Religion minor a step forward for global-minded students

Starting in September, the U will offer a religious studies minor for the first time. This is a great first step in providing students a means to broaden their worldview of diverse cultures and religions.

Ed Barbanell, the associate dean of undergraduate studies, said no additional financial resources will be needed at this time, as the minor is composed of existing courses taught by employed faculty.

“The climate has changed the status of religion,” said Muriel Schmid, assistant professor of comparative literary and cultural studies. “You almost have to have religious literacy to compete in this global economy. The religious studies minor has expanded into disciplines beyond the humanities and is such a great compliment to any major.”

Schmid said religion came to the forefront after Sept. 11, as it was a driving factor in decisions made about social policy and politics. An ongoing dialogue is crucial to being part of a global conversation and knowing how to interact effectively within a shrinking world.

According to the proposal that was approved by the U Board of Trustees in February, the religious studies minor will better prepare students to work and live in a world that is increasingly shaped by religious pluralism and traditions.

Students can take classes that introduce the religious traditions of others to broaden their visions of internationalism and cross-cultural studies. Barbanell said the new religion studies minor will be offered through the College of Humanities and will replace the existing languages and literature minor.

“We have a tremendous demand for all of our religion classes,” said Charles Prebish, director of the Religious Studies program at Utah State University. “We are in the middle of the fundraising process to create new endowments to expand our program.”

Schmid hopes that as the U’s program grows, classes can be developed that incorporate the cultural background of Salt Lake City. But if you’re looking for an undergraduate course in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you’ll have to walk across the street to the LDS Institute of Religion.

“The religious studies minor will be a broad range study from historical and comparative religion classes from across the university,” Barbanell said. “Because these courses already existed, they just needed to be packaged differently in a way to provide a broad range of religion classes.”

Combining classes from 13 departments across campus, the minor will include courses such as Biblical Hebrew Poetry, Early Christian Literature, Renaissance Europe, Native American Religion, Medieval England, Islamic Mysticism, Religions of India and Tai-Chi yoga movement.

“The Early Christian Literature class is giving me a deeper sense of what the modern academic community understands about the Bible, and its history,” said Jordan Rainey, a senior in comparative literature with an emphasis in religion and culture. “Seeing how the Bible is the most published literature in all English literary history, this class has been a great introduction into what I hope will be my focus in grad school.”

The U is pressing ahead of other major universities in the state that have religious curriculum. Brigham Young University, Utah Valley University and Utah State University all have coursework focused on the study of religion, with BYU predictably requiring all of their undergraduate students to take religious classes. UVU has seven students involved in a religion minor, USU has 15 students with it as a major and four with it as a minor and the U has 15 students who have a major with an emphasis in religion and culture.

The U should be commended for providing the minor to students—and better yet, without increasing spending.

http://dailyutahchronicle.com/opinion/religion_minor_a_step_forward_for_global-minded_students-1.1590928