Is Sin City becoming Zen City?

Thursday, Oct. 27, 2005 | 6:52 a.m.

Classes

For more information on the continuing education or religious classes offered' in Las Vegas, visit UNLV's Web site at edoutreach.unlv.edu, the Community Coll' ge of Southern Nevada's Web site at ccsn.edu/commed/, Regis University's Web s' te at regis.edu or Bethany University's Web site at bethany.edu.

These aren't your average Sunday school classes.

This fall local colleges are offering classes on Kabbalah, witchcraft and the meditation practices of Zen Buddhism. You can learn about angels, study the origin of evil or learn how to be content in each moment.

Instructors say those classes are meeting a growing desire to study spirituality beyond traditional religion.

"It's kind of like a collective consciousness," said Felice Lipkint, who teaches Kabbalah courses at the Community College of Southern Nevada. "As more and more of us get it, more and more of us are open to get it."

UNLV and CCSN offer both academic and extension classes and find the classes are both well attended and well received. A handful of private colleges offer more traditional religious classes.

"People are starting to question more and people are starting to wonder more (about) what we are doing here and why," said Lipkint, who sees that in her work as a counselor managing employee assistance and organizational development for Clark County.

Students are pursuing answers to those questions in a wide range of classes, from traditional academic fare to workshops such as Lipkint's that are for personal enrichment. The classes reach a wide range of people from college students pursuing degrees to senior citizens in continuing education courses.

Sedona, Ariz., writer Tom Bird teaches UNLV continuing education students how to tap into the divine to find the book within them.

"Writing is and can be a very spiritual experience," said Bird, who has been coming to Las Vegas to teach for the last few years.

"I'm surprised by how spiritual people are in Las Vegas. Students are always very well connected spiritually."

At UNLV, anthropology professor William Jankowiak teaches "Magic, Religion and Witchcraft," which he said usually has a few hundred people on a waiting list. The course is popular in part because it fills a general education requirement, but even without that he figures he would still have a large class.

"It's always evoked a lot of philosophically inclined people, people who are curious about different takes on religion or different ways of being spiritual," Jankowiak said.

He said he hasn't seen an increase in spirituality, but said that humankind has always had a "desperate yearning ... to merge into something larger."

Class offerings include philosophies of specific religions and religion's effect on society, such as the philosophy class "Science and Religion."

CCSN offers many of the same classes as UNLV at a lower course level, and is looking at rolling its current course offerings into an associate's degree program in religion, philosophy professor Jim Wallis said.

UNLV does not have a religious studies department or any degree offerings in religion, but it offers electives covering different religions.

There are only two private extension programs in the valley that offer undergraduate religious classes -- Bethany University, which is affiliated with the Assemblies of God, and Regis University, a Jesuit school. Central Christian Church in Henderson is offering college-level courses through Lincoln Christian College in Illinois. Only Bethany offers a bachelor's degree in religion.

There are no other seminaries in the area, and most people wanting to pursue careers in ministry have to commute to Los Angeles, Christian and Jewish leaders said.

It took the Rev. Bob Pollema of Desert Streams Christian Church six years to finally earn his master's of divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary's extension program in Las Vegas. He spent time commuting to Phoenix to finish the degree.

He sees a need for more formal religious education in the valley.

"People are hungry for that," Pollema said. "They would love it."

Rabbi Yocheved Mintz of Valley Outreach Synagogue knows firsthand the struggle of having to commute to Los Angeles to attend seminary, but she said she wasn't sure the area is ready for more classes locally.

"Those people who are looking for classes are really thirsty for them," Mintz said, "but most people (looking for classes) are just trying to fit into Las Vegas."

"... But maybe if they offered more, they'll show up. If you build it they will come."

Christina Littlefield can be reached at 259-8813 or at clittle@ lasvegassun.com.