<p>I was reading through another thread on this forum, and I noticed that there were a lot of pretty offensive things being said at both atheists and believers of God. So, how is religious life at Cornell? (I mean all religions...Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc.) Also are people intolerant toward each other? Was that thread representative of the majority of Cornell students or was that just the viewpoints of a few intolerant students?</p>
<p>Thanks for responding!</p>
<p>We had a heated discussion on that on this forum, but it was fine. Debate is good, I'm glad everyone doesn't agree on everything.</p>
<p>I'm sure it's tolerant, as far as I know they are tolerant of everything else (minorities, gays, ect) so religion shouldn't be any different. I can't be certain though, I don't start until the Fall.</p>
<p>the different religious groups are pretty active, i never felt that there was any discrimination (of any sort in fact) going on</p>
<p>i wouldnt say that thread was representative of cornell...although i would suggest that cornell is extremely liberal and that as far as religion goes, i get an overwhelmingly secular feel for the campus. if you're very religious, i think you'll be consistently offended by some of the events cornell sponsors and approves. i find that cornell has an extreme liberal bias and is very tolerant as long as you are also very liberal (read: not very tolerant). i don't think that cornell professors or the administration have any interest whatsoever in religious groups. so i guess what im saying is not that individual religions are not accepted, but i think there is a certain indifference to all religions as a whole. but you'll find very active religious groups on campus...you just dont hear much from them. they arent mainstream at all...they mosty just do their own thing.</p>
<p>Agree with Elgguj - Cornellians as a whole are very tolerant - most don't care what your individual beliefs are. The thread you were referring to was flamed by some students still in high school and a few students not representative of the majority of Cornell students.</p>
<p>interesting thread. I notice Elgguj says that everything is very liberal. if I'm not, should I just keep my mouth shut??</p>
<p>Depends from person to person. Religion isn't a huge part of Cornell life, and, like nagromis said, most people won't care what you believe. Cornell overall feels pretty liberal, but there are a fair number of conservatives as well. You don't have to keep your mouth shut, and debate is good lol.</p>
<p>Hmm..I'm a Christian but I'm also very liberal - that makes a little easier, right? (Detest republicans - didn't vote for Bush, civil rights advocate, ect.)</p>
<p>elgguj - why would you suggest that liberals are not tolerant? </p>
<p>That's pretty absurd and judgmental. </p>
<p>I think people at Cornell - and any university - will be intolerant of intolerance. If you believe you have the one true path, then you're going to take a lot of flack. If that is "not being tolerant", then so be it. You will find Cornellians very intolerant, even though in the grand scheme of things they are not. They are simply educated and open minded. </p>
<p>I think most universities - including Cornell - are labeled "liberal" simply because they are bastions of various cultures and ideas forced to interact with one another. It is tough to believe you have the one true path when you face people who have found wisdom and/or enlightenment on a very different path.</p>
<p>All in all, I found Cornell to be a very nice balance between conservative and liberal ideology.</p>
<p>faustarp....you can speak your mind (as i've done on campus), but dont expect nice reactions. i've been yelled at and sworn at on the street by my peers just for suggesting that bush may not be an evil monster. i was only voicing my opinion, not asking them to believe it.</p>
<p>and applejack...im not saying all liberals are intolerant, but my experience on campus is that at cornell, liberals don't expect opposition and are pretty unwilling to hear it. i have not found them to be open minded at all. i've been called every name in the book for being a republican on campus. and i'm never been someone to suggest that i have the "one true path"...i just wish this campus would be willing to hear both sides of an argument. including the side that isn't far left. so if your experience on campus is different (your post hints that youre a liberal...so im not sure how you could relate to what im saying one way or the other) then thats fine, but I'm telling people here what I've noticed on campus. and frankly, its quite judgemental of you to insinuate that im intolerant. pretty sure you dont know me, but whatevs.</p>
<p>and soccer guy...you're fine. you shouldnt worry about your religious and/or political beliefs at all at cornell....what you might have to worry about is how much of your opinion you choose to voice. i wont cite specific examples bc people are prone to freaking out over these things...but i think you know what sorts of issues i mean when i say you may need to just keep your mouth shut sometimes.</p>
<p>I didn't suggest you're intolerant. </p>
<p>If you're getting yelled at on the street, then you're probably provoking people in some way or another with your beliefs and drawing out the people that would be most likely to react in such a way, skewing your perception. Or, maybe you're just having conversations with people you know, and therefore they should be more open to your views.</p>
<p>I had conservative professors, interesting classroom conversations, a curriculum that embodied both ideologies, and lived with a whole sea of conservative people, and defended such practices as logging and such to people with public displays attacking logging. I guess it wasn't really an issue one way or another.</p>
<p>The overwhelming tone on campus towards religion is very civil. I would also agree that there is a lot of active religious life going on at Cornell. The Cornell Catholic Community is very active at Cornell, at least judging from the masses I attended. (Ash Wednesday and Palm Sunday masses were standing room only.) And I knew plenty of students who were very active in things like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the Korean Bible Study club, or Cornell Hillel. My girlfriend of a year and a half was very active in Cornell Friends, which is fitting as Ezra Cornell himself was a Quaker.</p>
<p>That said, it can be easy to miss all these groups if you are constantly going to the parties every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night. But if you are more socially conservative like me and seek out other types of things to do on weekends, it's pretty easy to find.</p>
<p>As for the whether or not the campus is overwhelmingly far left, I think that certain departments (history, government, sociology, human development) have definitely adopted a more liberal world view over the last couple of decades... for good reason, I may add, but I'm biased. But you would find that at nearly every respected academic institution in the country... even 'conservative' campuses like Dartmouth, Georgetown, or Princeton. The only somewhat respected 'rightish' section of academia these days is the Hoover Institute at Stanford, and even that is a pretty big joke.</p>
<p>And are the Cornell students overwhelming liberal and attempting to silence all the Republicans out? Not really. Vast stretches of the campus are pretty apolitical (my friends who were food scientists or fashion apparel majors didn't really have a political persuasion). And a large segment of the engineering student body is pretty libertarian. The Cornell Review gets a fair amount of press on campus, and the Daily Sun always has a couple of conservative columnists every semester. That said, there are a lot more liberal-minded students than conservative students, and when an excitable liberal gets into a conversation with a conservative they will probably want to show them the light, as in Elgguj's case. You wouldn't want to get me started on the need for health care reform in this country or the need for a huge overhaul in labor, trade, and finance laws.</p>
<p>The most liberal section of campus is probably Campus Life freshmen year -- they pretty much try to shove a bunch of multicultural liberal ******** down your throat. (And that's a lot coming from me, as I'm a FDR Democrat).</p>
<p>I've found the majority of Cornellians to be somewhat apathetic about religion. The university itself is very secular, but it does pander somewhat to the religious (test makeups for religious holidays, the Center for Jewish Living, passover food in the dining halls, lots of money to United Religious work and a huge building in the middle of campus, every Christian denomination you can imagine has a group, etc...). So I guess Cornell, as an institution, is very tolerant of religiously active students.</p>
<p>From a personal perspective, I rarely hear religious affairs being discussed by students. There is also not really an atheistic/anti-theism presence on campus. I attended an atheist club meeting 3 years ago and only 5 people showed up the whole semester. However, interim President Rawlings gave his state of the university address in 2005 about the Intelligent Design controversy. Throughout, I think there were implications of Christianity and religion in general being a detriment to scientific inquiry. </p>
<p>In general, people really don't care.</p>
<p>For a perspective, I'm a moderately conservative atheist. Would never vote Replubican however because of the religious issue.</p>
<p>applejack...i hear what youre saying, and i know it sounds like im someone that provokes that kind of response, but that really isnt the case. ive tried to keep my politics and my opinions mostly to myself...but on this particular occasion, a class discussion spilled over into an outside of class discussion and things went from there (im a history major, so these types of topics come up for me). but, i agree with cayuga that a big portion of cornell is apolitical. i probably just dont see them bc im taking history/gov classes.</p>
<p>Cornellians are tolerant to others like them.</p>
<p>I'd say that if you're a close minded before you come to Cornell...you'll most likely learn to be a little open minded before you leave.</p>
<p>I have some Republican friends...and I do not agree with their ideals but I've learned to deal with it. They're entitled to their opinion and I have to (unfortunately sometimes) respect it. </p>
<p>I considered myself pretty conservative before I came here.....but I've loosened up a bit. But I still have my issues :-)</p>
<p>thank you mrsopresident...thats the real truth</p>
<p>i feel like the religious scene at cornell is pretty active. at an event called "ivy congress on faith and action" at yale university this year, an event which invited all christian students from all ivy leagues , half of the people there were from cornell. that's pretty impressive</p>
<p>^ Makes sense..Cornell has the highest number of students...lol. If 3% of Cornell showed up, it would still dwarf 15% of Dartmouth showing up.</p>
<p>Individuals who paint in such broad brushed strokes (like mrsopresident) obviously haven't reached a level of nuance and perception that one would hope a Cornell education would provide.</p>
<p>Just googled the Ivy Congress on Faith and Action... what a shame it seems exclusionary and limited only to evangelical Christians.</p>