More broadly, adolescents today are generally quite conventional, and specifically so with regard to religion – less rebellious, for instance than they were during the baby boom generation – and so are generally content to continue in the faith traditions in which they were raised, however much that faith may or may not mean to them.

 
Dedicated Christian parents work hard and pray diligently that their children will develop a strong and growing faith in their years at home. It’s one of the most rewarding parts of parenting to watch this happen, and we want to make sure that faith continues to flourish as they leave our homes and go out into the world. That is why one of our greatest fears is that the secular university and its aggressively atheistic professors will lead our kids like away from the faith. Many Christian parents avoid secular schools for this very concern.

But do the years and experiences of college actually contribute to our young people losing or walking away from their faith? The answer – and the reasons for it – might surprise you.

Leading scholars have examined this question using sophisticated and reliable research methodologies, publishing their findings in premier sociological journals.

In the last few years, social scientists have “found that the religiously undermining effect of higher education . . . has disappeared.” Professor Christian Smith, a world-renowned sociologist of religion from Notre Dame University (and a faithful Christian parent himself) explains that recent investigations published in the Review of Higher Education reveal,

[T]hat among recently surveyed college students, 2.7 times more report that their religious beliefs have strengthened during their college experience than say their beliefs weakened. (1)

Research from the University of Texas-Austin delivers more good news, finding that young people who avoid college “exhibit the most extensive patterns of religious decline” compared to those who do attend college. (2) They explain the loss of faith among the non-college attending young adults has little to do with secularizing ideology, but simply results from a lack of intentionality and direction in their lives. Those who seem to drift through these formative and transitional years with no definite goals or plans likely bring this same attitude and action to their faith life.

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