Radcliffe Links Family to Religious Interests

The Radcliffe girl is a slightly more religious creature than the Harvard man.

Popular opinion usually regards the female as a member of the species with a greater degree of religiosity. Women are often considered more likely than men to accept doctrines of religious faith, and many clergymen will ascertain that women outnumber men in attendance at worship services. Frequently, the everyday explanation of this phenomenon is that the female is by nature a more sentimental and less rational being than the male.

Differences at University Less

In a university community, a difference between men and women in religious attitudes is less easy to perceive than among the general population. Particularly at a women's college with students of the intellectual caliber of Radcliffe, one would expect as much rationality and honest skepticism about religion as at a comparable men's institution.

Indeed, it is the opinion of the clergymen who work in the University community that Harvard and Radcliffe students are generally equal in their interest in religion and in their degree of belief or disbelief. The Rev. George A. Buttrick, Preacher to the University, notes further that a proportionate number of men and women students attend Sunday services at Memorial Church. The rabbi and ministers in the community also report that, of the students who come to them with problems, the number of girls is proportional to the colleges' enrollments.

Nevertheless, even on the college level, some divergences between the religious attitudes of men and women emerge. In the CRIMSON's poll of 310 undergraduates on religious and political questions, some small but perceptible differences between Harvard and Radcliffe appeared.

Radcliffe girls are less likely to reject their religious tradition entirely, more likely to pray and attend worship services, more outspoken against intermarriage, and more anxious to raise their children in their own faith. And unlike Harvard, Radcliffe girls are slightly more interested in religion than they are in politics.

In many other respects, the sampling of Radcliffe girls scarcely varied from the patterns set by Harvard undergraduates. The Annex exhibited its fair share of religious fundamentalists, moderates, liberals, agnostics, and atheists.

Affiliations About Equal

The percentages of membership in the various denominations diverged in only a few cases: The Radcliffe polls included a smaller percentage of Roman Catholics than Harvard. Although there was a comparable number of Jews, there were far fewer Orthodox and Conservative, the majority being Reform. Radcliffe showed a somewhat higher percentage of Episcopalians--6 for every 5 at Harvard. (This disproportion was corroborated by the personal observations of the Rev. Donald Maitland of Christ Church.)

On most of the basic questions concerning religious belief, there was little contrast between the men and women. There was nothing distinctive in the Radcliffe view of the nature of God, the role of organized religion, or the interpretation of scriptural statements.

The major differences between the sexes thus occurred not in beliefs but in religious practices, particularly in matters concerning marriage, family life, and the raising of children. This result corresponds well with the statements of the clergymen in the Harvard community. They recognize some difference in the religious attitudes of men and women, even when it is partially masked during the college years.

Dr. Buttrick attributed woman's special interest in religion to her centrality to the home and its security, not to greater emotionalism. Similarly, the Rev. Richard E. Mumma of the First Congregational Church noted that a woman has a deepened perception of religious things "out of her care for children and closer and more personal association with the family."

The average Radcliffe girl is less likely than her Harvard counterpart to reject the religious tradition of her family background, whatever it might be. Only one girl, for every three men, indicated a complete rejection of the religious tradition in which she was raised.

An overwhelming majority of Radcliffe girls wish to raise their own children in the same tradition in which they were brought up. For every 10 Harvard men who hope to raise children in their own religion, 17 'Cliffies wish to do so. In contrast, for each 10 men who want to give their children no religious training at all, there are only 4 girls of this opinion. And for every 10 men who would choose a different religion from their own in which to raise children, there are only 6 girls who wish to deviate from their own faith.

Mixed Marriages Feared

Just as Radcliffe students tend to be more conservative in retaining the religious tradition of their childhood, the girls are somewhat more inclined to disapprove of mixed marriages. Among the reasons most frequently checked were: "problem of children's religious education," "dislike of certain doctrines in this other faith," "parental reaction," and "fear of 'mixed marriage' in general."

At least a half-dozen Radcliffe girls penned in reasons for objecting to mixed marriage on the more personal grounds of wanting to feel a "oneness" with their partners on this fundamental matter of religion: "Feel I must agree with mate on religion to be happy." "There are certain parts of Jewish life I want to have in my home--I think I'd enjoy life with a person who could share these moments and activities with me." "Sharing religion is basic to a marriage, I think."

Apart from their greater concern with preserving religion in the family, the Radcliffe respondants diverged from Harvard in their more marked devotion to religious practices, specifically individual prayer and attendance of religious services. Yet almost surprisingly, the girls are no more inclined than the men to "regard active connection with a church or synagogue as essential to religious life." Of those students who indicated some belief in divine presence, only 30 per cent at either college consider church connection necessary for a full religious life.

Weekly church attendance attracts the same proportion at Harvard and Radcliffe, 23 per cent. Radcliffe, however, shows a larger proportion of students who worship twice a month or monthly than Harvard does and there are fewer 'Cliffies who never or seldom attend church. While 11 per cent of Harvard believers never go to church or synagogue and 12 1/2 per cent only twice a year, the corresponding figures for Radcliffe are a mere 5 per cent and 4 per cent.

Radcliffe girls, according to the poll, gave far greater credence to the value of prayer. While 41 per cent of Radcliffe students believing in God perform daily devotions, only 23 per cent of Harvard believers do so. Correspondingly, only 18 per cent of these Radcliffe girls never pray, while 33 per cent of Harvard men who believe in some "divine presence" never pray.

Fewer Reject Immortality

While most of the Harvard-Radcliffe differences occur in the areas of religious practice or of family life, rather than belief, there is a moderate divergence on the question of belief in immortality. Although an almost equal proportion believe in "the continued existence of the individual soul," fewer girls are ready to deny immortality. Only 16 girls answer an outright "no" to immortality for every 20 Harvard men who deny a belief in it.

In questions of the material world, Radcliffe students illustrated slightly less concern than their Harvard counterparts. The tendency to go in one direction or the other, however, was slight for men and women alike.

The Radcliffe girls, however, tended more toward pacifism. The contrast emerged on the question: "IF the United States should find itself in such a position that all other alternatives were closed, save a world war with the Soviet Union OR surrender to the Soviet Union, would you favor war or surrender?" While the substantial majority of both men and girls selected "war," Radcliffe girls were more prone to consider "surrender" as an acceptable alternative. Whereas 75 per cent of the Harvard men chose "war," only 64 per cent of the Radcliffe girls preferred "war" to "surrender."

Radcliffe students also expressed greater favor than Harvard men on partial surrender of American sovereignty. A slim majority of the girls favored a serious attempt at international federation or world government, while, among Harvard students, the opponents were in the majority.

Striking contrasts between Harvard and Radcliffe student opinions thus must be sought in the religious rather than the political questions. Radcliffe girls exhibit slightly greater interest in religion than their Harvard counterparts--a difference made manifest by a greater inclination to resolution to perpetuate their own religious traditions through marriage and family.

And yet the Radcliffe girls did not play down the importance of everyday political questions, especially conworship and prayer and by a firmer cerning feminine equality. The spirit of Carrie Nation showed through in one girl's answer to the question, "Would you have any objections to the election as President of the United States of a Roman Catholic, a Protestant, a Jew, an atheist or agnostic." She checked her objection to "an atheist" with this remark: "if he made a public point about it. Otherwise it's his or her own business."