By Defne Gunay Cavalier Daily Associate Editor Out of all the departments at the University, the religious studies department perhaps has the most definitive stamp of approval -- that of the U.S. Supreme Court. The department was established 40 years ago following the Engel v. Vitale U.S. Supreme Court decision of 1962, which distinguished between teaching and advocating religion in public institutions.
Thanks to its long history at the University, the department is also the largest in the nation, according to department chair Paul Groner.
"To the best of my knowledge, we are the largest religious studies department in the U.S., not including the seminaries who train students to prepare them to enter into clergy," Groner said.
According to Groner, most of the religious studies majors' interest in the subject is formulated after they have taken a religious studies class.
"Most of our majors come from students who say, 'Oh, I will take this one religious studies class,' and become really interested in the subject, and before they know it, it's their major," Groner said.
Fourth-year College student Cleo Brock-Abraham said her choice of religious studies major came about just as Groner predicted.
"To be honest, I did not know that I wanted to be a religious studies major when I got here," Brock-Abraham said. "I took a class first semester my second year entitled 'The Old Testament,' taught by Halvorson-Taylor, that I really loved. The class really spurred my interest in pursuing a religious studies major."
Groner said it is important for students to understand what is meant by religious studies.
"One of the things students have to learn is that we are not Sunday school," Groner said. "We are a lot more skeptical, we are interested in how things work. We are not interested in converting students or telling them one religion is better than the other but rather in teaching them how religion affected individuals, societies, politics, economics or literature."
Currently graduating approximately 150 majors each year, the department offers courses in African religions, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism.
According to Asst. Prof. John Nemec, Tibetan Buddhism, along with Christianity, Religious Ethics and Biomedical Ethics, is one of the strongest programs in the major, accounting for the department's high regard in the country.
"Our Tibetan Buddhist program is still one of the department's biggest programs -- it is probably the best Tibetan program in the nation," Nemec said. "Columbia is making a run at our program and Harvard also has a program, but Virginia has classically been the top university at which to study Tibetan Buddhism."
Groner said the department is currently searching for scholars of Chinese and Afro-Caribbean religions and a theologian to make the range of world religions studied even broader.
Nemec added that the impact of the additional faculty will be tremendous for the department's nationwide strength.
"I think we can be the best religious studies program in the country with a couple more appointments," Nemec said. "We have grown a lot since the last [National Resource Center survey in 1994] and continue to grow each year."
According to Groner, the department's strength lies in its faculty.
"Our faculty has an incredibly strong presence in the national organization that most religious studies scholars join, The American Academy of Religion, which I think indicates the strength of our department," Groner said. "The American Academy of Religion's journal is edited here in our department by our colleague Chuck Mathewes. We also have the Book Review editor, Kurtis Schaeffer, here, as well as having another one of our professors, Peter Ochs, who is currently running for vice-president [of the American Academy of Religion]. If he wins, he would automatically become president the following year."
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