«Muir offers a compelling take on the intricacies of religious pluralism in U.S. higher education. Rich portrayals of Protestant, secular, and pluralist dynamics at four unique campuses shed light on their distinctive histories and provide timely implications for leaders and educators seeking to cultivate campus environments where all can flourish.» (Alyssa Rockenbach, Professor & Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professor, North Carolina State University) «In his astute analysis of religious life on four North Carolina campuses, Scott Muir finds that, aside from a general pattern of secularization and a gradual increase in religious diversity, Protestant privilege endures, even as campuses accommodate religious pluralism. More important, the author's careful, exhaustive research and nuanced analyses of distinctive campus religious climates should make us wary of standard, one-size-fits-all narratives about the slippery slope toward secularism in the academy.» (Randall Balmer, John Phillips Professor of Religion, Dartmouth College) This book illustrates how the university campus has been and continues to be a crucial space where diverse actors who embody Protestant, secular and pluralist forces negotiate the role of religion in a pluralistic society. Through comparative analysis of four distinct institutions in North Carolina's Research Triangle from the nineteenth century to the present day, we observe how campus religious climates have varied quite significantly within a single metropolitan area - all the more across the vast system of American higher education. Institutional identity factors including race, gender, geographical reach, resource disparities, and denominational affiliations have powerfully shaped the way these universities relate to their Protestant roots amidst growing religious diversity. And these universities, in turn, have accelerated the religious transformation of a region of the American South that is emblematic of widening cultural divides. Protestant Privilege andPluralism on Campus illuminates a range of challenges to achieving a substantive and inclusive dialogue about meaning and values on campus and beyond.

For most of our history, American religious life has been dominated by a view of church history in which we appear as mere deposits of European religious culture. In fact, however, the freedom of Americans to choose without penalty to join any religious body or none at all is new in human history. This book is an effort to understand and interpret how we arrived at our present situation and, in doing so, to clarify many cultural, social and political issues.

Providing a historical context, this book examines the challenges that pluralism presents to denominationalism and civil religion and considers the contributions secularism and the New Age movement have made to the culture of religious pluralism.

How can campus life become more hospitable to the human spirit? This book invites everyone concerned with the quality and meaning of campus life to engage in new conversations about the spiritual and religious dimensions of diversity, leadership, student development, and learning. This book challenges conventions in higher education that neglect religious identity and spiritual exploration while perpetuating disconnection, competition, and separation from our natural and social environments. It offers innovative approaches for positive change, while addressing the complex legal, organizational, and cultural issues involved in this conversation. Grounded in original research and professional practice, this collection includes reflections from college presidents, campus leaders, student affairs staff members, and faculty.

Today, the United States stands as the most religiously diverse country in the world. This diversity poses great challenges as well as opportunities. Christian denominations and their cultural manifestations, however, often function to marginalize, exclude, and deny members and institutions of other religions and non-believers the privileges and access that accompany a Christian affiliation.

The most recent addition to the Key Issues on Diverse College Students series bridges theory to practice in order to help student affairs and higher education professionals understand the needs and experiences of religious minorities on college campuses. Religious Minority Students in Higher Education explores existing literature and research on religious minorities on American college campuses, discusses the challenges and needs of religious minorities on campus, and provides best practices and recommendations. Providing a foundational, nuanced approach to religious minorities in the American college context, this important resource will help educators at colleges and universities promote religious pluralism and tolerance to support student learning outcomes and campus inclusion among students of diverse religious backgrounds.

This text presents a new critical theory addressing religious diversity, Christian religious privilege, and Christian hegemony in the United States. It meets a growing and urgent need in our society—the need to bring together religiously diverse ways of thinking and being in the world, and eventually to transform our society through intentional pluralism. The primary goal of Critical Religious Pluralism Theory (CRPT) is to acknowledge the central roles of religious privilege, oppression, hegemony, and marginalization in maintaining inequality between Christians and non-Christians (including the nonreligious) in the United States. Following analysis of current literature on religious, secular, and spiritual identities within higher education, and in-depth discussion of critical theories on other identity elements, the text presents seven tenets of CRPT alongside seven practical guidelines for utilizing the theory to combat the very inequalities it exposes. For the first time, a critical theory will address directly the social impacts of religious diversity and its inherent benefits and complications in the United States. Critical Religious Pluralism in Higher Education will appeal to scholars, researchers, and graduate students in higher education, as well as critical theorists from other disciplines.