Why universities -- and the rest of us -- need religion studies

[demmiblue]

(RNS) — This week, the University of Vermont announced that it is eliminating two dozen academic programs, including its entire religion department. This comes as a surprise, given the caliber and credentials of the department’s faculty; in addition to being prolific scholars, they are regular recipients of grants, awards and fellowships for teaching and research.

The real shock of UVM’s announcement is its timing: devaluing of religion after an election cycle in which the president’s spiritual adviser called for African angels to intervene on election results, when our president-elect ran on restoring the “soul of our nation,” when the Supreme Court is busy reappraising the establishment clause and the outgoing secretary of state has sought to redefine religious freedom.

Even more troubling is that this is not an isolated incident; the University of Vermont’s proposal comports with a larger pattern of cutting religion programs in academic institutions.

Teaching about religion is not just about understanding politics. It’s also about creating cultural literacy, ensuring that our young people are familiar with the diverse people they meet on the street. University brass often refers to this kind of literacy as a civic good, but as a brown-skinned, turban-wearing, beard-loving man in Donald Trump’s America, I submit that people knowing who I am and having an appreciation for my religious heritage can mean the difference between life and death.

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Take from me, a practicing Sikh who has spent a majority of his academic career teaching Islamic studies and Buddhist history. I wish that I had a penny for every time someone asked me how I could teach a religion other than my own. They don’t understand that I’m not in it to seek conversions; I’m in it to open hearts and minds and to help people grapple with the beautiful diversity of our world.

If we want our kids to grow up to appreciate people from all the various backgrounds they will encounter in their lives, we must first equip them with the appropriate knowledge. To not do so, to tell them that understanding faith is not important, is setting them up for failure.

https://religionnews.com/2020/12/04/why-universities-and-the-rest-of-us-need-religion-studies/

I am an atheist/agnostic, and I completely agree with Simran Jeet Singh. My college experience included a comparative religion class... I found it fascinating.