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Our first impression of the data was that the students were surprisingly orthodox and religiously involved.

Upon second thought we were forced to realize that we have very few reliable historical benchmarks against which we might compare the present situation, and that conclusions that present-day students are `` more '' or `` less '' religious could not be defended on the basis of our data.

As we looked more intently at the content of our belief and the extent of religious participation, we received the impression that many of the religious convictions expressed represented a conventional acceptance, of low intensity.

But, here again, comparative benchmarks are lacking, and we do not know, in any case, what measure of profoundity and intensity to expect from healthy, young, secure and relatively inexperienced persons ; ;

after all, feelings of immortality and invulnerability are standard illusions of youth.

Nor are optimistic and socially-oriented themes at all rare in the distinctive religious history of this country.