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CS92PROD
What is Religion? Kool-Aid, Converts, and the First Amendment
RELI 151
Spring 2020
Section: 01  
Crosslisting: CJST 151, AMST 261

Were the people who "drank the Kool-Aid" at Jonestown brainwashed or did they die for a noble cause? How do evangelical Christians read the Bible and what does that mean for their politics? What is religious experience and what might it look like? Is there really religious freedom under the Constitution? This class will introduce you to the ways in which we study religion by reading critical case studies about Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple, Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority, African Americans and the Racial Limits of Religious Freedom, and "freedom of religion" court cases about peyote, animal sacrifice, and burying the dead. This is not a survey of world religions, but a way of asking how the stuff we call religion has been shaped through colonial intervention, scholarly collaboration, and legal expediency--and how it functions in relation to contemporary politics and popular culture.
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS RELI
Course Format: Lecture / DiscussionGrading Mode: Graded
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: None
Fulfills a Major Requirement for: (RELI-MN)(RELI)(STS)
Past Enrollment Probability: 50% - 74%

Last Updated on MAR-29-2024
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