Religious life on campus

Many students associate college with its pop culture image: parties, drinking and sex.

And… Many students associate college with its pop culture image: parties, drinking and sex.

And although some college students do drink and party to celebrate the end of their school week, Omar Ayash, a recent Pitt grad, abstained from such activities since coming to Pitt almost four years ago.

The molecular biology, neuroscience and economics major explained that although the college environment makes it especially difficult to abide by the Islamic belief that drinking is a sin, he managed to find alternative outlets for fun.

“Because [drinking] is so prevalent, it becomes tempting to also think, well, that’s the only way to have fun, but there’s other ways to have fun,” Ayash said. “I’ve been able to have fun for four years without drinking and it’s worked out OK.”

The college life stereotype can make life difficult for students like Ayash, who choose to reject the aspects of college that many religions classify as sinful. Instead they rely on their faith to help them navigate the stresses of student life.

Ayash said that, although the temptation is there to drink, the strength of his faith allows him to reject the temptations.

“In my faith, the greater the temptation to sin, the more you are rewarded for not sinning,” he said. “If I genuinely believe in this, then I’ll find alternatives and I’ll avoid those situations, and if I can’t avoid them, then I’ll just weather the storm.”

Ayash said his faith in Islam has been a source of comfort throughout his college years.

“The reason I would say [religion] is important is the same reason people find comfort in religion, in general, which is that faith and that rock helps you when things get tough,” he said.

Ayash explained that, although finding a healthy balance between student life and religious practices can prove difficult, he has learned to make his faith a priority.

“As a student, every hour of the day becomes accounted for, and even the hours that aren’t explicitly accounted for are implicitly accounted for, because you need to relax your brain, you need to not be at a meeting, you need to not be taking a test,” he said.

Father Joseph Kibler, a Catholic priest at the Ryan Catholic Newman Center near campus, believes that students must understand their religion in order to successfully uphold its practices.

“If the only reason you attend mass at home is to please your parents, then you’re probably not going to see the benefits if you go to mass when you’re away from home,” Kibler said. “Students need to remember the reason to go to mass is to receive instruction and help in living your faith life.”

Kibler believes students must be able to prioritize their activities, in order to find a balance between social life and faith.

“There’s a saying: ‘If you’re too busy to pray, then you’re too busy,’” he said. “It’s kind of like asking how do you fit in eating, or exercise or time with friends.”

One particular issue of contention, especially for Muslim students, is drinking and drug use. That does not mean that all students who identify themselves as religious abstain from moderate alcohol use, though.

Although some religions classify drinking as a sin, Becca Tanen, another Pitt student, believes Judaism encourages it.

The English writing major is the current president of Pitt’s branch of Hillel, a Jewish organization that seeks to enrich the lives of Jewish students.

“We sanctify many holidays, prayers and blessings with wine, [so] it’s not uncommon to find wine at a Friday night celebration if it is for religious purposes,” she said. “Jews have never really felt guilty about [drinking] when they’ve come to college because it’s always been part of our culture.”

Tanen also explained that the Jewish faith is more concerned with the observation of certain rituals than it is with the taboo of pre-marital sex.

“When it comes to pre-marital sex, Judaism does technically forbid it, but they’re not as strict about it as they are about inter-faith marriages and observing some of the laws, like keeping kosher,” Tanen said.

Tanen said that she believes keeping kosher is the most difficult ritual for Jewish students to uphold.

Rabbi Scott Aaron, the community scholar for the Agency for Jewish Learning of Greater Pittsburgh, said the best way to learn to successfully keep kosher and follow other faith-based laws is to do it gradually.

“Don’t worry about doing everything that you can or could do in your home with a real salary, [but] do what you can until you can, or are ready to do more,” Aaron said. “If you are doing the best you can, or what you think is the best for you and your religious outlook, then God will be honored by your efforts and supportive of your choices.”

Aaron, who practices post-denominational Judaism, encourages college students to examine all aspects of their beliefs.

“I think students should experiment with their newfound freedom to see what works for them in terms of all religious observance,” he said.

The rabbi believes students can use religion to learn more about themselves and what they ultimately want out of life.

“It is part of determining personal meaning in daily life,” Aaron said. “You don’t know what you truly believe until you explore and challenge it.”