<p>The Muhlenberg website says that it's affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. To what extent does the affiliation influence campus culture? </p>
<p>Since there is Greek Life at Muhlenberg and another CC thread describes the Gay community, it appears this is not a strict, religious school. </p>
<p>But, are there any requirements, traditions, or customs that might make a "spiritual, but not churchy" student uncomfortable? (The "Evangelical" part of the affiliation is what got me wondering.)</p>
<p>Muhlenberg is very diverse religiously. I know the Jewish population is about 30%. I would describe it as liberal-leaning and very open and tolerant. Don’t let the word “Evangelical” throw you off.</p>
<p>The “evangelical” in ELCA does not come loaded with the typical proselytizing, fire-and-brimstone, born-again, conservative connotations. On the contrary, the ELCA is fairly liberal in many ways.</p>
<p>For example, in 2009 the ELCA put out a statement on sexuality outlining the church’s position on homosexuality (among other things). The statement (a) explicitly encourages churches to be welcoming of “same-gender oriented individuals,” and speaks against the discrimination or harassment of such individuals, (b) refrains from taking an official position on same-sex relationships because it acknowledges that individual people and individual churches have a range of “conscience-bound beliefs” about homosexuality, but also explicitly permits individuals and individual churches to be accepting and welcoming of same-sex relationships, and (c) allows for the ordination and employment (in ministerial positions) of gay men and women - even those in relationships.</p>
<p>Muhlenberg has a healthy, diverse sense of spirituality with no sense of ‘churchiness’. I think the school community exhibits an exceptional sense of caring.</p>
<p>DougBetsy,
My D is a rising sophomore at Muhlenberg and we are not Lutheran (and not particularly religious). She has not experienced anything even remotely uncomfortable related to religion. The only requirement related to religion that I know of is the fact that the student must take one religion-related course (as well as a philosophy, a critical thinking, a behavioral, a scientific, a literature, a reasoning, a fine art, etc…) in the core curriculum. The religion course is your choice and can include “Religions of Star Trek”, “Religions of China”, “Holocaust Nazi Germany & Jews”…My D is hoping to take “Religion & Performing Arts in India” to cover her religion requirement.</p>
<p>DougBetsy - D2, who just graduated from Muhlenberg this past weekend would likely described herself as agnostic, and never mentioned being even the most slightly offended by anything religious on campus. I’d say the student body is composed of a majority of liberal leaning students. The commencement speaker this last weekend was Tony Kushner; if you’re not aware of his work, google him. He was very well received, even by students who are not in the performing arts. At the baccalaureate service the evening before, the college president even made a joke about the rapture that did not take place. </p>
<p>My daughter often joked about the College Republican club and its 4 members. She was in the student union one day while this club was meeting and she said their sole topic of discussion was the TV station that was airing. Evidently, whoever donated the TV made it conditional that the only news station that be allowed to play is CNN. And this club was trying to figure out how to change that.</p>
<p>Of the three Lutheran synods, the ELCA is the most liberal. The Missouri Synod and Wisconsin Synods are very, very conservative. The ELCA is the only one that will ordain women (and has been doing so for almost 40 years I think).</p>
<p>Forgot to add that this summer, the kids who stay on campus for the summer musical theatre program will be allowed to live in gender-neutral dorm rooms. I don’t know if this is an experiment or not to see if they would expand it to year-round, but the Gay-Straight alliance has been pushing for this for a while now.</p>
<p>Hi. Culturally Jewish Muhlenberg mom here, husband is a non-religious Christian. Other than the fact that Hillel is a wonderful prescence on campus, and that the campus chapel is a beautiful church building (which I now realize must be Lutheran, lol), we have never observed anything overtly or subtly “religious” in nature at Muhlenberg. Rather, Muhlenberg is an accepting, challenging, supportive environment where sincere, bright students can thrive. I don’t feel that the institution is particularly liberal – or convervative – for that matter. Rather, it is particularly appreciative of sincere, involved, motivated students of all stripes ~ and this seems to be the sort of student who studies at Muhlenberg. We are very pleased with the our son’s education and Muhlenberg experience.</p>
<p>I graduated from Muhlenberg in 1977 - so take this from where it’s coming from! --possibly outdated information. When I was at Muhlenberg, Lutheran ministers’ kids had greatly reduced/ or no tuition, so that there were a fairly disproportionate number or ministers’ kids there. I wonder if this is still the case…</p>
<p>I believe what the policy is now applies to all ELCA colleges. Pastors’ kids qualify for a discounted tuition (by no means is it no tuition). But I don’t think my daughter knew anyone there whose mom or dad was a pastor (of course that just might speak to the kids my daughter hung around with).</p>
<p>However, for a couple of months before I quit my job, I happened to work with a rabbi here in the Chicago area whose daughter was in her freshman year at Muhlenberg. You should have seen the look on both our faces when we realized both our kids were there (90% of people in the Chicago area have never heard of Muhlenberg).</p>