<p>I am not a religious person. You can call me an athiest because I don't really bother affiliating myself with any of that. How well will I fit into this school given this information? I need to make a decision weather to attend by may.</p>
<p>First, this question pops up a lot, “whether” or not the person is religious. </p>
<p>Second, if you knew you were atheist, then why did you apply to Fordham, a Jesuit and Catholic university? </p>
<p>Third, there are people of various faiths, no faith and a LOT of faith at Fordham. Its diverse. Nobody will force you to attend mass or become religious. Nobody will indoctrinize you in any course. </p>
<p>You take two theology courses to graduate and they are both survey courses about world religions or generic philisophical stuff like faith and reason. </p>
<p>Come open minded.</p>
<p>You can be an atheist and be comfortable at Fordham. Not everyone chooses Fordham because of it’s religious affiliation.
My daughter chose Fordham because she could do the major/minor she wanted in the best location for her future ambitions.</p>
<p>There are other threads on this so you can go back and probably find some more answers but this is what I can add in a nutshell:</p>
<p>-You don’t have to be Catholic to attend Fordham. Many people choose the school to get an excellent education.
- That said, you should be respectful of the Catholic influence at the school if you choose to attend. You have to be OK with the fact that there are crucifixes on campus, there is a church on campus, the president of the college is a Jesuit priest etc.
-There are some things at Fordham that are due to its being a Catholic school (ex. health services doesn’t give birth control, guests of the opposite sex “can’t” stay overnight) but those can be quietly circumvented at the discretion of the student. - I have friends who are Jewish, Muslim, atheist and they are all comfortable and happy here.
-You will have to take 2 theology and 2 philosophy classes as part of the core curriculum.
-Students can partake in the religious activities on campus (ex. mass, campus ministry, retreats) but many others do not and there is no pressure to do so.</p>
<p>@spirit. thank you for your response.</p>
<p>I’m also an athiest and I am most likley going to Fordham. From what I can tell the only thing they “force” people to do is take a theology class as part of the core curriculum, which I don’t really think is that bad.</p>
<p>While a small minority here really go full metal jacket with Catholic Stuff, the majority of students are moderate, condom-toting, Mass-once-a-week types at best (at worst?), and many of those are only nominally religious. So you can definitely find other nonreligious people here–and since Catholics don’t try to evangelize you, it’s as fun to hang out with moderate and bad Catholics as with atheists/agnostics.</p>
<p>You have to take two theology courses, but only one is on Catholic thought–the other can focus on another faith tradition.</p>
<p>And who knows? You might meet a cool überCatholic and decide you do want to “really bother affiliating [your]self with any of that” ;)</p>
<p>Religion is not a big part of life at Fordham unless you make it that way. I know a few athiests on campus right now, so no worries.</p>
<p>My daughter is not Catholic and is nonreligious. She does have a commitment to social justice, and feels right at home at Fordham.</p>