Anyone else take World Religions?

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One Fly Guy

One Fly Guy

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Every class feels like torture! Anyone else feels this way or had a class that they just could not stand?
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How much of your hatred of this class is due to poor teaching?
 
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I don't think I've ever had a class in which the subject matter alone inspired hatred. Usually it took a horrible professor to turn boredom into misery.
 
Advanced Analytical Chemistry is totally going that route right now for me lol. Prof. and subject matter bore me to deeeeeeath.

I've had many courses that are painful, for different reasons. One of the classes I hated most is one that I am really glad I took. This class is religion and medicine, I really learned a lot from the class. But was super stressed with my course load in general that semester and it felt like a waste of my time.

Another class I hated was sociology, that was a waste.
 
African-American Art History. 2 hour power lecture twice a week from 4-6 at night consisting of nothing but painting after painting that we had to memorize. Pulled off an A though due to the fact that ~50% of our grade was from a paper we had to write.
 
Myuu said:
How much of your hatred of this class is due to poor teaching?
Click to expand...
My teacher is from India. She's semi-understandable, but her accent is sexy as hell to me. She teaches out of the book, but it's not her, I just think the material is very dull.
 
Intro to logic. The professor is ok but the material is mind numbingly boring.
 
I don't like my British Literature course. It is definitely the teacher, as I have read over 3/4 of books on the syllabus, and enjoyed them. Then I met 'her'.
 
One Fly Guy said:
My teacher is from India. She's semi-understandable, but her accent is sexy as hell to me. She teaches out of the book, but it's not her, I just think the material is very dull.
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Lol. First time I've heard that one about an Indian accent.
 
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I can't agree. World Religions was fascinating to me. Are you a religious person? If yes, are you a christian? If yes to that, you are probably too closed minded to appreciate the different religions. And I am not trying to offend, but when I was taking the class, the hardcore christians hated it because every other religion was ridiculous instead of christianity. They couldn't see how similar all religions are, how unoriginal christianity was, or why someone would believe in such a far fetched story (but they would get defensive when someone would question talking snakes and burning bushes).

If you aren't religious, you probably just aren't interested in the material. In which case, that sucks but we all take classes we hate. American Popular Music was mine. Couldn't read for more than five minutes without thinking "this material sucks and is boring." So hard to get through.
 
One Fly Guy said:
Every class feels like torture! Anyone else feels this way or had a class that they just could not stand?
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Yes!! So much work for something that everyone has there own opinion about. It's cool to learn about how people behave and what their principles are but it seems as though most schools are more concerned with what the book has to tell about religions rather than people's own perspective on things. I told myself after last semester that I would never take one again haha
 
Took it because I came from a Catholic high school and wanted to get an experience on other religions in the world.
I HATED the class. Not only that, I had the most pretentious jerk of a professor who graded based on his views.
My only dropped class besides a math class.
 
JohnnyRomanes said:
Took it because I came from a Catholic high school and wanted to get an experience on other religions in the world.
I HATED the class. Not only that, I had the most pretentious jerk of a professor who graded based on his views.
My only dropped class besides a math class.
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I took a Philosophy of Religion course, as well as one other philosophy course. More than any other courses, I found that it was most essential in these two to reflect the views of the profs in my essays. Sucks.
 
FrkyBgStok said:
I can't agree. World Religions was fascinating to me. Are you a religious person? If yes, are you a christian? If yes to that, you are probably too closed minded to appreciate the different religions. And I am not trying to offend, but when I was taking the class, the hardcore christians hated it because every other religion was ridiculous instead of christianity. They couldn't see how similar all religions are, how unoriginal christianity was, or why someone would believe in such a far fetched story (but they would get defensive when someone would question talking snakes and burning bushes).

If you aren't religious, you probably just aren't interested in the material. In which case, that sucks but we all take classes we hate. American Popular Music was mine. Couldn't read for more than five minutes without thinking "this material sucks and is boring." So hard to get through.
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Did you know you could be both Christian and sane? Shocking, I know.
 
There was a very limited selection of social science classes that fit into my schedule so I had to take a course called 'people and the environment' which actually turned out to be a class on city planning. For those of you who don't know what city planning is, it's essentially interior design on a larger scale.

:barf:
 
I took world religions my freshman year! I actually enjoyed it. I'm not a religious person, so I knew very little about the major religions. We studied Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, and Hindiusm. Not extensive, by any means, but it was a real interesting (and easy) class.
 
Myuu said:
Did you know you could be both Christian and sane? Shocking, I know.
Click to expand...

I did. And I wasn't implying is was impossible nor that the OP wasn't. I was just sharing my experience. The christians that appreciated other religions loved the class as well. In fact, the only people in the entire class that disliked it were the fundamentalists that would argue everything.

But then again, my professor wasn't the type that said you had to agree with him, He was an awesome professor. Maybe that was the problem.
 
FrkyBgStok said:
I can't agree. World Religions was fascinating to me. Are you a religious person? If yes, are you a christian? If yes to that, you are probably too closed minded to appreciate the different religions. And I am not trying to offend, but when I was taking the class, the hardcore christians hated it because every other religion was ridiculous instead of christianity. They couldn't see how similar all religions are, how unoriginal christianity was, or why someone would believe in such a far fetched story (but they would get defensive when someone would question talking snakes and burning bushes).

If you aren't religious, you probably just aren't interested in the material. In which case, that sucks but we all take classes we hate. American Popular Music was mine. Couldn't read for more than five minutes without thinking "this material sucks and is boring." So hard to get through.
Click to expand...

Point a finger to the mirror, will you? Christianity has become the only bashable religion, although the most intolerent, by far, regardless of what politicians and apologists say, has to be Islam. I am an agnostic and would say we are not too far behind and so are aheists. Some of us claim to have no religion, but religiously bash religions in general. Christianity, starting from the New Testament, is fine. It's the many self-called Christians, who don't follow the rules of Christianity, who make it look bad.

Read the Koran, find out the chronological order of the verses (The Koran lists them in order of length), then read the Hadiths and Muhammad's biography. I did and they sent chills through my spine. Before I did, I read apologies written by Christians and Muslims alike and really thought it was a religion of peace and good overall. Then came the real stuff. I am really glad regular, modern Muslims don't follow these rules and are generally very good and moral people.
 
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Everyone is deluded! Just face it. Live life the way you want to live.
If you don't think you're deluded, you are. Whether you're an atheist, agnostic or deist, you're living in delusion! The point is, that class is worthless. Could have just wiki'ed christianity, islam, judaism, hinduism, buddhism, etc. if you were interested.
 
Ub3rmensch said:
Everyone is deluded! Just face it. Live life the way you want to live.
If you don't think you're deluded, you are. Whether you're an atheist, agnostic or deist, you're living in delusion! The point is, that class is worthless. Could have just wiki'ed christianity, islam, judaism, hinduism, buddhism, etc. if you were interested.
Click to expand...

That would be waaaaaaaaaaay too easy!

Some people take the class thinking "easy credits". At UBC, "Classical and Religious Origins of Literature" I and II (or is it "Classical and Biblical..."? ) count as 3rd year English credits, fulfilling the B.A. 3rd year English requirements.
 
Cinclus said:
I took a Philosophy of Religion course, as well as one other philosophy course. More than any other courses, I found that it was most essential in these two to reflect the views of the profs in my essays. Sucks.
Click to expand...

I feel you, I had to drop because I got on his bad side by reflecting a view he felt heavily against.
Oh well, a dropped class that isn't a pre-req shouldn't be a problem.
 
JohnnyRomanes said:
I feel you, I had to drop because I got on his bad side by reflecting a view he felt heavily against.
Oh well, a dropped class that isn't a pre-req shouldn't be a problem.
Click to expand...

That's terrible. Can't believe a professor would have that much bias. Thankfully, I haven't encountered one yet.
 
He tries to counteract the underlying bias by telling me to explain in "more detail", etc.
Yeah okay, my friend and I wrote the same topic, although took different sides, counteracted each of our arguments with valid responses. He favored my friend with a 92% since while I got a 73%
:/
 
Ub3rmensch said:
That's terrible. Can't believe a professor would have that much bias. Thankfully, I haven't encountered one yet.
Click to expand...

I had an intro bio prof who devoted a whole lecture to intelligent design, then conveniently ran out of time at the end of the semester to cover evolution.
 
Myuu said:
I had an intro bio prof who devoted a whole lecture to intelligent design, then conveniently ran out of time at the end of the semester to cover evolution.
Click to expand...

That should be made illegal.
 
I took a Religion in America class online for an easy global awareness credit. Damn that was an intensive class consisting of probably 60 pages of reading/writing per week. The reading wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't written in incomprehensible dialect. Somehow, I got an A-.

I also took a health and migration class that I pulled an A- in, even though the class average was likely a 65. After the second test, the class was in an uproar about the teacher's grading techniques since the tests were all essay format. I never complained, mostly because I had a good grade, but it would've been nice if she curved a little bit so that my 92% would've been an A.

Moral of the story: every time I try to take an "easy" class, I end up getting an A-.
 
One Fly Guy said:
My teacher is from India. She's semi-understandable, but her accent is sexy as hell to me. She teaches out of the book, but it's not her, I just think the material is very dull.
Click to expand...

I had a similar experience, but thank god it was only a summer class. In and out. I recommend taking these snoozers during the summer.
 
FrkyBgStok said:
I can't agree. World Religions was fascinating to me. Are you a religious person? If yes, are you a christian? If yes to that, you are probably too closed minded to appreciate the different religions. And I am not trying to offend, but when I was taking the class, the hardcore christians hated it because every other religion was ridiculous instead of christianity. They couldn't see how similar all religions are, how unoriginal christianity was, or why someone would believe in such a far fetched story (but they would get defensive when someone would question talking snakes and burning bushes).

If you aren't religious, you probably just aren't interested in the material. In which case, that sucks but we all take classes we hate. American Popular Music was mine. Couldn't read for more than five minutes without thinking "this material sucks and is boring." So hard to get through.
Click to expand...

lol, or maybe your too closed minded to understand christians. Silly stereotypes.

We're not all crazy
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOxVjbGvUpI&feature=related[/YOUTUBE]
(skyrim reference for those who don't get it)
 
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idontcaureuknow said:
Advanced Analytical Chemistry is totally going that route right now for me lol. Prof. and subject matter bore me to deeeeeeath.

I've had many courses that are painful, for different reasons. One of the classes I hated most is one that I am really glad I took. This class is religion and medicine, I really learned a lot from the class. But was super stressed with my course load in general that semester and it felt like a waste of my time.

Another class I hated was sociology, that was a waste.
Click to expand...

Taking advanced analytical presumes you took regular analytical first. I have no sympathy for your suffering.
 
pre med 2014 said:
Taking advanced analytical presumes you took regular analytical first. I have no sympathy for your suffering.
Click to expand...

Analytical is boring, but it was pretty easy. Basic electrochemistry (OMG, after performing research with electrochemistry, it is quite an impressive field), titrations, and basic techniques. Didn't like it, but as a chemistry major, what can ya do.

Advanced analytical is all instruments. "You use this type of lens when you want to " blah blah freaking blah blah. I'd trade it for a graduate level pchem any freaking day. I loved pchem, this crap is CRAP.
 
Kadava Reviva said:
Point a finger to the mirror, will you? Christianity has become the only bashable religion, although the most intolerent, by far, regardless of what politicians and apologists say, has to be Islam. I am an agnostic and would say we are not too far behind and so are aheists. Some of us claim to have no religion, but religiously bash religions in general. Christianity, starting from the New Testament, is fine. It's the many self-called Christians, who don't follow the rules of Christianity, who make it look bad.

Read the Koran, find out the chronological order of the verses (The Koran lists them in order of length), then read the Hadiths and Muhammad's biography. I did and they sent chills through my spine. Before I did, I read apologies written by Christians and Muslims alike and really thought it was a religion of peace and good overall. Then came the real stuff. I am really glad regular, modern Muslims don't follow these rules and are generally very good and moral people.
Click to expand...

I'm an agnostic as well, but I don't think it's fair to claim that Islam is "the most intolerant religion by far." That is a time- and place-dependent statement. I think it's reasonable to claim Christianity was the most intolerant religion by far circa 1100-1300 when the Crusades were happening. Also, I agree with Christopher Hitchens' claim that people are only partly rational. When you subject them to religious dogma, be it Christian or Muslim, there's bound to be trouble somewhere along the way.
 
EBTrailRunner said:
Also, I agree with Christopher Hitchens' claim that people are only partly rational. When you subject them to religious dogma, be it Christian or Muslim, there's bound to be trouble somewhere along the way.
Click to expand...

I think there are plenty of rational religious people. People frequently choose to bash religion as if it were inherently evil instead of placing the blame on a flawed species which contains many individuals incapable of making their own rational decisions once they believe a higher power is in charge.

There's nothing wrong with religion, there's something wrong with humanity, and more specifically some of the individuals who make up that group. If it wasnt religion, it would be something else. The human race will ALWAYS find things to fight and kill over.
 
BA11 said:
I think there are plenty of rational religious people. People frequently choose to bash religion as if it were inherently evil instead of placing the blame on a flawed species which contains many individuals incapable of making their own rational decisions once they believe a higher power is in charge.

There's nothing wrong with religion, there's something wrong with humanity, and more specifically some of the individuals who make up that group. If it wasnt religion, it would be something else. The human race will ALWAYS find things to fight and kill over.
Click to expand...

I'm not saying religion is worthless. There are certain principles shared by most religions that I find noble and worth living by. However, I think it's a joke to claim that there's nothing wrong with religion. Yes, humanity is flawed, but once you recognize religion as a man-made concept, you see that it's inherently flawed as well.
 
EBTrailRunner said:
I'm an agnostic as well, but I don't think it's fair to claim that Islam is "the most intolerant religion by far." That is a time- and place-dependent statement. I think it's reasonable to claim Christianity was the most intolerant religion by far circa 1100-1300 when the Crusades were happening. Also, I agree with Christopher Hitchens' claim that people are only partly rational. When you subject them to religious dogma, be it Christian or Muslim, there's bound to be trouble somewhere along the way.
Click to expand...

Sorry, but you are dead wrong. Christianity is very tolerant and Jesus said that there are no reasons for killing anyone. The problem is/was with people who called themselves Christians, but chose which rules to follow and which one not to. Muhammad's teachings are radically diferent; "kill them where they stand", "smite them at the neck" and "should a Muslim leave/change his religion, he should be put to death" are some examples. Compare the lifestyles of Jesus and Muhammad. Jesus never killed, ambushed stole or rape. Like the prophets of old, he didn't commit sin, practiced what he preached and was killed by his own people. Claiming to be a Christian and being one are two diferent things. Claiming to be a Muslim, being kind and not killing apostates or stoning women who were raped are also two diferent things. Read the Muslim scriptures I cited above before you make up your mind.

And yes, religions, nowadays, are irrelevant.
 
Kadava Reviva said:
Sorry, but you are dead wrong. Christianity is very tolerant and Jesus said that there are no reasons for killing anyone. The problem is/was with people who called themselves Christians, but chose which rules to follow and which one not to. Muhammad's teachings are radically diferent; "kill them where they stand", "smite them at the neck" and "should a Muslim leave/change his religion, he should be put to death" are some examples. Compare the lifestyles of Jesus and Muhammad. Jesus never killed, ambushed stole or rape. Like the prophets of old, he didn't commit sin, practiced what he preached and was killed by his own people. Claiming to be a Christian and being one are two diferent things. Claiming to be a Muslim, being kind and not killing apostates or stoning women who were raped are also two diferent things. Read the Muslim scriptures I cited above before you make up your mind.

And yes, religions, nowadays, are irrelevant.
Click to expand...
:thumbup:
 
Kadava Reviva said:
Point a finger to the mirror, will you? Christianity has become the only bashable religion, although the most intolerent, by far, regardless of what politicians and apologists say, has to be Islam. I am an agnostic and would say we are not too far behind and so are aheists. Some of us claim to have no religion, but religiously bash religions in general. Christianity, starting from the New Testament, is fine. It's the many self-called Christians, who don't follow the rules of Christianity, who make it look bad.

Read the Koran, find out the chronological order of the verses (The Koran lists them in order of length), then read the Hadiths and Muhammad's biography. I did and they sent chills through my spine. Before I did, I read apologies written by Christians and Muslims alike and really thought it was a religion of peace and good overall. Then came the real stuff. I am really glad regular, modern Muslims don't follow these rules and are generally very good and moral people.
Click to expand...

Not sure what you're reading but as a "modern Muslim" I do follow the Quran and Hadith, and I'm pretty sure my lifestyle is pretty similar to yours. Everything has a context and it can easily be taken out of it if you approach it with bias or without background knowledge. You have your opinions and that's fine, but publicly bashing a major religion (I'm pretty sure a handful of folks on this forum are Muslim) is offensive and uncalled for.

I'm not trying to pick a fight with you but rather just contributing my two cents and standing up for what I believe. Ciao.
 
AM90 said:
Not sure what you're reading but as a "modern Muslim" I do follow the Quran and Hadith, and I'm pretty sure my lifestyle is pretty similar to yours. Everything has a context and it can easily be taken out of it if you approach it with bias or without background knowledge. You have your opinions and that's fine, but publicly bashing a major religion (I'm pretty sure a handful of folks on this forum are Muslim) is offensive and uncalled for.

I'm not trying to pick a fight with you but rather just contributing my two cents and standing up for what I believe. Ciao.
Click to expand...

Major religion or not.
Find out how the verses were originally written, in chronological order. You probably know the verses are organised from the longest to the shortest. As you may know, newer verse supercede older ones. You will see that, as Muhammad's religion grew, from being a group of highwaymen to a bigger religion in the Arabian peninsula, his language grew more and more beliquous. Suddenly, Allah's law didn't apply to the prophet anymore. Before moving to Yathrib (now Medina), Muhammad was considered a crackpot ans had to leave his native Makkah. After he gained power and returned, he forced conversion at the tip of the sword.

There are way too many things to talk about, so download this book, open your mind and read it. All Muslims should read it. It is an excellent starter book.

http://prophetofdoom.net/pdf/Prophet_of_Doom_Entire_Book.pdf

As told by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, there are 5 stages in the process of grief/loss:

1- Denial
2- Anger
3- Bargaining
4- Depression
5- Acceptance

Most Muslims, when confronted with the truth, only go through the firts two. Most people who leave Chritianity and become agnostics or atheists usually skip #3. I did.

One thing about Muslims is that, unlike Christians, they are not allowed to question their religion, because there are too many inconsistencies to the inquiring mind.

Read the book; the whole book, then re-read the Koran and the Hadith. You owe it to yourself to learn the truth.

What I wrote is only offensive to a set of beliefs and no-one has a right not to be offended.

Islam offends Christianity daily by claiming Jesus is not God, or the son of God, denying the concept of a Triune God/Godhead, that he was a Muslim and that he did not die on the cross. They also insult Christianity and Judaism by claiming Muhammad was a prophet in the Judaeo-Christian sense, that both the old and the new testament became corrupted and that th Koran is the only accurate book. They can try to insult agnostics and atheists all they want, we just don't care and will not resort to violence because they attack our beliefs, or lack of.

I agree with you that your lifestyle probably isn't much different than mine, but I disagree that you follow the Koran and the Hadith. I am sure you are a good person and am pained if you are hurt by my words. However, I am not sorry to attack anyone's beliefs.

Please read the book before replying. It won't turn you into an atheist
Best of luck.

Love, K.R.
 
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By the way, I also consider evolution and the big bang theory to be religious beliefs and not truly science.

Richard Dawkins is nothing but a prohet of his own brand of beliefs.
Yup, I'm a true, dyed in the wool agnostic.
 
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EBTrailRunner said:
I'm not saying religion is worthless. There are certain principles shared by most religions that I find noble and worth living by. However, I think it's a joke to claim that there's nothing wrong with religion. Yes, humanity is flawed, but once you recognize religion as a man-made concept, you see that it's inherently flawed as well.
Click to expand...

I agree that religion is inherently flawed on certain levels, what I really meant was that the concept of a deity is not in and of itself harmful. I believe in God but wouldnt call myself overly religious and certainly don't have any desire to do anything unfavorable to others because of it. To some people, it's simply a comfort, an answer or a lifestyle to lead and that's all. It's not always about trying to dictate how others live (or die).
 
Kadava Reviva said:
By the way, I also consider evolution and the big bang theory to be religious beliefs and not truly science.

Richard Dawkins is nothing but a prohet of his own brand of beliefs.
Yup, I'm a true, dyed in the wool agnostic.
Click to expand...

Evolution is backed by sufficient evidence to be considered more than simply an idea.
 
I liked my World Religion course back an an undergrad. Learned a lot, and enjoyed the topic in general. Maybe you're not into philosophy, or just not into the topics? In that case, I suggest taking courses that you'll enjoy.
 
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