Currents Magazine Fall 2013

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IS PEPPERDINE A STRONGLY RELIGIOUS AND CONSERVATIVE COMMUNITY? PRESTON SCHLAGEL (sophomore) Pepperdine itself caters to the religious crowd on campus; there I think that [Pepperdine] is a is a strong and active community very religious school, but it has a for those wishing to pursue the religious options that Pepperdine of- good balance between having a good time and enjoying the religious aspects. equally large presence on campus fers. However, there seems to be an with little or no religious affiliation. Stereotypes or outside perceptions of the university do not seem to focus on this group as PAUTSCH much. After experiencing my freshman year at Pepperdine, I found my perception to be somewhat incorrect. I did encounter people who I consider to be extremely religious and conservative, but I also met quite a few people at the complete opposite end of the spectrum. Generally speaking, Pepperdine does have a very conservative and religious community, but I was surprised to meet such a variety of people. RUNK Being in my third year, I’ve come to find that Pepperdine has more of a religious undertone, rather an outright identity, but since we’re a smaller community, it appears more polarized than it really is. I think it’s also important to point out that there is a fair share of students in the community that aren’t religious at all or put on a façade that they are “good Christians,” but then go out and smoke and drink on Saturday nights before church on Sunday morning. BUCKLEY LEE I believe that although we are indeed a religious community, Pepperdine is not a conservatively Christian university where it enforces, rather than demonstrates,Christian values onto its students like some Christian universities do today … In Pepperdine, students are bestowed with the right to freely choose how they wish to worship God or practice Christianity. Instead of restricting, regulating or directing the students’ religious lives in set, conservative and traditional methods, our administration actually supports the students’ freedom to worship however they wish. MATTHEWS I taught in rural Arkansas for 4 years at a Church of Christ university with a similar faith based mission as Pepperdine. Pepperdine is generally viewed as a non-conservative institution with only marginal ties to the Churches of Christ. When one faculty member, for example, found out that I was moving to Pepperdine, his response was that I should work on converting some of the faculty. In the context of Southern California, Pepperdine appears to be conservative, which is perceived differently in somewhere like Arkansas. What students complain about being conservative here at Pepperdine, (chapel once a week and three semesters of courses in Religion) is viewed as quite liberal in Arksansas where the requirements include daily chapel and eight semesters of courses in Religion. JONES JOLIVET I believe it takes the whole community of students, faculty, alumni, boards, administrators, staff and community partners to enact and embody [the aforementioned] vision. This is an organic process that invites us a community of learners to practice virtues like humility, truth seeking, sacrificial love, justice, sense of interdependency and understanding. This is a work in progress, to be sure, but I’m confident that our faith serves as a resource to us in cultivating our communal life together. 26 | <strong>Currents</strong>
DO YOU BELIEVE THERE ARE FALSE STEREOTYPES ABOUT PEPPERDINE BECAUSE OF ITS RELIGIOSITY? SCHLAGEL I believe there are a lot of untrue stereotypes about Pepperdine; people think all we do is pray to God and study, which isn’t true, but if that’s what you enjoy doing, all the resources to do that are here. PAUTSCH The stereotype that circulates Pepperdine is that every student is a close-minded, bible-thumping, goody good. However, this past year I talked to atheists, agnostics, democrats, republicans, independents, heterosexuals, homosexuals and bisexuals alike, and it was refreshing to speak to very open-minded people. Overall, it is obvious Pepperdine has a strong community of faith-centered individuals (including myself ), but I was actually impressed by the differences in beliefs I encountered still. BUCKLEY Stereotypes about Pepperdine due to its religiosity would get a vague, “it’s not what you think” response from me. Either people have a view of Pepperdine that it is a very strict school in regard to rules, like Grove City College in Pennsylvania or Harding, or they think that it is a Christian-inname-only school, like SMU in Dallas. Pepperdine seems to exist on a happy medium — it’s a good blend of religion and collegiate life, where students are encouraged to be religious, yet not “punished” if they are not. LEE Analyzing the validity of the religious stereotypes cast about Pepperdine (at least the ones I have heard) is a difficult task because we truly do not know how religious our students are. Admittedly, it has become quite simple and easy to wear a Christian mask in public while not practicing Christianity as the Bible intended you to. In other words, students who you might think are not religious might actually be religious, and students who you might think are religious might not actually be good Christians. MATTHEWS I think one untrue stereotype is the perception of Pepperdine as a liberal university that only pays lip service to religion among conservative churches — that seems to be slowly changing, especially among local congregations in Southern California. One local Church of Christ congregation told me that they are now encouraging their members to attend the annual Pepperdine lectureship, something they admitted was unthinkable not even ten years ago. <strong>Currents</strong> | 27
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