Christianity In Berkeley among Asians

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
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<p>I will be attending Berkeley in the fall. I thought Berkeley is full of open-minded and liberal people who support movements such as same-sex marriage. However, I just realized that all the Asian people I know in Berkeley are conservative Christians. When I visited Berkeley for a couple of days, I realized an extremely large Asian Christian population in Berkeley. I recently read an article about it in the San Francisco Chronicle. In a highly competitive academic playground, I can see how easy it is to want to be apart of a program where you feel accepted. </p>

<p>Please do not comment until you have read the full article.</p>

<p>UC</a> BERKELEY / Evangelicals build flock on campus / At Cal, Christian groups find eager adherents among Asian American students</p>

<p>It this actually true? Is there a great amount of religious converting among Asians in Berkeley? What about the people who are trying to find approval from Asian people who are not Christians? Does this happening have anything to do with our cultural upbringing and exposition to a new environment where our obsessive "Asian Parents" are absent?</p>

<p>Thank You</p>

2

<p>Hmm… Well, I’m asians and I’m christian.
But I don’t see what that has to do with being liberal?</p>

<p>I’m pro-choice and pro-gay marraige.
Simply because it’s a matter of state. And state and religion are completely different things.
Even the bible says to look into my own eyes before looking into my brother’s eyes.
Furthermore, God created everyone beautifully and loves all of us, including homosexuals and whatevers. </p>

<p>Especially at Berkeley, the Church I attend, GracePoint, which has a large Asian population, but I think that’s the result of the large Asian population at Berkeley. Not because Asians have this automatic drawing towards God.</p>

<p>Also, the Christian groups talked about in the Article are not the largest groups on campus. I think the Articles are very biased in their evaluation of groups. Intervarsity is large, but not as large as Koinonia or A2F or Kairos… Also, Berkeley has the largest Asian population of the universities compared… </p>

<p>Also, by only looking at one group, there are more trends towards ethnic solidarity than Asians being drawn towards the Christian faith. I’m sure if they looked at different Christian groups, they’ll find that races tend to cluster. They happened to have found one cluster and drew a conclusion. It’s just plain bad scientific method.</p>

<p>I don’t think there’s a lot of religious conversions per se. Most people who join are looking to explore the religion or because they already are Christians.</p>

<p>And it’s stereotypical and racist to say that Asians have group mentality and lack individuality. I think as a Berkeley student, I value my individuality immensely. And so do the people in my fellowship. I don’t think it’s appropriate to draw such a conclusion without clear evidence for causation.</p>

<p>Personally, I got far more involved in church after I came to College. Because now, I get to choose what I do with my time. And I felt like I truly started my relationship with God after I came to college, because instead of somebody forcing me, I truly chose to continue that relationship. And why should I not be proud to display it? It’s a personal choice for myself. I’m not going to force anyone to adhere to my views. But I hope that by leading a good Christian life, people will want to explore it too. And it gives me peace/happiness and adds to my college experience.</p>

<p>Either way, I’m just rambling now. :P</p>

<p>My point is, let’s not try to paint a certain stereotype of fanatical Asian Christian fundamentalist screaming at people to convert.</p>

<p>The articles seems to have too many flaws in my view.
Typical journalism, trying to get a exciting story out of no where.</p>

<p>Out of my friends, who I did not meet at church, about 1/30 are christian. Most I know are either agnostic, atheist, or buddhist.</p>

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<p>I lived with the sophomore GracePoint members during my visit. I felt like they were trying to convert me… I am surprised that my ex-friends are actually in the same group as you. It just tells me how big your group is.</p>

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<p>There isn’t really much religious converting, no one goes around touting their religion but… someone may become your friend and try to convert you. I do find that one or two people act as if they are holier and want to try and save my soul.</p>

<p>I was personally targeted twice.</p>

<p>The first time I was alone at crossroads and they came up to me first innocuously talking about random things to first develop that first contact . Later on, one guy was in my class and he started to get real friendly with me and then one day he wanted to walk me home to my house. I obviously knew he was trying to spread the christian word to me and he did try but not in an incredibly forceful way. The conversation basically turned into him telling me he wants to save my soul and save me from a burning hell. During our conversation I asked him if a serial murderer who raped little children but repented and was sorry, would he go to heaven? With his answer, I knew I was never going to go through with his fellowship stuff and I never heard from him again.</p>

<p>Yes Berkeley is open-minded and no one will really rag on you for what you do. Don’t even worry about not being christian.</p>

5

<p>I would think it’s harder being Christian than non-Christian.</p>

<p>I get attacked all the time. From what I have experienced, I’m mostly in the minority.
When people ask to hang out on Friday night etc, I’d say I’m going to church. Then they’d lecture me about how God doesn’t exist and how stupid I am for believing.</p>

<p>It goes both ways.
There are fanatics on both sides.
Please do not accuse Christians of being super pushy. Because Aethists are also super pushy.</p>

<p>Everyone just needs to chill.</p>

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<p>StarryNights are you one of those male sophomores who are always nice?</p>

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<p>Why do you go to church Friday night?</p>

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<p>in my first month of being here, i was approached twice by different christian groups trying to recruit/convert me while i was laying on the grass minding my own business. first time was an asian girl who came up to me while i was reading w/ headphones on. she just sort of introduced herself and then went straight into jesus and all that. i was a bit put off. it was pretty obvious i wasn’t interested, and it seemed to make her more interested in talking to me, like she wanted to save me. eventually i just took whatever fliers she was trying to shove on me and she left. the second time was two asian girls who came up to me while i was studying in front of the library and they basically did the same thing. except they felt the need to explain why i should love jesus christ with diagrams and excerpts from the bible and all. it was all very off putting for me.</p>

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<p>not aggressive so much as annoying. i just wanted to be left alone. they weren’t stellar looking or anything, but certainly not repulsive. regardless of whether they were attractive or not, the whole encounter was just not cool.</p>

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<p>Maybe the girls were trying to get with you. They are trying to convert you so they can date you, regardless if you are male/female. Do people explore sexuality freely in Berkeley?</p>

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<p>i’m an asian female atheist, for clarification purposes.</p>

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<p>quite hawt indeed… </p>

<p>yeh, I don’t like how they find people who are alone as if to focus on the stragglers.</p>

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<p>haha. i can’t think of a worse way to get with someone. i don’t know if people really do much sexual exploring while here. it seems that most of us have our sexuality pinned down before coming here. but i’m just assuming since there’s no way to know for sure. people are always learning new things about themselves.</p>

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<p>I think I am in love with you… Does this mean that you are open minded about exploring your sexuality? I kinda expected Berkeley to be this super liberal place with kids who are not afraid to do anything.</p>

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<p>haha. thank you?</p>

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<p>what grade are you in? what’s your major? I will be an incoming freshmen and I need someone to show me around :wink: jkjk</p>

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<p>0__________o… where did you get the idea I was male? xD</p>

<p>fyi:
Church on Friday = Bible Study
Church on Sunday = Sunday Service </p>

<p>I know… weird… xD</p>

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<p>i am open about sexuality as a general topic. if you really want to know about my personal experiences with sexuality, you can private message me. I’d rather not post something like that on the interwebz for all to see and judge me on.</p>

<p>i will be a sophomore in the fall. intended IB major. again, feel free to PM me if you have any questions :)</p>

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<p>slap chop!!!</p>

20

<p>You are very right. The Christian organizations are very large among asians. I was one of them. I was never Christian but man…these people SUCK you in. They are so nice and welcoming, but it is very scary how cult-like they are. I always thought Cal was a very liberal campus. But I was very surprised at how Asians are part of religious fellowships like Koinonia, Kairos, etc. They are very conservative, preachy, and narrow-minded. They do not believe in dating in college (frowned upon very much). They are very ignorant of things that are going on in the world (news, music, TV, politics, etc). I still haven’t been able to free myself from them. They latch onto you. This is no joke.</p>