LESS NATIVE, MORE CONSERVATIVE (via Tom Morin):

Harvard Christians On The Rise: Number of evangelical Christians at Harvard has increased, Summers says (STEPHANIE S. GARLOW, 5/2/2006, Harvard Crimson)

Harvard United Ministry chaplain Jeffrey K. Barneson says Harvard has a reputation for being irreligious. “I get these calls from people saying, ‘Oh I’ve heard that Harvard is a godless place,’” he says.

This reputation may soon be no more. According to University President Lawrence H. Summers, the evangelical Christian community here at Harvard has grown significantly.

Speaking to prospective freshmen during prefrosh weekend, Summers said that the number of students at Harvard who identify themselves as evangelical Christians has doubled in the last decade. [...]

Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church Peter J. Gomes says that when he first came to the University in 1970, there were no evangelical chaplains officially connected with the United Ministry.

Of the 38 different chaplains currently affiliated with the United Ministry, Ministry President William S. Campbell says that there are probably a half dozen who would identify as evangelicals, several of whom joined the ministry in the past decade, Gomes says.

According to Gomes, changes in the University’s admissions policies may explain the growth of the evangelical community.

“It’s more than likely that we also are going to have a larger pool of religious people” as Harvard becomes a more diversified place, Gomes says.

Jordan L. Hylden ’06, former co-president of CI, specifically cites the student body’s increasing racial diversity as a factor.

Jesus isn't on the mainline.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 24, 2006 8:25 AM