“Religion is not disappearing. It’s becoming one of the central organizing forces in many different countries and globally.” Thus begins a new video in which professors from the Department of Religion, as well as a number of students, talk about why the study of religion is important.

“The study of religion forces you to ask questions. It forces you to do so in a kind of culturally comparative way, and to do so from different disciplinary perspectives,” says Randall Balmer, the John Phillips Professor in Religion and chair of the Department of Religion.

Says Robert Baum, an associate professor of religion and of African and African American Studies: “Above all, perhaps all other disciplines, it provides insight into what it means to be human.”