Interest in religion and spirituality is on the upswing, professors, pastors and a New York Times article say. However, it seems that everyone has a different opinion of exactly what this means. There is no doubt, though, that increased exploration of faith means that students are finding and practicing their spirituality.

The Times article indicated increased enrollment in classes on religion as evidence of increased spirituality. However, people aren’t taking religion classes for faith.

“I don’t see a strong resurgence of personal questions of meaning. … What I see is a strong resurgence of people wanting to understand what these religions are,” said James Wellman, an assistant professor of Western religions.

Wellman explained that with the wars in the Middle East and Africa, people are awakening to the idea that religion is all around them and has important political implications. For the most part, students are taking comparative religion classes because they’re interested in its political impact; it has little to do with personal spirituality.

Some disagree and insist that growing religious interest has nothing to do with politics.

“You may draw people into specific religious classes who have those questions. [But] most students don’t like equating religion with politics at all,” said Brian Ricci, director of UW’s Campus Crusade for Christ, arguably the largest Christian organization on campus.

Most students are tired of political parties claiming religions and justifying their actions with religious references, he said.

Ricci has observed an increased curiosity in spiritual matters but no real change in the number of people dedicated to the ministry; more people show up, but about the same number is committed. Still, he appreciates the curiosity.

“I see it as positive, in the sense that they are not just getting involved in an institution and ceremonial-type things but … are searching out the meaning,” Ricci said.

However, some claim students’ growing interest has contributed to church numbers. Tim Gaydos, an associate pastor at Mars Hill Church explained that commitment to Christianity tends to be a process. Students visit Mars Hill, which Gaydos said has about 700-1,000 UW students regularly attending, out of curiosity or a general quest for answers. Once they’ve been able to ask the hard questions, they often decide to become Christians, he said. So curiosity and spiritual interest do directly contribute to people becoming involved in religion in this case.

Gaydos said that only about 40 or 50 percent of the college students who go to Mars Hill are Christians to begin with. Overall, about 40 percent of Mars Hill members became Christians while attending the church. Considering how often most people change churches, these percentages are astronomical.

However, not all Christian college groups in the area have been growing. Ryan Church, director of The Inn, a college group at University Presbyterian Church, said his membership numbers have been about the same over the years. However, he did comment that students who pursue spirituality have been more serious about it recently.

Some experts emphasize that general spirituality is increasing and credit our pluralistic society.

“The common interest is in understanding spirituality in a broader sense,” said Jamie Beachy, the clinical manager of spiritual care at the UW Medical Center and Harborview Medical Center. “I see religion as being a part of spirituality but not the whole of it.”

It seems that as a student’s general curiosity about spiritual matters increases, so does his or her commitment to a religion. But that still doesn’t explain why students are more curious.

The reasons for asking spiritual questions haven’t changed. There will always be problems in the world, and people will always be looking for answers. However, church offers an explanation that could contribute to why that curiosity is increasing.

“[Students] are pummeled with advertising and are fed up with being misled. … They are interested in something that isn’t over-polluted by culture,” he said.

We are looking for something authentic: We want to see authentic change in people, authentic action and authentic faith. Science can only go so far, and we’re so surrounded by lies that we look into ourselves to try to reason out some truth. So on our quest for truth, let’s not allow our frustrations with society to prevent us from at least asking what religious people believe and why they believe it. Let’s allow our curiosity and frustration to be an opportunity to find something authentic.

Reach columnist Celeste Flint at opinion@thedaily.washington.edu