Religions and Pop Culture
Is Star Wars a religion? What about belief in UFOs or QAnon? In our final episode of Crash Course Religions, we’ll explore how religion shapes pop culture, and pop culture shapes religion right back.
What Does Religious Freedom Mean?
We might agree religious freedom is a good thing—but can we agree on what it really means? This episode of Crash Course Religions explores ongoing debates over where the limits of religious freedom lie. We’ll discover why this ideal enshrined as a constitutional right proves so tricky to apply in the real world.
Visions of the End of the World
It’s the end of the world as we know it. Or is it? In this episode of Crash Course Religions, we explore end-of-the-world predictions across time and faith traditions. It turns out that, more often than not, those predictions have been more about a group’s present problems than any future calamity.
What Does Race Have to Do with Religion?
While race and religion may seem separate, they are inextricably linked. In this episode of Crash Course Religions, we’ll unpack racism’s roots in religious colonialism, its presence in Indigenous boarding schools, and its effects on our world today.
What Do Sex and Gender Have to Do with Religion?
How many genders are there? In this episode of Crash Course Religions, we’ll learn how religious communities construct ideas about sex, gender, and sexuality, and why these concepts aren’t as timeless or unchanging as they might seem.
Are Science and Religion Compatible?
Religion and science have had some famously messy fights, but do they always have to be in conflict? In this episode of Crash Course Religions, we’ll look at some ways religion and science are more than just enemies.
Religion, Spirituality, and the Supernatural
Angels, aliens, and ghosts—oh my! In this episode of Crash Course Religions, we figure out how the paranormal and supernatural shows up in our religions, and outside of them. If you or someone you know identifies as “spiritual but not religious,” this one’s for you.
Death and Afterlife Across Religions
Everybody dies—and then what? In this episode of Crash Crash Religions, we’ll explore how religions around the world have formed answers to a question nobody knows the answer to. We’ll also discover how concepts of Heaven and Hell have changed over time.
Who Speaks for a Religion?
From priests to imams, from rabbis to gurus, religious leaders play a big role in shaping religions today. In this episode of Crash Course Religions, we’ll dig into what makes a religious leader and how people can take the power back.
What Does Ritual Have to Do with Religion?
Rituals aren’t meaningless actions. They can mark time and space, create new identities, and connect people to something bigger than themselves. In this episode of Crash Course Religions, we explore the rituals that shape our lives—whether religious or not.
How Do Religious Texts Work?
Sacred texts mean different things to different religions—sometimes they’re essential to belief and practice, and other times, not much importance is placed on them at all. In this episode of Crash Course Religions, we dive into the different ways religious texts are used, debated, and venerated across various traditions.
What Does it Mean to Be Jewish
What does it mean to be Jewish? Is it being part of a religion, a people, a culture, a nation? All of the above? In this episode of Crash Course Religions, we’ll uncover how Jewish identity has been shaped by centuries of debate and deliberation.
Is Atheism a Religion?
Atheism is far from new, but the various ways that people say “no thank you” to belief in gods, deities, or particular religions are so diverse that they’ve had a huge impact on world belief systems. In this episode of Crash Course Religions, we break down the different flavors of atheism and nonbelief and ask the question, “Is atheism a religion?”
Are Confucianism and Daoism philosophies or religions?
A large proportion of Chinese people believe in a god—yet most report they don’t belong to any religion. In this episode of Crash Course Religions, we’ll learn about two of the Three Teachings of China—Confucianism and Daoism—and explore why Chinese religious practice is much more fluid than the question “What religion do you follow?”
Religions of the African Diaspora
African religions include Islam and Christianity, but also hundreds of diverse and complex indigenous religions. In this episode of Crash Course Religions, we explore those traditions and how, when forced intro adaption-mode as a result of the slave trade, they became a unique blend of cultural influences in the African diaspora.
The History and Practice of Islam on Earth and Beyond
Many Muslims believe it’s their religious duty to pray five times a day in the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca. But how do they do it in space? In this episode of Crash Course Religions, we dig into the beliefs, pillars, and spread of Islam, from the astronomers who charted stars hundreds of years ago to the Malaysian astronaut who took his faith to space.
Sacrifice, Redemption, and Miracles: The Story of Christianity
Christianity isn’t just about Jesus. In this episode of Crash Course Religions, we explore the many faces of the world’s most popular religion—its denominations, commonalities, and complexities.
Can a River Be A Person?
What does it mean for a river to be a person? An ancestor, even? In this episode of Crash Course Religions, we’ll learn how Indigenous religious traditions’ emphasis on place, kinship, and diverse spirits challenge the dominant assumptions of the Western worldview.
Life, the Universe, and the Buddha
Getting stuck in a video game can be frustrating—especially when that game is the cycle of suffering. In this episode of Crash Course Religions, we’ll explore the ways Buddhists try to leave that suffering behind and reach enlightenment, using the teachings of the Buddha, the three jewels, the four noble truths, and the eightfold path.
The Infinite Stories of Hinduism
What does it mean to be Hindu? In this episode of Crash Course Religions, we’ll learn about the surprising history of the term “Hindu,” what the word “karma” really means, and how this vast, sprawling tradition contains more than one version of a story.
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