RELST-108 Bad Religion
Explore various religious communities and practices that have been considered “irreligious,” “superstitious,” or “weird,” from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the Church of Satan. This course does not argue that “bad religion” exists, but asks instead how critics and outsiders have located particular religious groups and practices beyond the margins of “real” or acceptable religion. Tracking various constructions of “bad religion” in America from the 1800s to now, we ask what fears and fantasies of religious “Others” can reveal about cultural concerns surrounding gender, race, immigration, and more. In addition to secondary sources, we analyze primary sources, popular culture, and news media as influential sites of religious theorizing, construction, and contestation.
Standard Course (40)
Credits
1