Portland: least religious colleges

The Princeton Review released its latest college rankings. As usual, my hometown of Portland, Oregon is home to the #1 and #3 least religious colleges in the United States. I am strangely proud of this fact. I am often weirded out by hyper-religious schools—maybe because I went to one.

At the same time, I am also proud of the fact that my alma mater, Wheaton College (#3 most religious school), again gained the #1 ranking for best campus food. Well done, Wheaton!
Email Post

Comments

Rachel said…
My alma mater (Calvin) moved down to #10 on the stone-cold sober list. I don't even want to know what they gave us for food...
July 29, 2008 2:10 PM
David W. Congdon said…
I don't think Wheaton has ever moved from its #2 ranking as most sober school, just one step behind BYU.

Of course, whether that ranking is really accurate is another question ... :)
July 29, 2008 2:15 PM
Anonymous said…
was Wheaton your hyper-religious school? That kind of makes me laugh, since the high school I graduated from considered Wheaton "liberal", hehe.
July 29, 2008 6:09 PM
David W. Congdon said…
Rob:

Yeah, I know those types, and they scare the hell out of me.

I have family that went to Bob Jones and Liberty, and one almost went to Pensecola. All those schools would consider Wheaton liberal.

But it's worth noting that a school can be religious and still be liberal. In other words, religious doesn't have to equal conservative. Oberlin in its early days would have qualified as an example.
July 29, 2008 9:02 PM
a. steward said…
I don't know how much time you've spent with Reedies, David, but they're plenty creepy themselves. I think you could fairly generalize the climate at Reed as one of atheistic fundamentalism, which is every bit as boring and intellectually stifling as the sort found at my Portland school, Multnomah. Plus, Reed is one of the biggest recruiting pools for the trust-fund hipsters crowding the streets of S.E.P., for which it cannot be forgiven.
July 30, 2008 11:56 AM
Anonymous said…
I recently spoke to a Wheaton grad that considered Princeton to be a liberal seminary. Is that common sentiment? I have never thought of using the word liberal to describe Princeton.
July 30, 2008 11:26 PM
W. Travis McMaken said…
As I'm sure that David would agree with me (he and I spent 2 years down the hall from each other on the same floor in a Wheaton dorm), Wheaton is a very diverse place. Some would think that PTS is liberal, and some of us would have no problem coming here. ;-)
July 31, 2008 6:37 AM
David W. Congdon said…
Adam,

You're right, Reedies are scary, too. But I'd rather be among the people of downtown Portland than among the people of Colorado Springs.

You said: "Reed is one of the biggest recruiting pools for the trust-fund hipsters crowding the streets of S.E.P., for which it cannot be forgiven."

What is this? I'm missing something, apparently.
July 31, 2008 9:21 AM
Post a Comment