Louis L'Amour -- the American novelist -- once said, "Knowledge is like money: to be of value it must circulate, and in circulating it can increase in quantity and, hopefully, in value."
It is one thing for me to share my perspective and knowledge (whatever that is), but personally -- as an educator -- my true joy comes from when I see students get actively engaged with the topic. Discussing. Dissecting. Debating. Entering into the discourse on religion, culture, & the interaction between the two.
Right now I am teaching a course on "Religion & the News." The first assignment asked, "Why religion news?" Why is religion newswriting, commentary, and analysis important? Why is religious studies a valuable area of research and reflection? One of my students took that assignment and used it as a catalyst to create her own blog. In the spirit of circulating knowledge and encouraging a public discussion of religion in the news, I want to share it with you.
Here is an excerpt from her first post:
“If a journalist was to walk around Times Square and ask random street-goers their personal beliefs on the subject of religion, six-in-ten would say that it is important to them (Connolly); however, if the same journalist were to also give these interviewees a simple religion quiz asking basic questions on widely known religions such as, “what are the four Gospels?” or “name a sacred text of Hinduism,” a large majority of them would fail….Why would sixty percent of Americans state that religion is paramount when they know hardly anything about it?”