<p>Pepperdine is affiliated with the Church of Christ. They will not shove religion down your throat but you are required to take some religion classes and get “convocation” credits. There is a very diverse group there from atheists to ultra-religious and everything in between. Beautiful setting across highway from Malibu beaches. In our experience, UCLA is about 15 min. from the beach only at 3 AM- the rest of the time it can be up to an hour depending on traffic. Another small private is Cal Lutheran, which is about 1/2 hour from Ventura beaches and gives a lot of financial aid. While it is Lutheran based, the student body president is an Atheist and they are currently trying to change their constitution to be much more general in terms of religious beliefs. We know a lot of kids there and religion is not a big aspect of campus life.</p>