of Hillel," said Urwitz.
Urwitz is not alone in the Bowdoin religious community. While the college does not compile statistics about students' religious beliefs during their tenure at Bowdoin, they do have statistics about the religious preferences of the incoming class as gleaned from optional responses on the application. For 2003, 54.6 percent of students self-identify as Protestant/Christian or Roman Catholic, 6.7 percent are Jewish while Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus also comprised 6.7 percent of the freshman class. All express their beliefs in different ways.
Not everyone at Bowdoin holds religious beliefs; just over 30 percent reported that they had no religious preference. One of these is Kathryn Ostrofsky, a sophomore who describes herself as an atheist. In the past, atheists at Bowdoin have met together as a group called the Bowdoin Atheists.
"There is no formal practice atheists all do," said Ostrofsky. "That is one of the main reasons why it is hard to get a group of atheists together."
The group, led by David Butler '03, was formed so that atheists could meet to discuss philosophy and promote a positive image of atheism.
"It is frequently seen as negative, godless, and carries connotations of immorality," said Ostrofsky. "Many people don't understand that the most important and influential morals and values of Christianity are also believed in and practiced by Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, and atheists."
"Another concept of atheism that is understood by very few people is that a person can be religious and atheistic-many Buddhists and Unitarian Universalists, for example, are spiritual and moral and follow religious teachings, yet do not believe in a God," she continued. Ostrofsky said that the campus lacks an adequate discussion about religion, as often times people tend to shy away from such debates.
Dr. Nicola Denzey teaches in the religion department at Bowdoin and has observed a generally open-minded disposition among students.
"I find Bowdoin students curious about religion, and I think our enrollment numbers in the department are a testimony to that curiosity," said Denzey, stressing that attitudes at Bowdoin were far from homogeneous.
While Bowdoin was once ranked by the Princeton Review as a school where students "ignore God on a regular basis," Denzey urged caution when interpreting such broad statements, as it is very difficult to define and measure "ignoring God."
"I think we need to be suspicious and thoughtful about these kinds of surveys," she said. "Frankly, as a scholar, I think that that particular statistic or factoid about Bowdoin students 'ignoring God on a regular basis' is worthless-not because it's gotten the answer wrong, but because it asked the wrong questions."
Denzey was not impressed with the movie The Passion of The Christ, saying that it was "dangerous, manipulative, irresponsible, historically inaccurate, biblically inaccurate, and inflammatory." She said that it was important for both Christians and non-Christians to look critically at the film.
"The film is about Gibson's vision of Christianity," she said. "If it encourages people to pick up the gospels and read them thoughtfully, or to talk to their priests, ministers or parents, or to find out more about Judaism or the historical circumstances around Jesus' death, I think this is wonderful. What really pains me is that from what I've seen, the film has brought a huge amount of division and intransigence, not a huge amount of healing or the desire to be introspective and curious. And that's a big, big shame."
Kahlil Sharif '06 said that people usually find out that he is a Muslim by his name. "Religion for me has always been kind of private," he said. Although the nearest mosque is located in Portland, Sharif makes time to say his prayers twice a day. From time to time, he hears common misconceptions about Islam from students.
"Islam at Bowdoin has been seen as 'all Middle Eastern people,'" said Sharif. "Also, black Muslims aren't really taken as seriously as Middle Eastern Muslims."
Although there isn't any formal group on campus, Muslim students do meet informally. Sharif said that when they meet, they don't divide along racial or other lines. He stressed that under Islam there are not supposed to be any racial or national divisions.
ANOKHA, the South Asian club, celebrates the varied cultures and religions found throughout that region of the world. It is not a religious group, but it is through ANOKHA that Shrinidi Mani '06, a Hindu at Bowdoin, has sometimes been able to express her beliefs. The group puts on events to celebrate religious holidays like Eid-ul-Fitr, which is Islamic, and Divali, which is Hindu-as well as those of other religions in the region. "I feel like it's more a personal thing," said Mani, who said she keeps pictures of Hindu gods in her room and attends temple services when she can back at home.
Senior Colin LeCroy is one of six leaders in the Bowdoin Christian Fellowship, which has a membership approaching 60 people. At least half of that number attends weekly meetings to worship together.
"We seem to get along well, to have a lot of friends in the general college community," LeCroy said of Christians at Bowdoin. "Our message, the need to acknowledge our faults and turn to God, has been controversial for the last 2,000 years, though, and there are certainly a number of folks at Bowdoin who take issue with it."
He added that this was in part because of the critical nature of a liberal arts education which is central to Bowdoin's charter.
LeCroy said that involvement in local churches is extensive especially among upperclassmen. "I think that the people who've been going to churches regularly have found that multiple generations help up grow in ways that being surrounded by 18 to 22 year olds can't," said LeCroy.
"A lot of us don't understand the charge of anti-Semitism. We've grown up hearing the story in church, and we've never seen the story cause harm to Jews," said LeCroy about Christian reactions to the controversial Mel Gibson movie, "We blame ourselves more than the Romans and the first century Jews for His death."
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