The latest analysis of results from the UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute study of student spirituality shows that black students have the highest interest in religion. A race and gender breakdown of the study of 112,232 incoming freshman students at 236 colleges and universities, conducted in fall of 2004, finds women generally score higher than men. But the gap is most pronounced among black students, where the interest in religion is already higher than among other ethnic groups.
According to an HERI news release, 95% of African Americans believe in God, compared to 84% of Latinos, 78% of Whites, and 65% of Asian Americans. African Americans also lead in the categories of prayer activity, religious service attendance, religious commitment and religious engagement.
“Spirituality is just part of the black community,” said InterVarsity’s director of Black Campus Ministries, Phil Bowling-Dyer, in an interview with The Washington Times. For instance, whenever the NAACP meets, they always start out with a prayer. It plays out with college students, too.”
InterVarsity’s Black Campus Ministry has staff on over 100 college and university campuses throughout the US, working with thousands of Black students and faculty. InterVarsity’s Black Campus Ministry sponsors local and national conferences, including Identity Theft: Atlanta 05 in Atlanta, Georgia, December 27-31, 2005.
In a news release earlier this year about the study, HERI reported that 80% of the students they surveyed claimed an interest in spirituality and 79% said they believe in God. At that time InterVarsity president Alec Hill observed: “Students are looking for answers that define themselves spiritually as well as shape their careers. The campus is the strategic point where you can impact the world because of who these students will become. We want to develop students and faculty to change the world.”
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