It Is The Study Of Religious Faith Practice And Experience

[Martta Borromeo]

Iam a proud product of the Catholic education system. I credit it for having formed my religious, moral, and ethical foundation. It taught me about Theology, but it did not teach me much about Religion. Theology is the faith-based study within a religion, while Religious Studies is the analytical study of Theology, religious institutions, and those who practice them. This is a big reason as to why I wanted to study religions at a secular institution.

Experiencing and observing religious practices is fundamental to the study of religion, and classes are designed to include multiple opportunities for direct and immersive experiences like trips to religious sites, museums, and historically important places in Richmond and the Washington, DC area. In Introduction to Religion (RELS 205), students make small group visits to local churches, synagogues and meditation spaces to directly experience and discover unfamiliar forms of religious practice.

Study women in Jewish and Christian Scriptures, and explore the ways the literature moves readers to adopt various ideas about women. Analyze the historical and sociological realities of women in ancient Israel, early Judaism, and early Christian communities.

Is nature sacred? How have different religious traditions conceived of and interacted with the natural world? How are religions responding to climate change today? Explore the historical and contemporary relations between religious traditions and the natural environment.

Our actively engaged faculty connect theory to practice, ensuring students gain experience in real-world communities through internships, site visits, service-learning courses and international research while studying abroad. Such opportunities for meaningful engagement set students up for successful careers in fields like law, business, government, social work, nonprofits, journalism and more.

There are many ways that religious studies intersects with our world... I could apply this MA degree to writing, or partnering with nonprofits engaged in ethical and social justice issues, or working for a government organization with international scope...

I am working at Johnson and Wales University in civic engagement and diversity and inclusion programming. My DU experience...has helped prepare me for managing public relationships, encouraging an inclusive environment, and teaching as an adjunct faculty member.

Undergraduate students gain cross-cultural understanding of religion on a global scale through our BA program. We offer options for majoring, double majoring, or minoring in religious studies, including unique opportunities to earn distinction in the major, study abroad and intern at a community site.

We offer an interdisciplinary doctoral program as a partnership between DU and the Iliff School of Theology. Our joint PhD means students work closely with world-renowned faculty while developing as leaders in the study of religion through independent research, teaching and service opportunities, as well as certificate options that allow for further specialization.

We apply religious theory and scholarly skillsets to internships, work study, study abroad, service-learning, community projects, independent research and other opportunities that build real-world experience.

This course explores how religious movements around the world both affect, and are affected by, the process of globalization. A major segment of the course is devoted to various theories of globalization and how they account for the increasingly important role of religion. Focus is largely on the relationship between Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

This course uses a critical theory lens to consider religious praxis, traditions, beliefs, canons and rituals within virtual/digital spaces (e.g. websites, apps, social media, digital platforms for gaming, etc.).

Introduction to the history, faith, practice, cultures and politics of Islam, starting with the Judeo-Christian Near Eastern context in which it emerged and tracing its theological development and geographic spread around the world.

In addition, the author would like to thank Beatrice Lee, Dana Popky, and Grace Burns for their research assistance and support with the design of the report figures; Sarah Burns and Josh Delk for their strategic insights and communications support; Abigail Guidera for her detailed oversight and administrative assistance; Sarah Bowe for her careful and efficient editing; and Danielle Curran for her design and aesthetic expertise.

The story of religious change in America, especially religious disaffiliation, is often cast as the result of independent decisions made by a rising generation living by a different set of values.[1] But new evidence paints a much more complicated picture than the traditional narrative of generationally driven disaffiliation. Young adults today have had entirely different religious and social experiences than previous generations did. The parents of millennials and Generation Z did less to encourage regular participation in formal worship services and model religious behaviors in their children than had previous generations. Many childhood religious activities that were once common, such as saying grace, have become more of the exception than the norm.

Religious participation has typically been tightly connected to the timeline of important life events, such as getting married and having children.[4] These events and experiences can serve as crucial opportunities for those who have left their childhood faith to reconnect to a religious community. But declining confidence in organized religion and a growing trend of secular relationships and marriages may make these seminal moments less likely to encourage Americans to return.[5]

And although higher education has been shown to be strongly associated with an increased propensity toward joining social groups and civic associations, religion still appears to play a significant function.[6] There is evidence that education level and religious involvement both augment participation in community life. College-educated Americans who are religious tend to exhibit the highest levels of civic engagement.

American religious identity has experienced nearly three decades of consistent decline. But this roughly linear trend masks significant generational variation in religious identity. Research has consistently shown that every generation of adults is somewhat less religious than the generation that preceded it.[7] This pattern continues with Generation Z demonstrating less attachment to religion than the millennial generation did.[8]

In terms of identity, Generation Z is the least religious generation yet. More than one-third (34 percent) of Generation Z are religiously unaffiliated, a significantly larger proportion than among millennials (29 percent) and Generation X (25 percent). Fewer than one in five (18 percent) baby boomers and only 9 percent of the silent generation are religiously unaffiliated.

Participation in religious education activities or Sunday school also reveals a substantial generational divide. Sixty-one percent of baby boomers report having attended Sunday school or some other type of religious education program during their childhoods, compared to roughly four in 10 millennials (43 percent) and Gen Zers (42 percent).

With more-informal religious activities, especially those taking place at home, the differences among generations are more modest. Roughly one in five baby boomers (17 percent) say they read religious stories or scripture with their families at least once a week growing up. Millennials (24 percent) and Gen Zers (21 percent) are slightly more likely to have engaged in this activity. Baby boomers are somewhat more likely than younger generations are to say they prayed with their families or said grace at meals; 48 percent report having done this at least once a week during their childhoods. About four in 10 millennials (42 percent) and Gen Zers (40 percent) report praying or saying grace with their families at meals at least once a week.[9]

The generation gap in formal religious activities is especially pronounced among those raised in Catholic households. Among baby boomers who were raised Catholic, 71 percent say they attended church at least once a week with their families. Only about half (51 percent) of millennials raised in Catholic households report attending weekly church services as a family.

Black Americans are unique in their formative religious experiences. But the racial gaps are largest among activities that take place at home. Nearly seven in 10 (69 percent) Black Americans report they said grace or prayed with their families during mealtimes at least once a week growing up, an activity far less common among other racial groups. Less than half of White (42 percent), Hispanic (41 percent), and Asian Americans (31 percent) report praying or saying grace with their families during mealtimes at least weekly.

Across racial and ethnic groups, women exhibit higher levels of religious engagement than do men. However, despite similar childhood experiences, the gender gap in religious engagement among Black Americans is significantly higher than that of any other racial or ethnic group. About half (51 percent) of Black women report being a member of a church or religious organization, compared to only about one in three (35 percent) Black men. Black women are also nearly twice as likely as Black men are to be a member of a prayer or Bible study group (32 percent vs. 17 percent, respectively).

Trends in religious affiliation are likely being affected by the substantial shift in American family structure. A recent Pew Research Center study found that nearly one in four (23 percent) Americans are raised in single-parent households, a higher rate than any other country in the study.[10] In the US, Americans brought up in two-parent households tend to have higher rates of religious participation during their childhoods. If two-parent households are more effective in imparting religious values on children, then the rise of single-parent families could have significant repercussions.

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