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Muslim Student Association members participate in the Ohuhr prayer Room in the Club Hub in the Tivoli.

A statue of the Buddha sits inside the St. Francis Atrium.

David Griesinger and Kyle Murphy lead worship songs
during the Campus Crusade for Christ meeting on Feb. 19 in the Tivoli.

Donna L. Drebenstedt of the Menorah Metropolitan Campus Club
gives UCD student Charis Garrett inform ation on the Messianic
Jewish/Christian Organization.

(School) days of worship

Photos by Logan Lyles • llyles@mscd.edu &
Dawn Madura • dmadura@mscd.edu

Editorial By Joe Vaccarelli
jvaccare@mscd.edu

Rachel Papp sits as one of her friends gives testimony at the Campus Crusade for Christ meeting in the Tivoli. She listens closely as her friend talks about her walk with God and the missteps she’s taken in the past and how she corrected them.

As she listens, Papp remembers two years ago, when she came to this campus and the club was inactive. Looking for a club to join and to express her love of God, she sought out the nationwide organization Campus Crusade and revitalized the club.

Many of the religious clubs on campus have gone through similar hardship, but several are still active and sponsoring events on campus.

Religion is a sensitive topic in any arena, but especially on a college campus where it is difficult to find two people with the same thoughts on the subject.

College, for many, is a time to break free of the views their parents instilled in them at an early age and make the decision to accept it, reject it, or maybe just stop caring altogether.

On Auraria, students from almost all walks of life face these decisions, and while many slip into the realm of the agnosticism and atheism, some stick with the faith they were raised with or find something new that suits them.

Metro is home to several clubs and organizations that give students the opportunity to have a religious experience on campus.

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One of the groups on campus is the 15 to 25 member Chabad of Auraria Campus Jewish Organization.

“Our goal on campus is to direct the Jewish community and connect them with their roots,” said Zhanna Kaykova, president of Chabad.

They often share dinner Friday nights before the Sabbath, celebrate Jewish holidays and meet at a rabbi’s house.

Kaykova said the campus is very welcoming to her organization and feels like it has been a positive experience.

Another group is Menorah Ministries, a Messianic missionary ministry of the gospel for Jews and Gentiles that has been on campus for 20 years.

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Christians boast the highest number of religious groups on campus with three groups listed on the school’s website.

Campus Crusade for Christ is one of those groups. They were inactive in 2005, but when Papp, now the president of the club, came to Auraria, she was able to meet with Campus Crusade staff and revitalize the program in 2006.

The group is active on and off campus, serving at homeless shelters and having canned food drives, holding weekly meetings, going on retreats and having Bible studies during the week. Most importantly, the members seem to have a positive experience.

“The people are the best part,” Crusade Vice President Ben Carr said. “We have a good time socializing and catching up. Our slogan is, ‘connecting with God and others’ and that’s what we want to do.”

Another group that is active on campus is the Christian Student Association. It also participates in serving the poor and holding Bible studies. They have a “fun night” every Friday evening and do monthly service projects.

“We are a Christian group that takes the Bible as the word of God and we do our best to apply it to our lives and to live it out,” CSA president Brian Campbell said.

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The number of international students that have been coming to Metro and Auraria has led to much diversity on campus. One result of that is a large Muslim population.

One club that represents the religion is the Muslim Student Association. They have weekly meetings, hold functions and some of the members are active in the community as well, speaking at schools for religious and cultural awareness.

“Usually our biggest functions are during Ramadan where we fast during the day,” MSA President Marziya Kaka said. She added that people often come and join them for their one evening meal, which often attracts 100 to 200 students.

Kaka added the club is not as active as she would like, but they do work with groups at other schools and UCD also has a chapter of MSA on campus.

MSA will have a Women and Islam panel discussion on March 17 and a guest speaker on the Nation of Islam on March 19. They will also have an activity related to art in Islam on April 28.

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The Buddhist Meditation Club also meets several times weekly to learn about and practice meditation. While Buddhism is considered a religion, some of the members may not consider it so.

“Buddhist meditation is open to people of any religious persuasion, or none whatsoever,” club President Catherine Rossi said. “In fact, some Tibetan Lamas have characterized Buddhism as less a religion and more a science of mind and a way of life. The science of mind is how to develop one’s mind through meditation, and the way of life is simply how, when one gets up from the meditation cushion, to apply the mindfulness discovered in meditation to one’s daily life.”

The club will put on a meditation workshop on Saturday, March 1.

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Club representatives agreed that recruiting is a problem. Most members come because they actively seek a religious group or through word-of-mouth. Flyers haven’t really been successful in drawing people in, most leaders say.

“Well, Buddhists are maybe not the best recruiters, really. After all, the Buddha is probably most famous for remarking that the nature of all existence is suffering. That’s not the sort of sound bite that makes a campaign poster really sing,” Rossi said.

The biggest problem may be the fact there are a lot of uninterested people on campus that don’t want to hear about religion. Club leaders seem to disagree about how the campus feels about them.

“Talking to people on campus has been difficult,” Papp said. “People are close-minded because there are so many groups handing out stuff on campus, it turns them off.”

The Muslim Student Association’s president doesn’t entirely agree with that notion.

“After 9/11, we got a lot of attention and people were asking a lot of questions,” Kaka said. “People on campus were very understanding. Once they learn something, people are very open-minded.”

Campbell though, summed it up best when referring to some people’s views of religious groups.

“I think most people have their opinions when it comes to religion, rather it is good or bad. I think that most people base their opinion on what they have experienced. I think that is hard for any religious group because in every religion there are always people who are hypocritical and misrepresent the religion,” he said.