College classes

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Is it wrong to take college classes that focus on other religions? This semester I am registered to to take Intro to Christianity, Roman Catholicism, Life After Death and Major Texts. Not that I need to learn about Intro to Christianity or Roman Catholicism but because I am Catholic I thought it would just be interesting. As far as the Life After Death and Major Texts, they cover all religions including Christianity. I didnt get to register till later so there were not a lot of classes left.
I dont want to offend God by taking them. I am 100% comfortable with my Catholic faith.
 
It’s morally fine, but perhaps not wise.

The study of other religions can be very useful, especially for ecumenical purposes. However, that would most likely bear much fruit only if you had some sort of ministerial career. If you are not planning that kind of vocation, I would avoid the class in favor of something more practical. Some exceptions might exist: for example, if the professor was top-notch and taught great thinking skills, or if the class fulfilled a requirement. You would have to weigh the benefits of each possible course you could take in its stead.
 
Go for it. You may end up growing your faith. More importantly you may end up understanding better WHY you believe what you do.
 
If you feel you are weak-willed and would be swayed away from the Catholic faith by taking such courses, then you would want to avoid such classes.

Other than that, growing in knowledge is a good thing. It’s nice to get a better handle on where other people are coming from.
 
I def will not be swayed from the Catholic faith.
Knowing where other people are coming from is my main reason for wanting to take these courses. I know plenty of people who assume they know x and y about the Catholic faith and at times I have to correct them. Similarly I dont like to assume I know x and y about Judaism, Hinduism, etc.
Joe_5859 said:
If you feel you are weak-willed and would be swayed away from the Catholic faith by taking such courses, then you would want to avoid such classes.

Other than that, growing in knowledge is a good thing. It’s nice to get a better handle on where other people are coming from.
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While I was still discerning and becoming Catholic I took two of the best classes I’ve taken so far.

Comparative Religions (taught by a Protestant) and Traditional African Religions (Taught by a TAR practitioner professor from Ghana, I believe he was Yoruba).

I really think God wanted me to take those classes because one of my questions I couldn’t shake was “Why are there so many different religions if knowledge of God is innate?”

I came away amazed at the similarities in the undercurrents of the world’s faiths no matter how esoteric they had seemed before.

It didn’t shake my faith, it enhanced it.
 
scc11 said:
I def will not be swayed from the Catholic faith.
Knowing where other people are coming from is my main reason for wanting to take these courses. I know plenty of people who assume they know x and y about the Catholic faith and at times I have to correct them. Similarly I dont like to assume I know x and y about Judaism, Hinduism, etc.
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I enjoyed my World Religions class in college (except that, unfortunately, the professor who taught the section on Christianity was quite boring and was not himself even a believing Christian…but at least that was the one section of the course I already knew. :)). I found it rather enlightening. I wrote my paper on the role on women in the Catholic Church vs. Hinduism and how the Catholic Church is the best at promoting the dignity of women. 🙂
 
My university offers Judaic Studies classes and I took History of Jewish Civilization, Angels, and Demons. All with the same great professor. These classes were more of an outsiders view (Professor is a Buddhist), but very interesting to follow, and typically the only textbook that we’d have to buy would be a Bible (though at the time I just used an online Bible). I learned a lot of interesting things, and it helped me to get more deeply involved in my faith.
 
If you’re mature enough to do so, there’s no harm in learning about other faiths. Indeed if you want to become well-versed at apologetics you need to learn arguments against our faith.
 
It’s good to learn about other religions. What they believe, why they believe it, and how they were formed all can be very helpful both for strengthening your own faith as well as debating others if you end up doing so.

Also, many of the problems around the world today have religious elements deeply embedded in them, so it’s good to learn about what other people believe in order to understand why the problems occurred and how to fix them, if fixing them is possible.
 
scc11 said:
Is it wrong to take college classes that focus on other religions? This semester I am registered to to take Intro to Christianity, Roman Catholicism, Life After Death and Major Texts. Not that I need to learn about Intro to Christianity or Roman Catholicism but because I am Catholic I thought it would just be interesting. As far as the Life After Death and Major Texts, they cover all religions including Christianity. I didnt get to register till later so there were not a lot of classes left.
I dont want to offend God by taking them. I am 100% comfortable with my Catholic faith.
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IT is essential to know other religions so that we know better ours.
 
confucius said:
IT is essential to know other religions so that we know better ours.
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An effective debater will know his opponent’s point of view in order to better present his own case. In the same way, it a person who understands what another person believes can better present his Catholic Faith. This is one of the points made during one of Fulton Sheen’s episodes. He pointed to a common mistake of Christians using the Bible as their sole source when other religions have their own sacred texts.
 
DebChris said:
An effective debater will know his opponent’s point of view in order to better present his own case. In the same way, it a person who understands what another person believes can better present his Catholic Faith. This is one of the points made during one of Fulton Sheen’s episodes. He pointed to a common mistake of Christians using the Bible as their sole source when other religions have their own sacred texts.
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And, don’t forget, this is also what the apostles did when they evangelized to other nations. They explained their faith in ways in which the foreign cultures would understand.
 
scc11 said:
Is it wrong to take college classes that focus on other religions? This semester I am registered to to take Intro to Christianity, Roman Catholicism, Life After Death and Major Texts. Not that I need to learn about Intro to Christianity or Roman Catholicism but because I am Catholic I thought it would just be interesting. As far as the Life After Death and Major Texts, they cover all religions including Christianity. I didnt get to register till later so there were not a lot of classes left.
I dont want to offend God by taking them. I am 100% comfortable with my Catholic faith.
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I just took a ‘Religion in US Culture’ class at my community college. It covered and discussed all the different major religions in the USA. The instructor did not advocate for a certain religion at the public college. For a religion class at a private college the rules are very different. I learned a lot about different faiths and I’m glad I took the class.
 
scc11 said:
Is it wrong to take college classes that focus on other religions? This semester I am registered to to take Intro to Christianity, Roman Catholicism, Life After Death and Major Texts. Not that I need to learn about Intro to Christianity or Roman Catholicism but because I am Catholic I thought it would just be interesting. As far as the Life After Death and Major Texts, they cover all religions including Christianity. I didnt get to register till later so there were not a lot of classes left.
I dont want to offend God by taking them. I am 100% comfortable with my Catholic faith.
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I took a religion class in college. It dealt with all the different religions from Christianity to Islam to Judaism to Buddhism, etc. In this religion class I wrote a paper on Buddhism and attended a Protestant service for a project. INTERESTING THING WAS AT THE END OF THE SEMESTER I ENDED UP REVERTING TO THE CATHOLIC FAITH THAT I HAD ABANDONED 2 YEARS AFTER CONFIRMATION. At the start of the semester I was nowhere near being a practicing Catholic and didn’t care about going to Mass. I had not gone to Mass, Confession, Holy Communion in 7 years. I went to confession and received Holy Communion for the very first time in 7 years this past Divine Mercy Sunday. If I did not take this religion course I probably would have not been a Practicing Catholic today. I would most likely be living a very sinful life. You can use this course to compare other religions to the Catholic Church. Maybe one day you can even be an apologist here on Catholic Answers !!!
 
bbentrup said:
If you are not planning that kind of vocation, I would avoid the class in favor of something more practical.
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I cannot really imagine anything more practical than understanding what drives the lives of billions of humans on this planet and, if the course is taught well, how to think about the issues that matter.
 
scc11 said:
Is it wrong to take college classes that focus on other religions? This semester I am registered to to take Intro to Christianity, Roman Catholicism, Life After Death and Major Texts. Not that I need to learn about Intro to Christianity or Roman Catholicism but because I am Catholic I thought it would just be interesting. As far as the Life After Death and Major Texts, they cover all religions including Christianity. I didnt get to register till later so there were not a lot of classes left.
I dont want to offend God by taking them. I am 100% comfortable with my Catholic faith.
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What are the assumptions that lead you to think that taking such a class would offend God?

I should perhaps say that I’m about to team teach (with a Franciscan sister) a class on “Faiths in Dialogue” at a Catholic university. . . I’ve also been teaching religions of the world to evangelicals for some years now.

When I was young, in a very conservative evangelical framework, I was scared of learning about other religions too. I was afraid that if I found something good about them I would be led away from Christianity.

But the Catholic Church has a much healthier attitude to this than conservative Protestants do, I think (see sections 839-45). The Church recognizes that what is good in all religions comes from God. That doesn’t take away from faith in Jesus at all.

Edwin
 
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