<p>I have feeling the OP meant a “United Methodist” feel to the school. If not, OP, as 3tuitions said, there are a variety of posts about schools with an evangelical feel to them in the Christian Colleges area on cc. </p>
<p>That kills the suggestion I was going to throw out there: I think Kalamazoo College is a great school that has a stong “Protestant” vibe.</p>
<p>I think Southern Methodist University might be the “most Methodist” of the United Methodist schools.</p>
<p>Methodists range a lot, by congregation and even more by individual, in how evangelical-y they may be. I’d say that a Methodist who’s pretty active in his church would probably be pretty comfortable with an Intervarsity chapter–perhaps less so with something like Campus Crusade.</p>
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This is how I picture Kalamazoo, which I know is not a Methodist college.</p>
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<p>Which is kind of ironic, because Glenn Beck is a Mormon. And if there is one religious group that evangelicals love to demonize and insist are not Christians way more than they do to the Catholics, it’s the Mormons.</p>
<p>Right, which is why Mitt Romney will never stand a chance because oh no, what if there were an election and there was no one for evangelicals to vote for – can’t have that.</p>
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<p>Really? Wow.</p>
<p>A small school, or a bigger school? Private or public? What area of the country? We can make better recommendations if Exegesis narrows things down for us.</p>
<p>I find it offensive that adults are so quick to be offended when someone half their age inadvertently uses a less-than precise term.</p>
<p>Furthermore, as the OP pointed out, in my experience when asked about their religion, most Catholics describe themselves as “Catholic,” not as “Christian”. That they’re Christian is understood because Catholicism is the largest Christian church and everyone is familiar with it. Pizzagirl is also right on. Members of the mainline denominations will respond to a question about their religion with the name of their denomination, such as “I’m Lutheran”. The other Protestant groups will usually respond with “I’m a Christian.” This is for several reasons: 1) there are a lot of non-denominational churches that evangelicals attend, and so they can’t actually answer in similar fashion because there’s no umbrella group to cite as a label 2) there is a Protestant ecumenical politeness that is deemed appropriate when responding to this question, such that people will stress the most important quality which unifies them, ie. that they’re “Christian”. That is what counts, not that they’re a member of XYZ congregation.</p>
<p>Good explanation, The CFG.</p>
<p>When did this habit start? I grew up in a Catholic area of a major city. When you were asked your religion (not that you were routinely asked, but if it came up), you said you were Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Jewish, etc. No one used the term “Christian,” though it was known that Christian encompassed all these things. Any more than you would say your background was “European” instead of French, German, Italian, etc. </p>
<p>The term Christian as a descriptor / answer to that question really seemed to start, IMO, with Jimmy Carter / born -again Christian and like it or not, that seems to be the usage that is most in vogue as far as I can tell – associated with evangelical Protestants. Put another way, I wouldn’t answer a request for Christian colleges with Notre Dame or Georgetown. I’d be more inclined to think of Wheaton and Pepperdine on one side of the spectrum, and perhaps Bob Jones or Liberty on the other side of the spectrum.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl, it’s been true for probably 20 years or longer. For 9 years, we have attended “XX Community Church,” which is not affiliated with any denomination, so I answer “Christian” if asked.</p>
<p>I think the OP has a legitimate concern. If this is important to him/her, then it’s a valid question to ask. Although, as others posted, any large college will have Christian organizations, there is a difference between that being available and the “feel/flavor” of a distinctly Methodist college–something like Asbury in KY.</p>
<p>Dropping down a notch or two, there are many good colleges that are related to a certain denomination–most of the ones immediately jumping to mind are Lutheran–Valparaiso in Indiana, St. Olaf, etc.</p>
<p>RE: the Catholic/Christian wording. I don’t think OP had any intentions of offending. I come from a long-line of Methodists–preachers and lay preachers. My H does not have any ancestors who were not Catholic. D baptized Catholic, attend Mass, S at Notre Dame. I have never heard a Catholic, when asked “what” they are (in the context of religion) answer anything but “Catholic”. Ditto what someone else said about identification on facebook. I think many other Protestant religions, including evangelical and mainline Protestant will identify as “Christian”–again, notice how many just list “Christian” on facebook.</p>
<p>Of course Catholics are Christians, but in my experience, that is implicitly understood and they identify by “Catholic”.</p>
<p>when I was in elementary school, this new kid came to our school, and she got asked “are you Jewish or Catlick?” she answered that she was christian. After some befuddlement, someone explained “thats like Catlick”</p>
<p>See my handle, if the above is not immediately clear.</p>
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<p>That is my experience (and my Catholic side of the family’s experience, as well).</p>
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<p>I am half of this…not the “rich” part,though :)</p>
<p>I have to second the first sentence of GFG’s post #48. I don’t think the OP meant to offend anyone. </p>
<p>If the OP is looking for a “committed” (quite religious?) Christian/Protestant/Methodist community, how about asking some of your local clergy? I do not attend church regularly, but know our episcopal minister well enough to realize that, through his own children and parishioners’ families, he knows students at MANY different colleges - and not just in this area. He grew up Armenian in the deep south and knows students at Catholic universities, small southern Christian colleges, Harvard, and plenty in between. Anyway, just a thought.</p>
<p>There’s a lot of variety within even “Methodist-affiliated” institutions.</p>
<p>For example, not many people on this board probably know (although prove me wrong!) that Duke, Emory, and Northwestern (yes, the one in Evanston, IL) were all founded by Methodist ministers and were all original members of the International Association of Methodist Schools, Colleges, and Universities.</p>
<p>Duke and Emory still retain their formal affiliation with the United Methodist Church but neither institution has a majority of Methodists among their student body (Northwestern has since formally split ties with the IAMSCU).</p>
<p>Other institutions that are still formally United Methodist affiliated? Everything from Boston University to Dickinson College to Hendrix College to the University of Denver. Did you know that Syracuse University is formally affiliated with the United Methodist church? Or Albright College? Or Drew University? Or DePauw? You’re going to find a lot of diversity in terms of size, setting, geography, academic focus, admissions selectivity, and religious practice among this group. None of these institutions, while historically related to the United Methodist Church, would one probably describe as explicitly religious in any shape.</p>
<p>Of the formally affiliated UMC universities, I would put places like Emory, BU, Dickinson, Allegheny College, Univ. of Denver, Univ. of Pudget Sound, Green Mountain College, and Willamette in the [least] religious category, though certainly you’d find campus religious organizations at any of these places (just as you would at a non-sectarian college or even a college affiliated with another denomination, say, Notre Dame ;)).</p>
<p>They’re certainly a different “flavor” so to speak than some of the other UMC-affiliated schools, such as Southern Methodist University (TX), Centenary College (LA), Lambuth College (TN), Birmingham-Southern College (AL), or Wofford College (SC).</p>
<p>Perhaps these other factors should narrow your list first, then you can explore religious opportunities?</p>
<p>CF acknowledged that the OP didn’t mean offense and I didn’t think she jumped on the OP either in the initial post or later. The same can not be said for some of those who disagreed with her but I digress…</p>
<p>OP A very ecumenical and quite devoutly Christian option is Hillsdale. It attracts a wide variety of brilliant Protestant and Catholic kids from all over the country. It is also proudly independent and quite conservative [Hillsdale</a> College - Home](<a href=“http://www.hillsdale.edu%5DHillsdale”>http://www.hillsdale.edu) if that is what you are looking for.</p>
<p>In an interesting (or not) side note: Lewis and Clark was devoutly Presbyterian in the 70s and is now ranked on PR’s list of “Least Religious Students” schools so these things do change from one generation to the next. Make sure you check out the current atmosphere on the campus.</p>
<p>Being a Christian is being one who believes in Christ.<br>
It is not a denomination - like Methodist, Catholic, Baptist, etc.<br>
BTW - One can sit in a pew their entire lives and not be a Christian. They are just “pew warmers”. It is all about a personal belief in Christ.</p>
<p>I was very interested to hear that Chicago was founded by Baptists (big surprise!) and that Tufts was founded by Unitarian-Universalists which seemed very much in keeping with the way they still present themselves.</p>