Regardless of religion, seek truth

Many students view college as an opportunity to make their own rules. Some see college as a chance to start partying, dating, and most of all as a chance to stop practicing their religious teachings. A few local religious leaders feel that many college students stop practicing religion for several reasons. Dr. Syed Kalamuddin, director of the Islamic Center of Tallahassee, said that students have become victims of the “strange upbringing” of modern America. Kalamuddin said that parents have a tendency to release their children into the world when they turn 18, and some aren’t sufficiently prepared for that step. “Many students feel that they have been imprisoned at home with their parents and they use college as an escape,” Kalamuddin said. “On the other hand, some students give up on religion because they feel they have been deceived.” By dealing with different students Rev. Robert Dixon, pastor of the Tallahassee Church of the Living Word, learned that students are simply seeking the truth and having a hard time finding it. “Students feel hurt by false teachers because they feel that they haven’t received the truth they deserve,” Dixon said. In an effort to assist college students in finding the truth they desire, Dixon and Kalamuddin along with other religious leaders offer services at their worship centers. These services are open to all students who wish to attend. “It is not about denomination, but it is about receiving the true word…” Dixon said. In the same respect, Kalamuddin says that students must realize that “it is our duty to seek the truth.””If students find a place of teaching that they feel offers the truth, then “they should practice it,” Kalamuddin said.In addition to seeking the truth, Princess Davis, a junior business administration student from Daytona Beach, stressed the importance of becoming “truly intimate and in tune with the Divine.””I think we all need to seek the truth and the very essence of it,” Davis, 19, said. “With the many influences we are faced with everyday, students need to seek spirituality.”