The above course carries Arts and Humanities distribution.

How does religion influence American culture, and how does American
culture shape religion?  We will answer this question by reading and
discussing novels, poems, private letters, autobiographies, and
ethnographies; by viewing movies, television, art, and cartoons; by
listening to music; and even by eating food!  The goal of this
course is to provide an engaging, easily accessible introduction to
how religion and American culture are intertwined, while also
developing skills in critical thinking, written and oral
communication, and analysis of documents that will help students to
prepare for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses and for
careers in a variety of professions, including business, law,
medicine, and education.
	The course is organized thematically, chronologically, and
by religious tradition.  Topics include the Separation of Church and
State; Religion and Slavery in Antebellum America; Religion and
Social Justice in Industrial America; Religion and Race in Urban
America; Religion and Immigrant Cultures in Modernizing America; and
Religion and Popular Culture in Postmodern America.  We will focus
on Protestantism, Catholicism, Judaism, and Islam, but other
traditions will also be mentioned.
	We will read the Protestant Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel
Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852); the Catholic Dorothy Day’s autobiography,
The Long Loneliness (1952); the Muslim Malcolm X’s Autobiography
(1964); and the secular Jew Lis Harris’s ethnography of a Hasidic
Jewish community, Holy Days (1985).  We will also screen (during
lectures) several different film versions of Uncle Tom’s Cabin,
feature-length films of The Long Loneliness and Malcolm X, and a
documentary film of the Hasidim, as well as listening to clips of
Contemporary Christian Music and Rap, watching episodes of The
Simpsons and Star Trek, and sampling religious foods.
	There are no prerequisites to enrollment.  Lectures plus
brief assigned readings from a textbook will help to fill in all the
background that is needed.  The course is structured around two
weekly lectures of fifty minutes each, plus a fifty-minute
discussion section.  In recognition of students’ different learning
styles, lectures will be presented using PowerPoint and multi-media
technologies, and lecture notes will be made available on Oncourse.
Daily study guides, also available on Oncourse, will provide reading
focus questions and highlight key terms from the readings.
	Students will write two short papers, neither one of which
requires outside research; the first paper (2-3 pages) is a close
reading of a section of a primary source; the second paper (4-6
pages) is a comparison of two primary sources, and may (this is
entirely optional) be written in a creative style, such as a
hypothetical coffee-shop conversation between two characters.  The
midterm and final examinations consist of short-answer
identifications and essays.  We will devote class time to helping
you prepare for the papers and exams—through in-class writing
workshops, practice “ID Challenge” and “Essay Euphoria” activities,
and even a Jeopardy-style review game (with prizes!).  There are a
total of 400 points possible for the course.  Participation
(including attendance, pop quizzes, and writing workshops) counts
for 100 points; the two papers are worth 150 points; the two exams
add up to 150 points.  The first paper and midterm are each worth
half as many points (50 vs. 100) as the second paper and final exam,
so that final course grades can reflect improvement during the
semester.