Hello,
As I do more research into Fordham I see that it’s an overall accepting school, however I’m still weary on applying. I am a Black, Muslim female. What do you all think? Is it worth the application? I really love their campus, mission, and the location. It seems like a great fit! I’m just worried about the Catholicism. I’m okay with the majority being Catholic, but I’m wondering if I would be forced to their prayers? That’s my biggest issue.
I don’t even know if the majority are Catholic? No, you would not be forced into prayers. When we visited Fordham (also non Catholics/non Christian) we found it very open and welcoming to all.
This is a few years old but an idea of who goes there
Thank you for your reply! I will check out the article now (:
hello!
Catholics never “force” people to pray.
I wish you well!
So, no worries! You will be accepted and find friends at Fordham! It is a liberal university and they will embrace you.
@gocrazyyyyy My son (Catholic) graduated few years ago from Fordham. Had a black Muslim room mate for 3 years. Also had a Pakistani Muslim room mate fir 3 years. They all get together several times per year. The theology requirement in the core has at least 50 various options.
You should have zero hesitations. Fordham is pretty diverse.
There are a number of (non-Catholic) Christian religious colleges that have weekly chapel (religious service attendance) requirements.
Fordham is not such a school.
Fordham does have a required THEO 1000 course, whose description and a recent syllabus of which is found here:
A second THEO course (numbered 3000-3799) is also required; these include options covering various religious traditions:
https://bulletin.fordham.edu/courses/theo/
Even schools with chapel requirements will never force you to pray. And most services claiming to be christian are not really. A true christian school would never say that all religions have equal value. They say you have a choice to make:
choose Christ or not, but NO one will force you.
Just curious, are you applying from outside the US? Are you a recent immigrant? Many schools in the US were founded under church “auspices”, but are not very religious. You would never be “forced to their prayers” at any Catholic college., so you don’t need to be wary of applying to Catholic schools. If Fordham seems like a good match for you, you should apply. You will not be the only Muslim student there. They even have a Muslim student association.
I knew quite a few Muslim students at Fordham, there’s a pretty tight knit community with a lot of commuter students, especially at LC. I won’t say Fordham’s perfect in terms of anti-racism, but they’ve been trying really hard to make sure that student voices are heard.
In terms of theology classes, the main FCR freshman course is more of a broad overview of religion rather than Christianity specifically (my class spent a week on the church of the flying spaghetti monster) and then the second course can be satisfied with courses from many different religious traditions, including courses on Islam.
There’s absolutely no forced Christian prayer. I was heavily involved with Campus Ministry and while the interfaith programming isn’t great (mostly just not very engaging), there were non-Christian students who were also very involved on retreats and community projects.
Let me know if you have other questions!