SWA 7

The two articles “Matters of Faith Find a New Prominence on Campus” written by Alan Finder and “Schools of Thought: The Liberal-Conservative Divide on College Campuses” written by Richard Lust, both ultimately argue that in recent years, there has been a significant increase in religious and conservative views across college campuses in the United States. Each author uses statistics, personal opinion and other researchers’ opinions to emphasize his points. Both arguments are very similar, minus the fact that Just acknowledges the fact that most statistics show that religious and conservative groups are still the minority at most schools. Also, Finder focuses on a wider range of spirituality, not just Christianity and Catholicism, but also Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism and just a basic presence of faith. I feel that the case Finder is arguing and the argument he puts forth is more effective and supported than Just’s.
Just and Finder use examples of students reaching out to their peers and trying to spread their views. Basically, more and more minorities are trying to show their beliefs and show universities that there are students who are active minorities on campus. Finder used the research of many professors on college campuses to support his claim. They all said that there is an evident increase in spirituality and that all statistics also point towards that statement. On the other hand, Just more frequently uses his personal opinions as evidence. This is however much less effective to the audience because there isn’t any information displayed about the validity of the author’s opinion.