Protestant Privilege and Pluralism on Campus

More about the book

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 and Pluralism on Campus illuminates a range of challenges to achieving a substantive and inclusive dialogue about meaning and values on campus and beyond.