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14.1 Discuss the ideas of Marx, Weber, and Durkheim on the role of religion as a central force in many lives.

Video Link:  Seven Classic Theories of Religion - Emile Durkheim, totemism

Description: The lecture given by Dr. Dale Tuggy clarifies Emile Durkheim’s theories on religion and how religion has developed into a complex social phenomenon.

Audio Link: In Freedom Seder, Jews And African-Americans Built A Tradition Together

Description: Arthur Waskow, who has worked for the peace and civil rights movements in the United States, illustrates the similarities between the biblical story where the enslaved ancient Hebrews were freed from Pharaoh’s service, and the struggles African Americans have faced throughout the civil rights movement to achieve freedom from racist laws and oppression. The first “Freedom Seder” was celebrated on April 4, 1969, however the idea was born on April 4, 1968, the day Martin Luther King Jr. was killed.

Web Resource: How Corporate America Invented Christian America

Description: The article explains the way religious organizations and capitalism are intricately intertwined in American society and have worked to benefit each other. Reverend James W. Fifield Jr. has proposed an idea at the annual meeting of the National Association of Manufacturers that Christianity and capitalism should also be political companions as they can benefit each other.

 

14.2 Define religion.

Audio Link: The Origins of the American Republic: Christian or Heretical?

Description: America was not founded as a Christian nation claims historian Matthew Stewart. He discusses his book Nature's God: The Heretical Origins of the American Republic with NPR. In it, he explains the role of God in a secular society and how the Church and religion used to be the only way for individuals to fully participate in society.

Web Resource: The Immanent Frame

Description: The website publishes interdisciplinary essays on religion, secularism, and the public sphere. It is used as a forum for ongoing discussions among leading thinkers from the social sciences and humanities.

 

14.3 Define the major components of religion—beliefs, rituals, and experiences.

Video Link: The five major world religions - John Bellaimey

Description: The lecture given by Dr. Dale Tuggy clarifies Emile Durkheim’s theories on religion and how religion has developed into a complex social phenomenon.

Audio Link: Construction Of Giant Telescope In Hawaii Draws Natives' Ire

Description: In Hawaii, a conflict is growing over the future of a mountaintop, Mauna Kea.

Activists consider the construction of a telescope on the island of Hawaii to be a desecration of their sacred land, since one of the many Hawaiian gods said to reside in the mountain.

Web Resource: Religious symbolism and iconography

Description: The article explains how religious symbols and art (through the use of colors, gestures, shapes) provide a means to transfer the essential beliefs of a religion to its followers. These images are recognized by religious devotees and associated with beliefs and experiences.

 

14.4 Describe the types of religious organizations.

Video Link: Lectures in Religion: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS

Description: Professor Andrea Diem-Lane illustrates how new religious movements have developed. She explains the differences between sects, cults, and established religious organizations and describes how they each influence each other.

Audio Link: A Wedding And A Challenge: Lebanese Couples Fight For Civil Marriage

Description: The audio discusses the problem a couple of mixed faith faced when they decided to get married in a country that is ruled by 18 different religious organizations, where each one has its own rules and regulations which controls every aspect of an individual’s life. The couple discusses their struggle to have a civil, rather than religious, marriage ceremony in Lebanon, even though the country is ruled by a secular regime.

Web Resource: New Survey Shows The World's Most And Least Religious Places

Description: The WIN/Gallup International organization carried out a global survey, which asked responders if they were religious believers or atheist. After surveying 64,000 people in 65 countries, they found that 63 percent of the respondents declared themselves as religious, while only 11 percent declared themselves as atheists. The article shows an interactive map displaying the countries where the survey was taken and how many people in each country responded to the survey.

 

14.5 Apply structural/functional and conflict/critical theories to religion.

Video Link: Child sexual abuse by Catholic priests in the United States. In "Hand of God," part 1 of 10

Description: This video is the first part of a detailed documentary called Hand of God. It is the story of an Italian family in Massachusetts who live in a tight-knit community which shares their culture, values, and religious beliefs. In the video, they divulge the effects on their family after their local parish priest sexually abused a son in the family.

Audio Link: Abortion Restrictions Complicate Access For Ohio Women

Description: Ohio’s legislature has forced almost half of the state’s abortion clinics to close as of 2015. The audio describes the reasons behind their decision and the problems that have occurred as a result.

Web Resource: The Trial of Pastor Amy DeLong: Methodism and Same-Sex Unions

Description: The United Methodist Church has been viewed as a progressive sect of Christianity and was one of the first to allow women to be ordained and serve as pastors. However, same-sex marriage was seen as incompatible with their religious beliefs. The article discusses the case of Reverend Amy DeLong who officiated a same-sex marriage that was against the policies of her religious denomination.

 

14.6 Describe the relationship between globalization and the world’s major religions.

Video Link: Religion & The Faithful: Seeking The Apocalypse

Description: Based on the article published in The Atlantic, "What ISIS Really Wants," CNN’s Peter Bergen, a national security analyst, tries to explain ISIS’s agenda, whether they are a religious organization, and how to combat religious extremists.

Audio Link: German Protesters Express Their 'Defensive Nationalism'

Description: Josef Joffe is a publisher at the German weekly Die Zeit. He discusses a large demonstration that occurred in Dresden, Germany against what the protesters call the "Islamization" of the West. In recent years, Germany has been experiencing demographic changes in their population as more migrants and asylum seekers are settling in Germany. Not all Germans are happy about the change.

Web Resource: What ISIS Really Wants

Description: The Atlantic magazine has published an article discussing ISIS and its goals. The reporter, Graeme Wood, states the reasons for why ISIS should be considered a religious group. Wood also discusses how globalization has helped spread and disseminate ISIS’s ideology, which allows them to recruit followers from around the world.