Spreading religious literacy
It’s a critical part of education, CU alumna and instructor notes
By Clint Talbott
Anyone who argues about where to post the Ten Commandments should know what they say, Jen Hlavacek contends. But as public surveys routinely show, Americans have only foggy conceptions of such basic religious precepts.
So Hlavacek strives to help young citizens understand the religious traditions that infuse their culture and others. She has launched a new course—the Sociology of Religion—and she financially supports both the faculty who teach it and the students who excel in it. The course she launched is now part of the core curriculum in the University of Colorado’s College of Arts and Sciences.
Hlavacek, who spent some of her working life in the corporate world, earned her doctorate in sociology from CU in 1997 and later taught a social-problems course here. She was surprised at how little students knew about religions’ effect on society.
“Religion, whether you’re religious or not, touches every aspect of your life,” Hlavacek says. In every culture, she notes, religion and society interact and produce certain world views. Highlighting these interactions and their results, she emphasizes, is not designed to promote religion, but rather to help students better understand their world.
That’s why she began teaching a course in the sociology of religion. “You could teach it from the front page today,” she observes. The course was especially topical after Sept. 11, 2001, when Islam, its teachings and its adherents made headlines.
While discussing Islam, students often quoted television or their parents, she recalls. In many cases, these views were incorrect. Additionally, students often knew very little about Israel and Palestine, India and Pakistan or other conflicts rooted in religion.
“They don’t read newspapers, so I would try to get them interested in what’s going on around them,” Hlavacek says.
But students’ unawareness of the intersection of religion and society was not confined to Islam, Judaism, Buddhism or Hinduism. Hlavacek found that students were often blind to the social influences of the United States’ dominant religion, Christianity.
Students would not know, for instance, that the movie “Babel” alluded to a story in Genesis about how humans came to speak different languages. “You can have politicians quoting the Bible, and they have no idea,” Hlavacek says.
That unawareness extended even to the Ten Commandments, which are core values in both Judaism and Christianity. When quizzed, many of Hlavacek’s students knew that the commandments banned murder and adultery. But they were less likely to know the prohibitions on taking the Lord’s name in vain or worshipping idols. (Devout Christians did better on this quiz, she notes.)
“If you’re sitting there having arguments about posting the Ten Commandments, you ought to know what they say,” Hlavacek observes.
Debate about the public display of the Ten Commandments is just one example—but a famous and illustrative example—of the intersection of society and religion.
Arguments about which, if any, public spaces may display the Ten Commandments are sometimes settled by the U.S. Supreme Court. In February 2009, for instance, the high court held that a Utah city did not have to display core beliefs of Summum, a religious sect, beside an existing monument of the Ten Commandments in a city park.
(Followers of Summum had sued on free-speech grounds for the right to post their beliefs beside the Ten Commandments.)
The perennial debate about displaying the Ten Commandments (or other religious icons) in city parks or on school grounds is usually settled on narrow First Amendment grounds: whether, in a court’s view, a religious display violates the First Amendment’s ban on the government “establishment” of a religion.
As Hlavacek suggests, knowing the Ten Commandments helps students (and citizens) weigh such constitutional questions more intelligently. She stresses that her aim is not to encourage rote memorization of the commandments or First Amendment case law, but rather to help students understand a prominent example of a religion’s interaction with society.
More broadly, knowledge of Christianity and the other major religions helps people decipher political initiatives from all corners: Bill Clinton’s “new covenant,” George W. Bush’s allusion to the Jericho road, and foreign-policy initiatives in the Middle East.
To gauge students’ knowledge of religion, Hlavacek took a cue from Stephen Prothero’s book “Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know—And Doesn’t.”
Prothero notes that only half of Americans can name even one of the four Gospels, that most don’t know the first book of the Bible, and that most Americans wrongly believe that Jesus was born in Jerusalem. Only one in four could name a single Hindu text. Only a small minority could name any Asian sacred writings.
Hlavacek emphasizes that she promotes awareness, not religion. Students would sometimes say, “We can’t tell if you’re an agnostic or a believer,” Hlavacek recalls. “I said, ‘Good.’”
“Knowing these basics about our religious history has nothing to do with promoting religion,” Hlacacek adds. “It has everything to do with understanding what is happening in our everyday world, whether one is a believer or an atheist.” Religious literacy, she adds, helps people become better participants in American democracy and more-informed citizens of the world.
Students seem to concur. The course she launched is popular and in growing demand. Enrollment has grown so much that two sections of the class are now offered. Additionally, Hlavacek has been invited to teach the course herself again next summer.
Besides starting the course, she has established the Jen Hlavacek Award on Religion and Society. The award carries a $1,000 prize for the best paper from an undergraduate on how religious activities and beliefs affect and are affected by society.
Sociology Chair Rick Rogers has high praise for Hlavacek’s efforts. “Jen has contributed to the department in multiple beneficial ways,” he says. “Her donations are greatly appreciated, have already had a strong positive impact, and are especially important during a tight economy.”
Hlavacek has donated funds to supplement the salaries of faculty members who teach sociology of religion courses. Most are adjunct instructors whose pay and benefits are modest.
Additionally, she plans a bequest to help keep the sociology of religion course afloat in perpetuity. Hlavacek is leaving a legacy through a large estate gift that will ensure that the topic of sociology of religion continues to be an important aspect of CU students' education. Her gift will endow an award for a thesis paper, provide funds to bring in scholars for lectureships and support the delivery of papers at conferences.
Hlavacek is clear and emphatic about why she wants this initiative to live on: “A college student shouldn’t graduate without knowing about the interaction of society and religion.”
Sociology of Religion (SOCY 4121) is being taught this fall and is primarily for juniors and seniors. For more information or to make a donation, contact Kimberly Bowman, associate director of development, CU Foundation, 303-541-1446 or Kimberly.bowman@cufund.org.
By Clint Talbott
Anyone who argues about where to post the Ten Commandments should know what they say, Jen Hlavacek contends. But as public surveys routinely show, Americans have only foggy conceptions of such basic religious precepts.
Jen Hlavacek has launched the course Sociology of Religion, which is now a staple in the College of Arts and Sciences' core curriculum.
So Hlavacek strives to help young citizens understand the religious traditions that infuse their culture and others. She has launched a new course—the Sociology of Religion—and she financially supports both the faculty who teach it and the students who excel in it. The course she launched is now part of the core curriculum in the University of Colorado’s College of Arts and Sciences.
Hlavacek, who spent some of her working life in the corporate world, earned her doctorate in sociology from CU in 1997 and later taught a social-problems course here. She was surprised at how little students knew about religions’ effect on society.
“Religion, whether you’re religious or not, touches every aspect of your life,” Hlavacek says. In every culture, she notes, religion and society interact and produce certain world views. Highlighting these interactions and their results, she emphasizes, is not designed to promote religion, but rather to help students better understand their world.
That’s why she began teaching a course in the sociology of religion. “You could teach it from the front page today,” she observes. The course was especially topical after Sept. 11, 2001, when Islam, its teachings and its adherents made headlines.
While discussing Islam, students often quoted television or their parents, she recalls. In many cases, these views were incorrect. Additionally, students often knew very little about Israel and Palestine, India and Pakistan or other conflicts rooted in religion.
“They don’t read newspapers, so I would try to get them interested in what’s going on around them,” Hlavacek says.
But students’ unawareness of the intersection of religion and society was not confined to Islam, Judaism, Buddhism or Hinduism. Hlavacek found that students were often blind to the social influences of the United States’ dominant religion, Christianity.
Students would not know, for instance, that the movie “Babel” alluded to a story in Genesis about how humans came to speak different languages. “You can have politicians quoting the Bible, and they have no idea,” Hlavacek says.
That unawareness extended even to the Ten Commandments, which are core values in both Judaism and Christianity. When quizzed, many of Hlavacek’s students knew that the commandments banned murder and adultery. But they were less likely to know the prohibitions on taking the Lord’s name in vain or worshipping idols. (Devout Christians did better on this quiz, she notes.)
“If you’re sitting there having arguments about posting the Ten Commandments, you ought to know what they say,” Hlavacek observes.
Debate about the public display of the Ten Commandments is just one example—but a famous and illustrative example—of the intersection of society and religion.
Arguments about which, if any, public spaces may display the Ten Commandments are sometimes settled by the U.S. Supreme Court. In February 2009, for instance, the high court held that a Utah city did not have to display core beliefs of Summum, a religious sect, beside an existing monument of the Ten Commandments in a city park.
(Followers of Summum had sued on free-speech grounds for the right to post their beliefs beside the Ten Commandments.)
The perennial debate about displaying the Ten Commandments (or other religious icons) in city parks or on school grounds is usually settled on narrow First Amendment grounds: whether, in a court’s view, a religious display violates the First Amendment’s ban on the government “establishment” of a religion.
As Hlavacek suggests, knowing the Ten Commandments helps students (and citizens) weigh such constitutional questions more intelligently. She stresses that her aim is not to encourage rote memorization of the commandments or First Amendment case law, but rather to help students understand a prominent example of a religion’s interaction with society.
More broadly, knowledge of Christianity and the other major religions helps people decipher political initiatives from all corners: Bill Clinton’s “new covenant,” George W. Bush’s allusion to the Jericho road, and foreign-policy initiatives in the Middle East.
To gauge students’ knowledge of religion, Hlavacek took a cue from Stephen Prothero’s book “Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know—And Doesn’t.”
Prothero notes that only half of Americans can name even one of the four Gospels, that most don’t know the first book of the Bible, and that most Americans wrongly believe that Jesus was born in Jerusalem. Only one in four could name a single Hindu text. Only a small minority could name any Asian sacred writings.
Hlavacek emphasizes that she promotes awareness, not religion. Students would sometimes say, “We can’t tell if you’re an agnostic or a believer,” Hlavacek recalls. “I said, ‘Good.’”
“Knowing these basics about our religious history has nothing to do with promoting religion,” Hlacacek adds. “It has everything to do with understanding what is happening in our everyday world, whether one is a believer or an atheist.” Religious literacy, she adds, helps people become better participants in American democracy and more-informed citizens of the world.
Students seem to concur. The course she launched is popular and in growing demand. Enrollment has grown so much that two sections of the class are now offered. Additionally, Hlavacek has been invited to teach the course herself again next summer.
Besides starting the course, she has established the Jen Hlavacek Award on Religion and Society. The award carries a $1,000 prize for the best paper from an undergraduate on how religious activities and beliefs affect and are affected by society.
Sociology Chair Rick Rogers has high praise for Hlavacek’s efforts. “Jen has contributed to the department in multiple beneficial ways,” he says. “Her donations are greatly appreciated, have already had a strong positive impact, and are especially important during a tight economy.”
Hlavacek has donated funds to supplement the salaries of faculty members who teach sociology of religion courses. Most are adjunct instructors whose pay and benefits are modest.
Additionally, she plans a bequest to help keep the sociology of religion course afloat in perpetuity. Hlavacek is leaving a legacy through a large estate gift that will ensure that the topic of sociology of religion continues to be an important aspect of CU students' education. Her gift will endow an award for a thesis paper, provide funds to bring in scholars for lectureships and support the delivery of papers at conferences.
Hlavacek is clear and emphatic about why she wants this initiative to live on: “A college student shouldn’t graduate without knowing about the interaction of society and religion.”
Sociology of Religion (SOCY 4121) is being taught this fall and is primarily for juniors and seniors. For more information or to make a donation, contact Kimberly Bowman, associate director of development, CU Foundation, 303-541-1446 or Kimberly.bowman@cufund.org.