How much of a religious influence is there at UNC?

<p>With it being UNC Chapel Hill, is there any pressure to be a Christian? What about just being religious in general? This will strongly affect my choice on whether or not to attend.</p>

<p>Most of the people I know think of it as “Berkeley of the East” in terms of politics and religious views if that tells you anything.</p>

<p>…that doesn’t tell me that much. I’m sorry, but I don’t know too much about Berkley.</p>

<p>No pressure to be anything…UNC is both very liberal and very accommodating of race, religion and sexual orientation.</p>

<p>Good to know, thank you!</p>

<p>Zero. The school has no religious affiliation.</p>

<p>Stay away from the preachers and their minions, and the Bible discussion groups. They’ll ■■■■■ you and tempt you to get into a debate with them, then they’ll quote the Bible to prove the Bible, and try to “save you” every time they meet you. Do not talk to them, ignore them as you walk by, do not tell them you’re not a Christian. You should be fine.</p>

<p>There’s as much pressure for you to be a Christian as there is for you to be a Muslim (read: none).</p>

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<p>This only applies to pit preachers who are already yelling at you to begin with.</p>

<p>There are plenty of Christian (and other religions) groups that welcome non-believers but won’t beat them over the head with a Bible. I love my Bible study group and we are all really close friends outside of b-study as well. There is something available for everybody.</p>

<p>That is one of the things I absolutely love about UNC, you are encouraged to be yourself and no one will judge you for it. : )</p>

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<p>I disagree. I’ve never had a Muslim tell me “we have the truth” and “God is telling me to tell you to reach out and believe”, and the infamous “the Bible is the word of God and if you don’t believe in it you’re going to hell”. I’ve had non-preachers tell me that though.</p>

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<p>Not really, refer to above reply.</p>

<p>@blue_box</p>

<p>I feel like that can happen to you anywhere in the United States, just because Christianity is the predominant religion in the US. The same thing would happen with Islam if you were in a predominantly Muslim country.</p>

<p>I agree with the majority of posters on this thread. There is no overbearing religious presence on UNC’s campus.</p>

<p>(1) Blue_box is right: there is some Christian prosletysing that goes on. Pointless to deny it. I’ve had a few posters shoved in my face/seen the pit preacher/etc.</p>

<p>(2) Everyone else is right: it really is minimal. I encountered it far more when I was living in a secular European country.</p>

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<p>I bet you’ve never had a Christian declare a holy war on the school, rent an SUV and drive through the pit trying to run people over, though. Different forms of prosletysing.</p>

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<p>Well you win that bet. How random.</p>

<p>Not random at all. </p>

<p>[Mohammed</a> Reza Taheri-azar SUV attack - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_Reza_Taheri-azar_SUV_attack]Mohammed”>2006 UNC SUV attack - Wikipedia)</p>

<p>Ah, I see. I haven’t had that happen to me. So this justifies what happens on-campus then.</p>

<p>You can’t walk down the street of any major US city without someone from some religious and or political group trying to hand you a pamphlet or “convert” you…</p>

<p>When I leave my downtown Dallas office for lunch each day I have no less than three or four people offering me handouts telling me how to be “saved”…add to that the vegans offering vegan cookies, the anti abortionists with their extremely graphic pamphlets and signs and whatever other activist du jour is on Main or Commerce St that day.</p>

<p>It’s called freedom of speech and religion and it is what makes this country great…no one is trying to force you to their beliefs and it’s really not hard to say “no thank you”…and far easier than trying to enter into a debate.</p>

<p>This is going to happen everyday on every major college campus in the US…and will be far worse in some places…the exceptions being at very conservative religious schools that will not allow the debate or open forum…</p>

<p>As has been said by others here, religious, sexual, and political freedom and tolerance are part of the daily norm on UNC’s campus…no one will force their beliefs on you…nor judge you for believing/being different.</p>

<p>Please, let’s put this to rest…it really is a NON ISSUE…</p>

<p>I fail to understand why hearing about someone’s beliefs would be offensive anyway. Open your minds people. This is your college experience…the time when you are supposed to be encountering new perspectives. If you want a place where there are no Christians speaking about Christianity, then by all means go to a school that discourages expressions of Christian faith. You won’t be better for it, but you won’t be bothered by those pesky people with povs different from your own. And you can substitute any religion or belief system in the previous sentence and it will still be valid. For example…I’m a Lutheran. I’m never, ever going to become a Jehovah’s Witness, but I don’t mind if the JW ladies ring my doorbell and hand me a pamphlet. It costs me absolutely nothing to tolerate their words. And the day I don’t tolerate them, I’ve lost something priceless.</p>

<p>To answer the op’s question, I don,t think unc campus is overtly religious. The faculty and student body have a reputation of being quite liberal.</p>

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<p>Noble views, but often what happens on campus goes beyond reasonable intellectual debate.</p>