Questions We Can Help You To Answer

Paper instructions:

Choose 2 of the following 3 prompts and respond to each of your chosen questions in approximately 2 pages (each)

    •    Throughout the course of this semester, you have studied eight religions and six dimensions of religious experience. Has your study lead you to any changes in your perception of what makes a religion a religion rather than a philosophy or way of life? What influences your understanding of the term “religion” at present? If you had to argue for your position on what makes a religion to a person holding an opposing viewpoint, what would you say and why?

    •    Refer to Smart, p. 134.  Using information from any of the material we have discussed this semester, respond to the questions he poses: “To what extent is religion a reflection of what goes on in the structures of society, and to what extent does it bring these structures about?” “What effects does religion have, or is it in itself an effect?”

    •    In today’s world, it is more common than ever for individuals to reject beliefs entirely, or to hold separate beliefs regarding church and state (i.e. “My religion says that belief or practice A is incorrect, but in civil matters, belief or practice A should be respected”). Why do you think this is happening, and how is it affecting the way modern practitioners of traditional religion understand the role their faith plays in civil society?