Losing, and Finding, Their Religion

After graduating high school, young adults face many changes; friends, location and ideologies are all often challenged during this period of transition. One ideology that often changes is religion.

LifeWay, a non-profit organization that is one of the world’s largest providers of Christian resources, studied 18 to 22-year-olds and their attrition from church during that period of life. The results showed more than two-thirds of young adults who attend a Protestant church for at least a year in high school will stop attending church regularly for at least a year as young adults.

Credit: LifeWay Research

Credit: LifeWay Research

Reasons for this trend include change in location and self-control.

Jessica Alquist, assistant professor of psychology at Texas Tech University, said college students in particular are faced with challenges of self-control upon going to college.

“College students need self-control to study when they’d rather watch Netflix, to avoid attractive but otherwise undesirable partners, and even to invest in important social relationships when they’d rather stay home,” Alquist said.

Just like everything else, Alquist said students need self-control to go to religious services as opposed to staying home.

Religious participation, like many things, can be a habit learned from home. Alquist said a change in environment could make it difficult to maintain habits.

“When someone is in a new environment, they need to decide what their new routine will be,” Alquist said. “Inaction is often easier than action, so if there is something a person wants to do regularly, attend services, pray, they will need to work to make it part of their college life.”

On the upside, if a habit can be developed, Alquist said it is a lot less likely to be broken by demands in stressful times.

At the end of the day, Alquist said students could change their religious habits for a number of different reasons.

“Some may experience changes in their beliefs,” Alquist said. “Others may struggle with the self-control necessary to go to church.”

Benjamin Finlayson, a Lubbock native and Texas Tech University graduate student, said he experienced several changes in his religious habits since beginning his collegiate career, but that it has always been an evolving process.

Finlayson attended a local Methodist church throughout childhood. His family had been members of that church for over 35 years. Growing up in a church gave him the religious framework to figure out what he did and did not believe in.

“I got to the point where I recognized, ‘Maybe that isn’t what I believe, maybe this is,’” Finlayson said. “But, you know, my parents have gone there for, at that time, 35 years, so I still felt an obligation to be at that church because that was my home church.”

Once he left for Howard Payne University, a private Baptist university in Brownwood, Texas, he said his views continued to change because of the environment he found himself in.

With Howard Payne came the added element of peer pressure, Finlayson said. With it being a religious school, not only did a larger percentage of the students go to church, they often went to the same church. Finlayson said the environment felt condemning towards students who did not attend religious services.

St. John's United Methodist Church is located near campus on University Ave.

St. John’s United Methodist Church is located near campus on University Ave. This is Finlayson’s new church home.

One of the biggest drawbacks was most of the students went to a church of a different denomination than Finlayson practiced. He tried to attend a Methodist church during his year and a half at Howard Payne, but found himself still unhappy.

“I would still point out things, ‘Oh well that’s different than the way we did it, I don’t like that’ or ‘Oh, this building looks different than my building, I don’t like that,’” Finlayson said. “Coming to grips with that was difficult because then you have to ask yourself, ‘Is it about the building or is it about the style or is it more about the content?”

St. John's United Methodist Church decorates the alter in rainbow colored cloth to demonstrate it's acceptance for the LGBT community.

St. John’s United Methodist Church decorates the altar in rainbow colored cloth to demonstrate it’s acceptance for the LGBTQ+ community.

Another big aspect of Finlayson’s religious life that has came into question is his theology. Finlayson is a gay Christian and has had to make decisions about his church because of how they feel about his sexuality. This really mattered once he moved back to Lubbock and transferred to Texas Tech.

He started back at the church that he grew up in. Finlayson said he struggled, because in a way he felt expected to be there and even though he was in college, he almost felt like he was still a child.

After some differences with his home church about beliefs on homosexuality, Finlayson was confronted with one of the most difficult decisions of his religious life: Should he leave his home church, the church of his family and youth?

After deciding he felt like he was being tolerated rather than accepted, he said he left his home church. There was a period where he was no attending any church services at all.

“That was probably the most difficult thing I’ve done with religion is telling my parents ‘Hey, I’m leaving,’” Finlayson said. “I think that was the hardest thing, but I think that was one of the most liberating things I’ve done since being in college in terms of religion.”

Finlayson(left) and his boyfriend, Micah, joining St. John's United Methodist Church together on Reconciling Sunday.

Finlayson (left) and his boyfriend, Micah, joining St. John’s United Methodist Church together on Reconciling Sunday.

Finlayson is now a member of St. John’s United Methodist Church, where he feels welcomed every Sunday.

The independence of adulthood leads some people to explore new religions than what they were raised in.

Bryan Cleary, a 33-year-old engineering student at Texas Tech, said his journey has been a long one as well. Cleary said he practices Buddhism, which is very different from his Catholic upbringing.

“As a teenager, you know, I started really asking some very honest questions about, ‘Well does this really make sense to me?’ and ‘Is this something that I want to keep pursuing?’,” Cleary said. “And I kind of decided that it wasn’t really for me and I kind of started putting some distance between myself and Christianity.”

Cleary said his journey to Buddhism was a long process and started when he was around 13-years-old. At the time, he said he considered himself to be Agnostic. Cleary said he realized early on that he was too critical and independent for faith based religions and Buddhism attracts people like him. But, it was not until his late 20s that he was taking Buddhism seriously.

“I still consider myself to be Agnostic for the large part,” Cleary said. “It’s not really something that, in my mind, that I have to choose between. Agnosticism and Buddhism, they actually fit very well together.”

Diamond Way Buddhism has centers all over the counrty and they give people a place to practice Buddhism with others. This is the Diamond Way Center in Austin, Tx.

Diamond Way Buddhism has centers all over the country and give people a place to practice Buddhism with others. This is the Diamond Way Center in Austin, Tx.

Cleary said he was a musician for about 10 years after high school, but felt he had taken that career as far as he could. He said two things came out of this transition: meditation and the practice of Buddhism as well as going back to school.

Cleary said he is a part of the Diamond Way Buddhism Student Meditation Group at Texas Tech. He said they meditate, have discussions, and learn the basics of Buddhism.

According to the Pew Research Center, 36 percent of college graduates attend a religious service once a week, showing that many continue their religious journey after college.

About Joseph Marcades

Joseph is the Graduate Managing Director for The Hub@TTU. He has a bachelor's degree in journalism from Texas Tech University and is currently pursuing his master's in mass communication. Has been with The Hub@TTU for one year. He loves his wife, football, golf, movies, Texas, and telling good stories.