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3 credits; 3 lecture hours

“Religion” is driving contemporary political events in multiple, multifaceted and mysterious ways. This course is designed to understand and reflect on how religion influences global politics. The course is divided into three sections. The first part will address concerns about how, why and where individuals are religious across the globe, and in what ways their religious ideas and identities influence their political decisions and behaviors. The second part will examine the major questions posed by human-rights practitioners of religious freedom, the origins and scope of these rights, the problem of definition, and the values with which they conflict. And finally we will focus on crucial themes in debates over the role that religion ought to play in democratic politics / pluralist societies.