Faith in the Steel City: Religion on campus

After years of having their parents decide whether or not they went to church or religious services, many Pitt students are actively taking part in religious organizations of their own accord, and the organizations are thriving.

In 2012 the Public Religion Research Institute conducted the Millennials Value Survey, which showed that college-aged millennials are more likely to identify as religiously unaffiliated than the general public. But for religious leaders and Pitt students like Mashal Wakilpoor, faith has guided them through the mysteries of young adult life.

Wakilpoor, the president of the Muslim Student Association, said college presented the opportunity to discover what kind of person he was. 

When he first came to college, Wakilpoor felt guilty going to parties, even though he didn’t drink or smoke, while still participating in the traditional Islamic practice of praying five times a day and reading the Qur’an. Three years later, Wakilpoor said these struggles led him to understand why certain things were said in the Qur’an.

“My religion’s role became more fluid and accepting of mistakes, and it allowed me to become closer to my beliefs in a different way,” Wakilpoor said in an email. “And once I knew the reason [for the rules], it strengthened my belief.”

For Hillel Jewish University Center president Zach Schaffer, a junior, faith posed its own questions.

Family and culture play a heavy role in Judaism, which Schaffer said thrives on one generation passing the tradition down to their own children. 

When he came to college, Schaffer questioned whether he would take it upon himself to continue that faith, since his parents were no longer forcing him to attend services or follow the dietary restrictions.

Schaffer said the college campus attitude wasn’t a welcoming environment for religious students, and he had to make social sacrifices to stay connected to his faith.

“[Judaism] gained a higher level of importance because it was my choice,” Schaffer said. “I was no longer doing it just because of family pressure or because it was what I’d always done.”

Christian leaders, too, at both H2O, a Protestant church designed specifically for college-aged students, and the Catholic Newman Center on Bayard Street, said the college students they interact with are asking deeper questions of themselves and their faith.

According to Zakk Roberts, a minister with H2O who has been working with the group since its installment in the fall of 2012, the students in H2O come from a wide variety of backgrounds, majors and beliefs, all drawn together by their want to learn about and question God and Christianity. 

“College is the perfect time to wrestle through the questions ‘what do I believe and why?’” Roberts said in an email. 

The Rev. Joshua Kibler, a Catholic priest at the Newman Center, said he encourages students to ponder life’s deeper meaning.

“Answering questions such as ‘what does it mean to love truly?’ and ‘how do I handle fear in my life?’ and ‘what is the truth of things, and is there even such a thing?’ is derived from the kind of person we are,” Kibler said. 

Kibler said he helps upwards of 1,500 students a year at weekly services and confessions at the Newman Center and St. Paul’s Cathedral, on the corner of Fifth Avenue and N. Dithridge Street, find the answers they are searching for.

College is a time when students must decide if their religion is just a practice of their family or a principle of their own choosing, according to Kibler. And for Catholic students who do respond, he said they find a life of giving thanks and recognizing dependence on God. 

Kibler said a shift toward more individual attention in campus ministry has allowed students to puzzle out their religious questions.

Over the last ten years, the Newman Center realized that not everyone comes from the same religious background. Students ranged from those with eight years of Catholic schooling and acting as altar servers to those who hadn’t crossed the threshold of a church since their baptisms, according to Kibler. Through its efforts, H2O too has helped students engage with Christianity. 

“I love [the students’] willingness to engage with life’s big questions and consider whether or not the Christian faith provides a truthful response to those questions,” Roberts said.