Is Christmas religious? Or is it a religion? By consulting American anthropologist Clifford Geertz’s definition of religion, I will prove that the Christmas Holidays are not simply a religious-based secular festival—but a religion of their own. I will then use two classic Holiday movies—How the Grinch Stole Christmas! and The Polar Express —as further illustration.
Studying Religion within Cultural Studies
This post introduces us to Francisco Zepeda's research on the intersection of culture, religion and social problems, specifically through exploring the role of religious and secular imaginaries in constructing Mexico as a modern nation.
From the Archives: Teaching in an Age of Islamophobia
In January 2017, a Canadian university student walked into a mosque in Quebec City and gunned down six innocent people – critically wounding five more – who had simply been there to pray. One thing such stories ought to remind us of is just how important teaching and learning about religion is, especially for university students. The fact is that many people in North America, including parts of Canada, have little understanding or experience of Islam, which creates an opening for fear-based distortions and mischaracterizations – in short, for the rising tide of Islamophobia which has resulted in escalating violence, threats, and assaults against Muslims in recent years in both the U.S. and Canada. A university course in world religions offers the opportunity to correct misperceptions and allow students of whatever religious or non-religious background to engage with complex spiritual traditions like Islam from a non-reductive, non-ideologically driven perspective. Religious studies is the polar opposite of the online propaganda that has “radicalized” white nationalist killers to enact terrible acts of violence on faith communities – it opens up questions rather than closing young minds.
Mennonites and Indigenous Rights
By Jacqueline Giesbrecht For the last few weeks, the dispute between the Wet’suwet’en and the federal government has dominated the news. The Wet’suwet’en territory in north-central British Columbia lies in the path of a natural gas pipeline planned by Coastal Gaslink. The Coastal Gaslink is a proposed natural gas pipeline project that would run the … Continue reading Mennonites and Indigenous Rights
Queen's School of Religion Blog 