Should Chapel Be Required?

If worship is required, can it be real? What should Adventist schools do?

Students today may show their disdain at compulsory chapel attendance by busily engaging themselves in conversation with a neighbor, by reading a Reader's Digest tucked under their coat, by resting their head on the backrest of the pew in front of them, or simply by chewing gum and staring in a far-off direction—all during the sacred services of the college or university chapel.

Fortunately, this characterization does not apply to the majority.

On a large secular campus recently, I was listening to a professor's lecture as he described the history of American colleges and universities, including the religious aspect. He pointed out that of the nine colleges founded in the pre-Revolutionary era, all had a central religious thrust and were church-oriented. In fact, their primary function was the training of the clergy. Prayer and worship were closely integrated with the educational curriculum in all cases.

In 1862 the Morrill Act was passed, encouraging each state to establish land-grant colleges from the sale of 30,000-acre parcels of land. Most of the new colleges carried on the tradition established by the already-existing private colleges, including the holding of chapel and worship services. Generally the routine was morning worship at 6:30 a.m., soon after the rising bell, and evening worship at 5:00 p.m. after classes were over. My professor recalled the days nearly a half-century ago when he attended one of the land grant institutions. Chapel attendance was still being required, although not as often as twice a day. But students were allowed only three chapel "skips" per semester.

Changed

Today, all this has drastically changed. Even private, church-related colleges are no longer requiring chapel attendance. Why the shift or drift away from required religious services? An even deeper question: should chapel attendance ever be compulsory in a church-supported college or university?

If we were to take a student poll today in Christian colleges and universities across America, we would not be too surprised to discover that perhaps the majority of students are not in favor of compulsory chapels or worships, although having one required chapel per week might be acceptable. Students in the last century-and-a-half have not changed. Opening the diary of William G. Hammond, a student at Amherst College in the 1840s, we come across his expression of dislike for compulsory chapel: "I do really think these public prayers do more harm than good to the religious feeling of a majority of students: they are regarded as an idle bore."1 So today we may ask a student coming out of chapel the question, "How was chapel?" and get the response, "Oh, it was boring."

Revivals

But not all chapels in the 1840s were boring. A student at Denison University, a Baptist institution, recorded the following in 1840: "We had gone to chapel simply because it was duty, when in the dull routine, 'Little Kerr'..., who was sitting back by the chimney, rose and asked us to pray for him! ... In a little while seven or eight of as wild boys as were in the college, broke down, and sobbing, begged us to pray for them."2 Soon a revival had broken out all over campus, as frequently happened on campuses in the mid-19th century. Chapel and worship services were often the seedbed for revivalism. Isn't it ironic (or is it?) that revivalism could flourish in an atmosphere that some were describing as compulsory and oppressive?

Shift

In 1857 F. D. Huntington wrote an article, "Public Prayers in Colleges," in which he made a list of suggestions for making worship services more attractive. Most of his suggestions were adopted throughout America in the next half century: 1) the singing of hymns and reciting of responsive readings, so that students would have an active part in the worships; 2) shorter services; 3) carpets and choirs to make a more worshipful atmosphere; 4) a less unseasonable time for morning worships, thus removing from them the stigma of being the alarm clock or rising bell; 5) the elimination of evening worships, in recognition of the newly-discovered benefits of outdoor sports during that hour; and (6) the encouragement for faculty to attend all worships.3

So in the 1850s evening worships gradually began disappearing from the American college scene until by 1890 one rarely found evening worship being conducted at the old established universities, such as Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, etc. In many of these, however, Sunday church attendance was still a requisite, although the second service on Sunday evening was no longer required.

Sports became a substitute for the spirit of worship during the early evening hours, and thus "a way out was found in the playing field, the spirit of which, it was argued, should not be asked to mingle with the spirit of the chapel."4 Voluntary chapel services became the latest vogue, being inaugurated at the University of Wisconsin in 1868, at newly-founded Johns Hopkins in 1876, at Harvard in 1886, following by Stanford and Chicago in the 1890s. The same trends toward voluntary worship services observed on the more "secular" campuses of the 19th century were seen cropping up on staunchly religious campuses throughout the twentieth century. Compulsory worships are now the exception, rather than the rule.

Secularization

I am not suggesting that America's colleges and universities revert back to the more rigid approach to religion of the 18th and 19th centuries, such as requiring church attendance on Sabbath (Sunday) or mandatory worship services in state-operated and state-funded institutions. But I am alarmed at the increasing secularization of higher education that is invading even church-related institutions. The strength of America has been its moral fabric, and the genius of its higher education has been the balanced training of the mind, soul, and body. Adventist education is one of the last refuges for an endangered species in education, namely, the integrating of a living, vibrant worship experience with the daily academic routine on college campuses.

"A lost art on many so-called Christian campuses is the art of worship, whereby God is continually uplifted as both our Creator and Redeemer."

A lost art on many so-called Christian campuses is the art of worship, whereby God is continually uplifted as both our Creator and Redeemer. Perhaps the impact of evolutionary theory has made the Creator less worshipful and the dogmas of secular science more believable. And some educators today find that requiring attendance at any religious service is incompatible with Christianity, which is based on the individual's freedom to choose whether to make Christ supreme in his life. But I would like to ask of them, What would happen to higher education if you made attendance at all your classes and labs totally optional, including examinations? Is the requiring of certain standards incompatible with intellectual growth? If not, then why can't standards in the religious sphere be compatible with spiritual growth?

Freedom of Choice

Yet how can we harmonize required chapel attendance with freedom of choice? First, any student who enrolls in a Seventh-day Adventist college or university enters into a contractual agreement with that institution. Included in that "contract" is an agreement on the part of the student to attend classes and to achieve more than the minimal standards for graduation as well as to participate in the total program of Adventist education, including worship services. So the student has already exercised his freedom of choice in determining whether or not to attend that particular college. For their part, it is the responsibility of the teacher and the school to try to motivate the student to a high level of academic achievement, and also to make the religious aspect of education so attractive, including chapel and worship services, that the student will want to accept and follow the Christian way of life.

Second, even required chapels call on the power of choice. The student is continually exercising his freedom of thought—do I accept the message of the speaker or not? And if I accept it, what difference will it and should it make in my day-to-day life? To make that kind of intelligent choice, a student must have the opportunity to hear the full weight of the message.

"Required chapels do provide an environment or seed-bed in which spiritual thoughts can be planted and take root, with the prospect of ultimately bringing a rich harvest."

Required chapels never compel a person to be a Christian, for Christianity cannot be adopted by compulsion. But required chapels do provide an environment or seed-bed in which spiritual thoughts can be planted and take root, with the prospect of ultimately bringing a rich harvest. It is in the spirit of true Christian education to have the student placed in the finest type of environment, both academic and spiritual, so that the student can make the wisest choices. Paul recognized that even the virtue of love is not incompatible with compulsion: "For the love of Christ constraineth us" (2 Cor 5:14). Should chapel and worship attendance on Seventh-day Adventist campuses no longer be compulsory? God forbid that such should ever happen.

Revolution

"A century ago, most U.S. colleges and universities were controlled by mainline Protestantism and constituted the faith's most important channel of cultural influence. But gradually, mainline schools have become indistinguishable from secular campuses, leaving distinctly Protestant higher education to the Evangelicals. This 'revolution' occurred with 'nobody noticing and nobody seeming to mind,' remarks Duke University historian George Marsden."

—Time, May 22, 1989, p. 95.