Equal Participants or Marginalized Religious Citizens? Christian Students in UK Universities

• In Event: Religion on College Campuses: Experiences of Muslim, Jewish, Christian, and Religiously Unaffiliated Students in the United States and United Kingdom

Abstract

In a context where religion has moved over several centuries from the center towards the margins of university life (Stevenson & Aune, 2017), how friendly do UK-based Christian students perceive their universities to be toward faith? Christian students are the largest group amongst religious students (Guest et al., 2013), but they occupy a British context that is simultaneously Christian, secular and multi-faith (Weller, 2008). Legislation recognizes religion as an equality and diversity issue, but also requires its surveillance because of risks of violent extremism. This paper presents new evidence from interviews with 75 Christian students. It finds that most students see their universities as relatively faith-friendly. Provision of campus-based religious activities and freedom of, and respect for, religious expression are important to students. A minority feel differently, reporting that their faith is viewed with hostility, especially in the classroom and organized student social settings. Institutional ethos influences Christian students’ perceptions: these students view Christian-foundation universities as the most friendly to faith, and the modern “post-1992” universities as the least friendly. The degree to which Christian students feel that they are empowered participants in their universities also relates to their perceptions about and expectations for university life (i.e., are they in favor of a secularized university, or do they want religion to have a greater role?).

Author

• Kristin Aune