Sophomore Emma Young had a tough freshman year-she found few friends in her co-op and faced the deaths of both her grandfather and her best friend's father in the same month.

Raised in a Christian family, Young had attended Bible study in college out of habit. But upon hearing a particular Bible passage during the study group one evening, her faith strengthened, eventually pushing her to join a Christian sorority, Alpha Delta Chi.

"It affected me so much that my faith wasn't routine anymore," she said. "I really want to submerge myself in a Christian community and help out people who feel like they're alone."

On a campus where her faith is challenged by both peers and professors, the sorority provided her the religious support system she had missed her freshman year, Young said.

While campus religious groups emphasize the importance of faith in college life, UC Berkeley's social and academic pace may prove difficult for students hoping to remain devout.

Sophomore Jorge Penate is a leader in the Latino Christian fellowship Destino, but he also plays the baritone horn in the Cal Band. He said the two lifestyles often clash as Cal Band's secular culture has a reputation of partying.

"Obviously (band) doesn't promote a good Christian atmosphere," he said. "They say you can't be part of Cal Band and be a Christian. They're like two different worlds."

But fifth-year Ben Smith, another Christian member of Cal Band, found a solution through Cal Band Bible Study, which he leads in weekly devotional sessions.

"The first couple years were difficult, adjusting to being on my own and living a Christian life," he said. "But in the past two or three years things have radically changed and I'm just learning a lot and growing a lot more in my faith."

Though religious students may struggle initially at UC Berkeley, many said the challenges imposed on their faith in a secular school have actually strengthened their beliefs.

"Here, there's all sorts of communities," said Andrea Wolf, devotional session leader at Alpha Delta Chi. "I really think that's important as a Christian not to seclude yourself with Christians because we live in a world of everybody else. Being in a community where our values seem really contradictory, sometimes it's hard to say 'I'm a Christian' with conviction."

While religious UC Berkeley students stressed how being around other communities reinforces their faith, students from private religious schools said being surrounded by like-minded peers strengthens their faith.

"At another school you don't know other people's backgrounds," said senior Tom Shank, a religious studies major at Westmont College. "I feel like there's not a whole lot of common ground at UCs other than that you happen to be at the same college."

While some students found that college reinforced their faith, others, including several members of the atheist Students for a Nonreligious Ethos, said the college environment bred doubt.

Member Ricardo Correa, a visiting scholar from University of North Texas, was raised Roman Catholic in Mexico. Always inquisitive of his religion, Correa said his questions increasingly turned into doubts after learning more in college.

"I actually paid attention," he said. "I found too many loose ends, I became increasingly dissatisfied with the arguments."

Correa said college students should draw their own philosophies from evidence rather than taking arguments at face value.

"Being in doubt is not necessarily a bad thing," he said. "Finding out your own conclusions about the world, therein lies a lot of the fun life has to offer."

Berkeley theology expert Mark Graves agreed that college students are at a prime age to develop spiritually.

"I think that because the time of late teens, early twenties is so important for identity formation that it's really good to be able to bring in religion at that time, if the person is so inclined," he said.

Tags: RELIGION