Open when gep_category = HUM
Each course in the Humanities category of the General Education Program will provide instruction and guidance that help students to:
Students will demonstrate a basic familiarity with the traditions comprising the history of alternative religions in the United States and the ways in which they have contributed to the development of its cultures.
Exam essay questions (Sample question: How did the Protestant attempt to limit the increasing influence of Catholic immigrant groups in the early 20thC by pressing for the development of the doctrine of separation of church and state also facilitate a burgeoning of alternative religions in the US?)
Students will be able reflectively to analyze the history of alternative religions in the United States and the comparative questions involved in the study thereof by developing historical and theoretical frameworks that highlight the functional similarities and differences in their social roles.
Paper topics (Sample topic: In religious studies there is often a counter-intuitive relationship between freedom and restrictions, as exemplified by Buddhism and some extreme cases of ascetic Christianity. This sense of restriction in order to attain true liberation is one that is central in many New Religious Movements. Develop this theme using the examples of Voodoo, the Nation of Islam and the Neopagan and new age movements that have come about in recent times.)
Students will be able to argue for the use of particular historical and theoretical frameworks facilitating analysis of the history of alternative religions in the United States, evaluating the frameworks' ability to highlight the functional similarities and differences in their social roles.
Paper topics (Sample paper topic: How do the religious communities of Wiccans, Santeria, and UFO Religious groups differ in their social functional roles? In what ways are they alike? What kinds of arguments does one need to give to identify the frameworks best suited to revealing such similarities and differences?)
Open when gep_category = MATH
Each course in the Mathematial Sciences category
of the General Education Program will provide instruction and
guidance that help students to:
Open when gep_category = NATSCI
Each course in the Natural Sciences category
of the General Education Program will provide instruction and
guidance that help students to:
Open when gep_category = SOCSCI
Each course in the Social Sciences category
of the General Education Program will provide instruction and
guidance that help students to:
Open when gep_category = INTERDISC
Each course in the Interdisciplinary Perspectives category of the General Education Program will provide instruction and guidance that help students to:
Open when gep_category = VPA
Each course in the Visual and Performing Arts category of the General Education Program will provide instruction and guidance that help students to:
Open when gep_category = HES
Each course in the Health and Exercise Studies category of the General Education Program will provide instruction and guidance that help students to:
&
Open when gep_category = GLOBAL
Each course in the Global Knowledge category of the General Education Program will provide instruction and guidance that help students to achieve objective #1 plus at least one of objectives 2, 3, and 4:
Please complete at least 1 of the following student objectives.
Open when gep_category = USDIV
Each course in the US Diversity category
of the General Education Program will provide instruction and
guidance that help students to achieve at least 2 of the following
objectives:
Please complete at least 2 of the following student objectives.
Students will acquire a basic familiarity with the traditions comprising the history of alternative religions in the United States and will develop a historical and theoretical framework for understanding that history and the comparative questions involved in the study thereof.
Paper topics (Sample topic: In 1993, after a thirty year legal battle with the IRS, many parts of the Church of Scientology were granted tax exempt status as religious charities. At Michigan Technical University in 2007, students who posted a threatening message on the door of the student union space used by a campus Pastafarian chapter [Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster] were judged guilty of bias-related religious harassment. Explore the ways in which the legal system responds differentially to social pressure exerted by diverse religious groups by detailing the relevant differences between Scientology and Pastafarianism. Do they both constitute “invented religions”?)
Students will learn to think, write, and reason theoretically and analytically about the themes and issues emerging from the historical consideration of alternative religions in the United States by examining the dissonances and mutual influences between alternative religions.
Exam essay questions (Sample question: Why was Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s self-identification as a member of the Church of Latter Day Saints raised as an issue by some Christian clergy who share many of Romney’s political views? Were these clergy justified in labeling the Church of Latter Day Saints as the “cult of Mormons”?)