Religion & Interdisciplinary Studies
Course topics will rotate to incorporate the study of religion in a variety of other disciplines. Focus will be on the influence or application of religious teachings and traditions in the fields of healthcare, politics, education, etc.
Outcomes: Describe the ethical implications of the religious beliefs and traditions of at least one religion for the primary field of study.
Faith, Science, Common Good
Course topics will rotate to incorporate the study of religion in a variety of other disciplines. Focus will be on the influence or application of religious teachings and traditions in the fields of healthcare, politics, education, etc.
Outcomes: Describe the ethical implications of the religious beliefs and traditions of at least one religion for the primary field of study.
Tier 2 Theological Knowledge
Science denial threatens the common good by undermining public confidence in the ability of science to comprehend our world and create effective solutions to urgent social problems. This course explores the threat of science denial through a series of three questions. First, what is science denial? This first phase will analyze science denial as the unwarranted rejection of scientific consensus on a range of issues (e.g., evolution), identifying some of the faulty rationales used for rejecting consensus. Second, what motivates science denial? The presumption of conflict between science and faith motivates much (but not all) science denial, so this second phase explores what analysts call the "Conflict Model," using detailed case studies of "creationism" and "scientism" to illustrate how the assumptions, methods, and rhetoric of these two views work to perpetuate conflict and facilitate science denial. Third, what mitigates science denial? If conflict facilitates science denial, then peaceful co-existence between science and faith can mitigate the problem. So, the final phase of the course will test the late Stephen Jay Gould's model of "Non-Overlapping Magisteria" (NOMA) as a viable public model available to students, educators, and science communicators for framing a relation between science and faith that all civic stakeholders can endorse and support for the common good.
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