You Don't Need to be Religious to Study Religion

You don't need to be religious to study religion. This might sound really obvious to you...but from my experience, lots of people assume this.

Twitter: @andrewmarkhenry

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[Notorax]

Everytime I tell someone I study religion they seem to get ready to get into a argument with me XD

[rocksalive]

I've often seen the reverse perspective to be true as well: when I tell religious folks that I studied religion at a state school before attending seminary, many of them assume that my professors were all atheists bent on destroying faith when in actuality my professors represented a wide spectrum of religious belief and practice.

Edit: I also run in to similar concerns from some Christians when they learn where I went to seminary. There's a wide a swath of Christians for whom any sort of critical engagement with modern academic approaches constitutes an assault on faith, whether it's presented in a secular university or a school of theology.

[thekylemarshall_]

I definitely had that misunderstanding. Then I took a Buddhism class in university and it made more sense that you could study something while simultaneously not believing in it. Good video!

[calvinyahn]

I was a biology major but for some reason, everyone thought I was a life form even though identifying stop signs has been really hard for me.

[FeliciaFollum]

It is funny. I was a Religious Studies minor and the only devout Christian in many of my classes. I focused on the animistic religions of the African diaspora, animism and Hinduism. It's always funny the assumptions that I get. I actually made a YouTube video walking around a local Buddhist temple explaining why I study religions and what my beliefs are so I could show it to people who were critical. Lol also, people always thought I was converting because I was studying Hindi and Urdu (in secular settings) but as soon as people see a different alphabet they think you have converted...

[sophialeonardo]

yes lots of people do think like that. I'm an agnostic atheist yet I do study religion because I want to understand its differences and how it affects people

[samsamistorm]

as a christian, it is so important to study your own religion, as well as other religions. history is so incredibly important

[NPrinceling]

I'm religious and sometimes I need to differentiate what I would call devotional study from historical study to my religious friends. They might get upset when I talk about, say, the Gnostics or the idea of the Christ myth, thinking I'm making theological assertions, as opposed to discussing historical ideas I find interesting

[markbkjaer]

You do some really important work to the world with this channel. Through years of sporadic researching, I've been surprised that it was so hard to find easily digestible material to understand religion deeper than just faith – but It's a complex matter to teach in a way that people can relate and not get offended - but you do it quite impressively. Keep up the good work.

[dande]

I love and appreciate the fact that in all your videos, I honestly cannot determine your personal religious beliefs. It makes me actually trust you.

[ammonfrederickharteis]

A very good point Andrew and I love your work. But I would like to add that as someone who studies political science many people do assume that I want to be a politician. Worse than that assumption are the interactions I have with people who want to hold me accountable for recent political events they view unfavorability as if I have control over vast political forces.

[rachelmacivor]

I love your videos, they've really helped me find my passion
I would love to go into religious studies, along with ancient cultures on top of already having started in psychology. The only reason I wouldn't is because no one believes that studying religions is a viable path. Even when I tell them that I would be using it for a specific purpose, people say to go into something else, anything else. This mindset is completely off, and thank you for giving a little insight into what it's like to actually work in the field!

[jackpullen]

Excellent teaching Andrew! I have been studying and was first exposed to religion as a deep and fascinating topical subject as well as personal for almost 60 years now. Thank you for your wonderful teachings!

[socksumi]

As long as this "academic exploration" is honest and willing to explore all aspects of religion including the negative side, then okay. But in most PC climates, for example UK's RE in publics schools, they typically focus on sanitized positive portrayals that highlight only religion's positives while the horrors, the oppression and irrational side of mankind's religions is completely ignored or gets lip service at best.

[matthewpettipas]

I have heard that before from several people. People find it hard to distinguished between academic study of religious traditions and devotional studies. For example, I love studying religions, one time I was studying Quranism (the branch of Islam that only uses the Quran alone, and rejects the Hadith literature), and one of my friends assumed that I was interested in converting to Islam. I had to explain to them that no I wasn't interested in converting, but was studying Quranism from a non devotional, "academic, " way, because of it's similarities to Karaite Judaism, the version of Judaism I adhere too. It took a bit, but they eventually got it.

[waterboundwitch]

One of my favorite online bloggers is a Gardnerian Wiccan high priestess who was also in a graduate program for religious studies. She chose to specialize in evangelical Christianity I assume to avoid bias but found her own religion too fascinating not to specialize in. She consulted her adviser about it and they were supportive. Do you think studying your own religion in an academic sense could be dangerous in terms of remaining objective?

Love your channel by the way!

[DaniloInderWildi]

"Oh, you're studying animal studies! You must be an animal!" - "Oink."

[DanielHoffmanddhoffman]

Coming from someone outside of the humanities -- I study medicine -- there isn't a lot of ambiguity when it comes to telling people what my focus is outside of whether or not I'm a doctor yet. However, with some of the other professions within healthcare (such as CRNA, PA, MA, etc.) there is definitely some difficulty in explaining what their job entails simply due to lack of contact with it and some over-generalizations from popular media. Now while I think you're right that religion has vastly different biases, maybe at some level it's a lack of familiarity with your profession. This channel does a great job in removing some of the mystery of what it is you study and helps prime people to expect an academic scholar as opposed to a theologian. But I'm not gonna lie -- I think you'll be living down these sorts of interactions for years to come. Thanks for the great content and I hope your scripted sales pitch doesn't grate you too much!

[david_walker_esq]

Amen! Thank you for the AAR guidelines. I can now better articulate my response to that annoying question. I have taken courses in religion, but it was not my major. It's just a personal interest and I do enjoy discussing it. But, the question of whether I am religious must always come up.

[ElderHiker]

I think you have made this distinction very clear from the first time I watched your channel. And, I think you have done a good job of concealing your personal viewpoints and presenting diverse thinking across the spectrum of religious and non-religious approaches to the various topics you discuss. People can study music without being a musician (i.e. Musicology). People can study societal roles (Gender Studies) without being biased in a particular mode of thinking. Actually, just about anything can be rigorously examined and studied academically without personally and emotionally committing oneself. The general population who have not experienced the rigor of academic research methodology will generally not understand the process because they have no basis for understanding. The information revealed by the rigorous application of unbiased academic research will reveal much greater detail and nuance for the "unwashed" to add to their knowledge base...if they choose to accept the findings. I think your channel and your approach is adding to the collective knowledge base of us all in a positive way. Thanks and keep up the good work.