Religious Studies - Intro to Religious Ethics

Catalog description

In this class we will learn how religious values are used to make ethical judgments, but we will also ask if and how those judgments influence practices or the behavior of people in their everyday lives. What causes a disjunction between norms and behavior? What is the tension between different values when deciding how to act? What about differences of opinion between and even within different religious traditions? What happens when societal expectations conflict with religious values or vice versa? Or when ethical reasoning leads to two different conclusions about how to act? Using specific cases, such as human rights, environmental and sexual ethics, race and violence students will learn how ethical reasoning unfolds in different religious traditions, what values support that reasoning and what happens in society when those values compete. Satisfies: Goal 5 Outcome 1 (AE51) , Arts and Humanities (AH)