<p>Just a note to families curious about the Christian community at Rice, The good news is THERE IS ONE! </p>
<p>RUF (Reformed University Fellowship) and AGAPE ministries are alive and well on campus and its possible for your child to get plugged in and have plenty of fellowship and worship opportunities. My son is currently travelling to Pensacola for a RUF gathering and has really enjoyed the camaraderie of other Christians while attending Rice. They also worked on a Habitat for Humanity project this year and served food to the homeless on a regular basis.</p>
<p>Are there any opportunities for worship (of varying faiths) on campus? Are there opportunities nearby?</p>
<p>crazymomster - where is your kid going to college?</p>
<p>Several churches closeby to Rice. Here is a list of churches listed (I know a few are walkable).</p>
<p>[Local</a> Churches - Agape Rice](<a href=“http://agape.rice.edu/local-churches]Local”>http://agape.rice.edu/local-churches)</p>
<p>^ I’m confused with your question. S will be attending Rice. Is that what you are asking.</p>
<p>Thanks for the link.</p>
<p>OK… looked. Are the service times daily or just Sundays unless indicated otherwise?</p>
<p>there are regular Christian gatherings and functions that offer alternatives for those that dont drink or want options to some of the more provacative campus traditions. I think its all good, just nice for the students to have options and to know they are there. </p>
<p>Also wanted to add that there are on campus opportunities for Bible studies during the week.</p>
<p>Having an Uncle, Brother and now Son attending Rice, I assumed it would be purely secular humanist, but that is not the case.</p>
<p>Rice has a great Chi Alpha Christian group on campus! They have a group meeting on Thursday nights with worship and message and then my son goes to a guys bible study on Sunday nights on campus as well. They always have lots of opportunties for activities through out the week. My son also attends a church that is about 20 mins from campus. He doesn’t have a car, just hitches a ride with one of the seniors from Rice that attends that church as well. There are many students that are involved in the Christian groups on campus.</p>
<p>“I’m confused with your question. S will be attending Rice. Is that what you are asking”</p>
<p>crazymomster - Yes. I was under the impression he was considering several different schools. Wasn’t Caltech one of them?</p>
<p>Our S is quite active in the Catholic Student Association (CSA) and has gotten so much out of it. Retreats, weekly bible studies, Mass and supper on Sundays, various social stuff. He really enjoys it.</p>
<p>I think this topic and these comments reflect an issue more parents need to be aware of. Rice is likely not seeing some fine young folks appying because it is viewed as so secular.</p>
<p>Is that really an issue with Rice? Based on posts I see on this board, I think the problem is actually more from the other direction; i.e. students (particularly from the Northeast) seem to worry that Rice will be too Christian and conservative due to its location in Texas.</p>
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<p>This strikes me as an odd comment. Our son has said more than once that part of the whole “happiest students” thing is the fact that there is a place for everyone at Rice. Whether you’re Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, atheist, or whatever, our observation is that those of all faiths are welcome and find a place. </p>
<p>If you’re referring to those of a more fundamentalist bent (within whichever religion they align themselves) then they might feel a bit out of place since Rice students and administration are more open-minded and less judgmental than that.</p>
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I have to say, I agree with this 100%. I live in New England, and probably the biggest reserve I have about applying ED to Rice is that I worry it may be “too fundamental” (btw, I really like that way of saying it. Usually I don’t know how to phrase it and if I say too religious it offends people).</p>
<p>Do you still worry that, runallday? With the amount that you frequent this forum, I would have hoped we would have dispelled that notion for you.</p>
<p>@texaspg - yes, S had lots of different options, including Caltech, and even though their FA was a bit better, he happily chose Rice!</p>
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Not at all. I’ve probably inquired about this multiple times and now I’m finally convinced. You’re all probably relieved that you’ll never have to hear me ask again.
Coming from New England you hear a lot of bad things about the southern states, like everyone who lives their thinks just like Rick Santorum, and I think I just needed to realized that this doesn’t apply to a fairly intellectual community in the center of an urban area.</p>
<p>I am almost sure Rick Santorum is from Pennsylvania , a Northern State, and many, if not most top tier school’s in the North East were founded as a Christian institutions.</p>
<p>Religious Diversity is a good thing, but to think Rice or most other top tier schools are not generally Secular Humanist is denying reality. </p>
<p>BTW, My brother came out of Rice and he is a Scientologist, so go figure.</p>
<p>This thread is not about “for or against religion”, its about informing parents of options and choices they might not know about.</p>
<p>Houston has something for everyone based on race, religion, sexual orientation, political leaning, anything else someone wants.</p>
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<p>Yes, Rice is definitely secular in that it–like the U.S. government–is not religiously affiliated. (Which is not to say that it is like the U.S. government in how it goes about lacking a religious affiliation–it is quite clearly and consistently secular.)</p>
<p>However, Rice being secular has little to do with Rice’s student population. There are significant numbers of religious students on campus, and they are quite clearly present. There are numerous religious groups on campus. On the other hand, while there are numerous non-religious students on campus, such students are not noticeably present to most people, largely because there are, to my knowledge, no active (and by active, I mean active in practice, not active by virtue of being a registered club for a given year) atheist/agnostic/freethinker or Humanist groups.</p>
<p>What you won’t find much of here is social conservatism and religious intolerance, neither of which (and especially the latter) would go over well with the bulk of Rice students. The Rice community simply doesn’t tolerate having an overtly negative attitude to someone based on religious beliefs, political views, or sexual orientation. I haven’t heard of any problems in that regard (which is not to say that it doesn’t ever happen), but I wouldn’t expect students with such attitudes to fare all that well socially. I don’t know anyone who is socially conservative at Rice, but that may be partially a product of who I choose to hang out with and the majors I chose.</p>
<p>Before I visited Rice, my main concern was that it would be too conservative given its location in Texas. I was proven wrong both when visiting and–more conclusively–by living here. Rice and Houston are both very different from the common perception of Texas held by those outside Texas. (When people ask where Rice is, I tend to tell them it’s in Houston–I get a very different reaction if I say it’s in Texas.)</p>
<p>I guess the bottom line here is that identifying Rice as “Secular Humanist” or “generally Secular Humanist” is stretching the truth more than a little bit.</p>