It is increasingly important to study religion because we are living in an increasingly diverse, multicultural country. Being familiar with the religions of others can help foster positive human interactions in society and in the work place. In addition, amongst people who are religious, there is often a serious lack of sophisticated knowledge and understanding about one's own religion and its place in the larger context of history and the human religious impulse. An academic study of religion offers an approach to understanding religion that Sunday school and the pulpit do not offer - an opportunity to be more open-minded, apply greater critical thinking, and to see the "bigger picture."

I first got interested in religion in college when I had a mystical experience that convinced me that God is real. I became religious in a very fundamentalist kind of way with the attitude that my religion is the only right one and everyone should be it. After about a year of this I realized that I did not know enough about the other religions to say that they were wrong so I started learning about them.

As I began my first academic class in religion I reevaluated why I was doing this. What did I really want out of this study? I determined that what I really wanted to know was Truth. With this approach I opened myself up to the possibilities of truth regardless of what religion they might be found in. What I discovered was that there is a lot of basic agreement and some very interesting ideas in these other religions. I could not say they were wrong when I found something of value in them to me personally.

The message I'd gotten through my mystical experience was that of the immanent nature of divinity, of the sacred, in the world and in us - that God is not just some transcendent superior being infinitely far away. This is a message embodied in the Christian notion of the incarnation of God in Jesus and his statement that "The Kingdom of God is within" or "in our midst" (i.e., all around us, in the world). And I have found this same basic message repeated in various ways in all the world’s religions.

So that is why I am interested in the world’s religions - they shed light on my own mystical experience. The idea that the sacred is very close to us ("as close as the air we breathe", "as close as our jugular vein") is an idea I find comforting and the verification through countless religions serves to support the idea.

My personal faith preference is "any and all but none in particular" - mine is a non-sectarian, independent spiritual path involving a commitment to the promotion of positive interfaith relations and dialogue. Through the course of my studies and personal interaction with people of different faiths, I have discovered that there are aspects of every religion I agree with and can appreciate as well as other aspects of every religion that I do not agree with and do not find of personal value. I maintain a "live and let live" attitude on the premise that what works for me may not work for someone else, and vice versa. 

My Approach to the academic study of religion:

I try not to judge. I try to treat all faiths as equal - holding none as more true nor any as less true. Despite my original intent for my own study, determining Truth is not what we do in the academic study of religion. While I not pass judgment, I do question. I especially question that which often goes without question and I question the questions regarding that which is often questioned. But when I find myself questioning that which I know little about, I try to put my questions aside as I seek to learn more. I may not understand a given practice, belief, or value - it may not "speak" to me; but I try to maintain respect even when I am unable to fully appreciate it on a personal level. And I expect my students to do the same.

You are not here to judge but I do encourage you to question what you may not have questioned before. And I challenge you to put aside your own questions and doubts as you explore that which you do not know. In the end, you may find yourself with more questions than answers. But questions are good, for without questions we do not begin to search for answers. But do not expect the answers to come in a matter of a few months of study. The academic study of religion serves to open us to the complexity of religion and to expand our awareness of the depth to which any one religion can go. One course in religion will not provide all the answers we may be seeking. To the contrary, it often provides us with more questions than we even imagined might exist!

Despite what I've just said here, I do see this questioning as part of the personal spiritual journey. In fact, many students, like myself, have found or renewed their spiritual direction through what they learn in their academic study. One class is a place to begin, the rest of your life is where the journey continues!

Caveat:

I may know more or less about many religions but I do not know everything about any religion (it is safe to say that no one knows everything there is to know about any religion). Depth may be sacrificed for breadth but breadth has its benefits just as depth does. Experts are usually expert in just one religion.  Though I am not an expert on any religion, my passing familiarity with many religions does give me the benefit of seeing religion from the perspective of the "Big Picture." Being somewhat equally familiar with many religions means I can offer a fairly good cross cultural perspective on religion and a good foundation for doing a comparative study of religions.

There is no way you can learn everything about all the religions in one semester (or even in one lifetime). You will only learn the basics here. I can only teach you what I am familiar with and that will often be skewed by the limitation of my perspective, understanding and interpretation and the limited perspective, understanding and interpretation of our sources of information. Often, in the study of religion, different presentations will offer different or even conflicting information. It is hard to know what to take as "gospel truth" and what to take at no more than face value. I always recommend the use of several different sources with the general guideline that what they say in common is likely representative of more basic and important, more objective and certain facts.