<p>Hi. Good to have a thread to discuss this topic, instead of derailing the other one.</p>
<p>berryberry - A group of students attending church does not make a campus religious. What can make a campus feel religious is when those students assume that their acquaintances also attend church (of some denomination, not necessarily theirs). I doubt you would get many questions in the South asking what mosque you attend, for instance; in the “Bible Belt,” that sort of question is considered common courtesy. But to a non-religious student, it is also uncomfortable (and illustrative of how Christian this supposedly secular nation really is).</p>
<p>Baelor - You yourself stated earlier that self-identification is useless and irrelevant unless it’s actually true. I go on that assumption; perception is indeed reality, because the people who call themselves Christian are Christian. If they’re not Christian enough for you, well, they probably belong to a different denomination with different standards of piety. The consequences of such an affiliation DO exist–i.e. the assumption that your friends are also Christian, as evidenced in a casual question about church.</p>
<p>I am making a DISTINCTION between philosophy and religion. If you disagree with the distinction, then calling my statement untrue is irrelevant. Can you cite a historically secular college that requires religion (not including philosophy or ethics) in the general education curriculum? A requirement for philosophy OR religion allows non-religious students to study secular philosophy, and acknowledges that religion is not any more important than other branches of philosophy.</p>
<p>It is indeed “self-evident” that a student who considers him/herself religious would also profess to being a [Christian/Muslim/Jew/Hindu/Buddhist/insert name here]. If we assume, like rational people, that most such self-identifications are made by likewise rational, reasonable people, then your hyperbole–“if I identify as liberal but never speak of my beliefs or do anything that would suggest what I believe”–is absurd.</p>