If you thought of colleges as places where young people go to lose their faith, you might be heartened by a recent poll, reported on in USA Today:

From the pollsters come recent data showing that religion and spirituality are alive and well at colleges and universities. A recent study by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA finds that more than half of college juniors say "integrating spirituality" into their lives is very important. Today's juniors also tend to pray (67%, according to the UCLA study) and 41% believe it's important, even essential, to "follow religious teachings" in everyday life.

To read more about the faith lives of today's college students, click here.

Joan Chittester, OSB, gathered in Jaipur, India, with many women leaders of different religious traditions to raise awareness of the potential for change through women and religion. Chicago Tribune correspondent, Laurie Goering writes, “Participants called the conference itself an example of what women with a talent for compassion, forgiveness and building trust might accomplish in resolving conflict. 

‘The moment people are in dialogue they no longer demonize each other: I'm not the occupier, and you're no longer the terrorist,’ said Rabbi Naamah Kelman, dean of Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem. She at one point shared the stage with Iran's Zarif, a moment she called "a start" to better relations between the two rival nations. 

"We have to take steps into territory where we are uncomfortable, where we are afraid, and establish some connection," urged Donna Markham, a Dominican nun from Toronto.”

Click here to read the entire story.

The Presence: An International Journal of Spiritual Direction fourth annual poetry contest will be judged by a three-person panel. One of the panel members is Roger Midgett.

Roger has written poetry, novels, and screenplays. His poetry has been published in Exhibition, Pontoon, kaleidowhirl, Presence, and The Dupage Review. One of his poems, "Passage," was set to music by Paul Lewis as part of The Last Poem On Earth: A Jazz Oratorio that had its world premiere in April of 2007. Roger works as a mMental health professional and lives with his family on Bainbridge Island in Washington State, USA. He tinkers at odd hours in his laboratory of applied metaphysics.

If you would like to submit a poem, click here for the contest guidelines.

If you haven't yet gotten around to reading the survey on the religious landscape in the United States conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, there is a good summary of the data here.

And for a cool interactive map of the United States that interprets the Pew data visually, click here. (You need to have Flash installed on your computer to see it.)