When Ava T. ’28 came to Nueva from her small Christian middle school, the culture shift was palpable. Bible study, chapel, and prayer were no longer on the schedule, but religion hadn’t just left the classroom—it had largely disappeared from conversation as well.
“It was kind of scary coming into a school that wasn’t religious. I didn’t know how people would take it,” Ava said. “At my old school, it was definitely a lot easier to openly talk about my religion. Here it’s something you have to be a lot more careful talking about.”
In most parts of America, the presence of religion is never far from view. Even secular institutions, such as public schools, regularly interact with religion in their day-to-day operations. In recent years, however, these interactions have become increasingly politicized, with the growing influence of Christian nationalism in particular placing new pressures on public school systems nationwide.
According to a 2023 Gallup survey, 68% of Americans identify as Christian. Within the Nueva bubble, however, this national majority can feel like a minority position, and irreligiosity seems to be the norm. Overt references to Christianity are often avoided during the holidays; in past years, Upper School students have instead put up a “secular holiday shrub.”
With religion less visible on campus, conversations about faith are rare both inside and outside the classroom. Even students who lead religious affinity groups share that they seldom discuss their faith outside of those spaces.
“We’re a secular institution. We don’t have a religion ingrained into our teachings,” said Ayaan M. ’26, lead of the Muslim Student Association. “I’m not bothered by that, but I think as a school we largely ignore religion.”
For Noah L. ’28, who takes a strong personal interest in theology, discussions of religion with peers are more common. He characterized these conversations as rooted primarily in academic curiosity.
“A lot of times we can still use the same analytical tools that we use in history class,” Noah said. “A lot of the people that I discuss religion with are able to adopt different perspectives in an academic sense: ‘how would this set of beliefs influence how one thinks about this other external belief?’”
Other religious students described a sense of stigma surrounding religion that makes open conversations more difficult.
“I think there’s a lot of anti-religious sentiment, more than just an absence of religion,” Etienne Y. ’28 said. “There’s a lot of misconceptions about it [because] we don’t talk about enough. People make a lot of dogmatic assertions about what religion is.”
For some Christian students, these misconceptions come from an overgeneralized association between Christianity and conservative social views—such as opposition to homosexuality—that doesn’t reflect their own beliefs.
“People have these notions of what religion is like and means that come up in conversation,” Eli W. ’28 noted. “Do I really care enough that I want to argue against it? Do I really want to get into that? I just brush it off.”
For Eli, joining the Christian Affinity Group helped her to discover a broader community of Christians at Nueva and challenge some of these assumptions.
“I never talked about my own faith that much because of that strong association,” Eli said. “After I joined Christian Affinity Group, I [started to understand] that that is not the perception that everyone has of Christianity. There are many more people who are Christian than I actually thought there were at Nueva.”
Noah, Eli, and Noah co-lead the Christian Affinity Group (CAG), which meets twice a month on Tuesdays. In some ways, CAG mirrors elements of a church service—providing a space for fellowship, prayer, and occasional Bible study—while remaining a space driven by students rather than a pastor.
“Going to church on Sunday before a full school week can feel like it separates my faith self from my school self,” Eli said. “[CAG] is a way to bring this part of my identity into the way I interact at school.”
CAG is not the only religious affinity group on campus. The Muslim Student Association (MSA) and the Jewish Affinity Group (JAG) welcome students who practice those religions as well as those with cultural or familial ties. For JAG, the focus is primarily cultural.
“We want to bring the Jewish community at Nueva together, and I think the best way to do that is through culture,” said Talia F. ’27, co-lead of JAG. “The community is religiously diverse, but we can all connect through culture.”
Like other affinity groups, religious groups often help organize and host campus-wide holiday and cultural events. Because many holidays have religious origins, planning these assemblies and activities can involve walking a tightrope between the intimately tied subjects of religion and culture.
When planning last year’s Ramadan assembly, the MSA considered incorporating more explicitly religious elements, such as a reading of an excerpt of the Quran. Ultimately, the group decided against it.
“There was some hesitancy to do that, just because there was a fear of being outwardly religious at Nueva, given a lot of people here don’t really consider themselves religious,” Ayaan reflected. “I know for some people there is a fear of judgment when we get into the religious side.”
This year, an assembly on winter holidays on Dec. 17 will include for the first time a presentation on Christmas from the Christian Affinity Group.
“Christmas is viewed more secularly, and we’re trying to just show the Christian origins behind that,” Etienne said.
For many religious students, however, faith is not limited to assemblies. It is something they carry with them throughout their daily life.
“[My faith] is pretty intertwined with how I walk throughout my day,” Brayden D. ’27 said. “It allows me to be confident, to have that servant mindset, and to be happy.”
Religious affinity groups have helped provide a place for their members to share and even expand their faith together.
“Faith isn’t an easy path, and coming to this school has helped me realize that,” Ava said. “Growing our faith together through those challenges has been really helpful.”
