Why Study Religion?

True or false: all Baylor students must take REL 1310 (Christian Scriptures) and REL 1350 (Christian Heritage). The correct answer is at the bottom of this post. The more relevant question is, why do you have to take REL 1310 and REL 1350? Don't you get enough religion in Chapel? What is the purpose of the two graded courses, and why does almost every Baylor student have to take them? The website for the Religion Department speaks to the study of religion as an opportunity to "inquire more deeply into the Christian faith, to gain an enhanced appreciation of the contributions of Christianity to the development of twenty-first century culture, and to prepare for life-long lay or career ministry." But, if you are not a religion major and not interested in a lay or career ministry, what is the purpose for you? These are demanding courses and, even if you have gone to Sunday School all your life, the material is pretty hard to understand sometimes. Dr. David Moseman, in his REL 1310 syllabus, hopes that by the end of the course "you will have a basic understanding of and appreciation for the biblical meta-narrative, i.e., the big picture; the various aspects involved in its interpretation; and its relevance for living life meaningfully."
Today's Chronicle of Higher Education has an essay by Dr. K.L. Noll, chairman of the religion department at Brandon University in Manitoba. He says that religion professors should not "practice of defend" religion in the classroom. It was published this morning, and already several have commented online. The first comment began "this is a disguisting piece of writing..." If you want to read the entire article, you can use the Baylor Library subscription. Go to BearCat and type in "Chronicle of Higher Education." Select the online version. On the page that next appears, select "Single Journals." You will be able to find the title "The Ethics of Being a Theologian" in the 7/27/2009 publication. I've emailed Dr. Moseman to see what he thinks of the question. I'll let you know what he says.
Answer to question - False. Some students transfer in similar courses and students in the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core (BIC) take other courses instead.