Reply #8: Yes, Campus Crusade and Intervarsity Christian Fellowship are [View All]

fundies. As a member of the Episcopal chaplaincy in graduate school, I was on a committee of different campus religious groups organizing an Oxfam fast, in which students would skip their meals and ask that the prorated costs of those meals be donated to Oxfam. The Episcopalians, Catholics, Lutherans, UCCs, and Jews all signed on and agreed to promote the event among their members.

But Intervarsity would not join the effort, because they did not want their money going to any organization that helped the world's poor people without evangelizing them.

One of the members of the Episcopal chaplaincy had a roommate in Intervarsity, and through that connection, I got invited to one of their parties. They ostentatiously pointed out that they didn't serve booze or dance. And I thought, "So what's the point of having a party?"

But the mainstream religious groups can have quite interesting chaplaincies, with liturgical experimentation, book discussions, communal living, and social action and advocacy work.