The globe had an interesting article
on the evangelical movement that has been on the rise in colleges.
Ok, so here are my biased and totally un-researched thoughts….
My personal feeling is that this is just another group of people that give others a sense of belonging; basically a place where they feel loved and accepted, which really is what any person wants in the end. Personally I think I come to the same level of self acceptance and acceptance of others through therapy, so maybe in the end this is just group therapy for many messed up young adults that walk in and have tons of baggage from their teenage years? I guess I also view any religious group that pro-actively/aggressively recruits people into their group sort of cultish (especially when I read the line:

“They prayed for me to come to Jesus,” she says. “They prayed for a whole year.”

).

There is another quote from this article that really bugs me:

While peaceful coexistence with other religions is preached, so is the message that eternal salvation is open only to those who line up behind them and Jesus Christ

Personally I like to view religion in general based on the books The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis (ok yes I know, weird). In one of the books, The Last Battle, there is this point where everyone who worshiped the devil (this crazy god whose name I don’t remember, Tashlash or something) and those who worshiped Aslan (the symbol for God in his books), are split into two groups: those who go to the symbolic Heaven and those who go to the symbolic Hell. During the separation, Aslan points out that there were those who worshiped the Devil, but who were really good people inside, and therefore were truly worshiping him (aslan), despite the fact that they were raised to worship the devil. Those people/creatures went to Heaven. So, my thoughts sort of go with the idea that if there is a God, then he/she/whatever would also distinguish between people who were good people despite what symbol they worshiped and those who were truly bad.. or whatever… A bit too black and white, but I think I made my point. The above statement just makes me cringe… thus I think of this movement as more cultish then anything, and I feel it will fade as soon as these people who jumped on the band wagon find a new “family” to take over this one.