Spring Break
Majority of SMU students not of Methodist faith
Mallory McCall, Contributing Writer mmccall@smu.edu
Issue date: 4/22/09 Section: News
The search began on Ash Wednesday. The soot-smudged foreheads left no doubt. Christian, yes. But Methodist? Hmm …
Students and faculty do not have to be Methodist to be members of the SMU community, but it may come as a surprise that the majority of the Hilltop population is not affiliated with the United Methodist Church. As of February, about 60 percent of the student body reported a religious preference, and of those students, 24 percent claimed to be Catholic and only 20 percent United Methodist.
That means in an intro class of 35 students, only four would claim to be United Methodist.
"It's not really all that important what the percentage of students may be United Methodist, and it isn't even terribly important whether they become Methodist. What really matters is whether the institution, which the United Methodist Church owns, is doing the best job it can do to educate people for the society," said William Lawrence, dean of the Perkins School of Theology.
According to Lawrence, the statistics are probably accurate but incomplete. Because a student's religious preference is self-reported, a student could say they are Protestant or Christian, when they are actually a member of the United Methodist denomination.
"Most people who are Roman Catholic and take the time to identify themselves won't indentify themselves as Christians. They will identify themselves as Catholic or Roman Catholic," said Lawrence.
To get a more realistic view of what these statistics looked like, I asked more than 50 Mustangs the question: what religion are you?
Junior English major Erin Elliot is Methodist. In fact, she gave SMU special attention when applying to colleges, strictly because of its Methodist affiliation. She was hopeful that being Methodist would qualify her for scholarships, as it did at McMurry University, a Methodist institution in Abilene. Elliot quickly learned that SMU did not grant scholarships for being Methodist, unless she was the daughter of a Methodist minister.
Students and faculty do not have to be Methodist to be members of the SMU community, but it may come as a surprise that the majority of the Hilltop population is not affiliated with the United Methodist Church. As of February, about 60 percent of the student body reported a religious preference, and of those students, 24 percent claimed to be Catholic and only 20 percent United Methodist.
That means in an intro class of 35 students, only four would claim to be United Methodist.
"It's not really all that important what the percentage of students may be United Methodist, and it isn't even terribly important whether they become Methodist. What really matters is whether the institution, which the United Methodist Church owns, is doing the best job it can do to educate people for the society," said William Lawrence, dean of the Perkins School of Theology.
According to Lawrence, the statistics are probably accurate but incomplete. Because a student's religious preference is self-reported, a student could say they are Protestant or Christian, when they are actually a member of the United Methodist denomination.
"Most people who are Roman Catholic and take the time to identify themselves won't indentify themselves as Christians. They will identify themselves as Catholic or Roman Catholic," said Lawrence.
To get a more realistic view of what these statistics looked like, I asked more than 50 Mustangs the question: what religion are you?
Junior English major Erin Elliot is Methodist. In fact, she gave SMU special attention when applying to colleges, strictly because of its Methodist affiliation. She was hopeful that being Methodist would qualify her for scholarships, as it did at McMurry University, a Methodist institution in Abilene. Elliot quickly learned that SMU did not grant scholarships for being Methodist, unless she was the daughter of a Methodist minister.
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