Religion News Service | Religion and Education

Can young Jews become more Jewish without much Judaism?

Lauren Markoe | Sep 22, 2011

(RNS) Samantha Perilstein is a bubbly hospitality major at the University of Delaware and deeply connected to Jewish life on campus. Which is a change from where she started. To Rabbi Jeremy Winaker, that made Perilstein a perfect candidate for an ambitious national experiment to bring college Jews...
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Study probes why college students leave church

Piet Levy | Sep 14, 2011

PASADENA, Calif. (RNS) Millions of college freshmen are overwhelmed right now trying to make new friends, adjusting to more rigorous school work and learning to live away from home. Whether they also find time for church during their first two weeks on campus will set the mold for the rest of their...
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Muslim teens push back against 9/11 bullying

Omar Sacirbey | Sep 7, 2011

(RNS) At first, Sarah O'Neal thought the older boy's comment was directed at the towel she was carrying to water polo practice. "What are you looking at towel-head?" he said. And that's when it sunk in. A freshman at Wilcox High School in Santa Clara, Calif., at the time, O'Neal, now 16, marched ove...
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Wednesday Godbytes

Jack Jenkins | Aug 10, 2011

So apparently the music director at an Alabama church had to be let go. Sad, yes? Equally sad is the way he reportedly handled it: by pulling out a Taser and starting a massive brawl that put several people (including his momma) in the hospital. "'The deacons and myself said we were not going to pa...
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Study of secularism sees boost on college campuses

Kimberly Winston | Aug 4, 2011

(RNS) Almost every major college and university offers a degree in religious studies. But secularism? Nary a one -- until now. Starting this fall, Pitzer College, a small liberal arts school in Southern California, will offer a bachelor's degree in secular studies. The degree is the first of its kin...
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Colleges sign up for Obama’s interfaith program

Adelle M. Banks | Aug 3, 2011

WASHINGTON (RNS) More than 250 colleges, universities and seminaries have submitted plans to the White House for yearlong interfaith service projects in response to a campaign launched by the Obama administration. Joshua DuBois, director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Part...
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Parochial schools not immune to bullies

Charles Honey | Jun 24, 2011

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (RNS) Middle school is no picnic for a lot of students, but for Alec McGuire, it was intolerable. He transferred from one Catholic school to another in eighth grade to get away from another student whom he said harassed and ridiculed him. Whether making fun of his parents' divorc...
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Catholic University ends mixed-gender housing

Jack Jenkins | Jun 14, 2011

WASHINGTON (RNS) The Catholic University of America will phase out co-ed dormitories later this year, President John H. Garvey said Monday (June 13), in a bid to crack down on drinking and casual sex. Garvey, writing in The Wall Street Journal, said the Washington school would instead assign incomin...
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Feds rule against a second Catholic college

G. Jeffrey MacDonald | Jun 8, 2011

(RNS) For the second time this year, a federal regulator has rejected the First Amendment arguments of a Catholic college and cleared the way for the school's adjunct faculty to unionize. In a May 26 decision, the Chicago office of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that Saint Xavier Un...
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Tebow details blessed life rooted in faith

Cathy Lynn Grossman and Sean Leahy | Jun 3, 2011

(RNS) Tim Tebow is a 23-year-old second-year, second-string quarterback on a so-so NFL team. So who's going to buy his memoirs? What's to remember? Only ... -- The play-by-play of his life from conception (his missionary dad, Bob, prayed for a son and promised God to raise him to preach) to birth (a...
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