But religious matters evidently are important to many UMR students. Many are involved in the campus' 16 official religious organizations. Religious and non-religious organizations alike are talking about religion lately, and people are responding. Last spring, the Muslim Student Association's panel discussion on Islam drew some 100 people. Encouraged by the response, she organized a similar session last December.
People do talk about it all the time.
I'm shocked that people talk about it so much. Such an interest in religion among students might come as no surprise, given UMR's Bible Belt geography and mainstream demographics. But experts see a shift occurring in the way students approach spirituality. It's a shift that mirrors what's happening in society at large. One of the hottest movies last Christmas was The Prince of Egypt, a retelling of the Old Testament story of Moses.