Do you read the bible a lot?

Are you religious?

Why would you pick such a weird subject to major in?

Aren’t you worried that your bosses will think that you’re a religious fanatic?

Why are you studying religion?

… and so on. These are but a few of the questions I’ve been asked about why I decided to take on religious studies as a double major. They don’t really bother me much, as 5 years back, I’d probably be asking something similar.

Out of all of these, the last question is the both the simplest and hardest to answer.

I’m a religious studies major because I love the fact that I feel as though I’m always taking in new information. I enjoy connecting ideologies and trends across different disciplines in a way that leaves me mystified.  It’s fun for me to have to constantly challenge my language, my thoughts, and my presuppositions about a culture/ritual/religious text/etc. that stem from my racial, ethnic, national, sexual, and gender identity.

In case you didn’t realize, I like to be proven wrong – or I like to prove that there’s no right answer even after I’ve tried to come up with one in my head.

And the religious studies professors at Lafayette College are fantastic, hands down. While I have to attribute my current fascination with Buddhism to Professor Rinehart, I’ve gained a lot of knowledge and understanding from all of my professors within the department. Each of them has pushed me to question exactly what the field of religious studies entails, and whether its even possible to discuss a concept that has so many layers to it.

I’m certainly coming from a biased source, but I really recommend for anyone coming to Lafayette to take at least one course in religious studies. It probably won’t change your life like it has affected mine, but there’s a lot to be gained from the nuances that come with understanding religion across different cultures, ideas, and areas.