RE217 Religion in the Americas

Examines religion and culture in the Americas, in both historic and current contexts, by addressing a number of social questions. Why did some African-American slaves convert to Christianity when many white slaveholders used the Bible to justify their enslavement? Why did some Jews in the United States maintain a practice of separate seating between genders in their places of worship, while others were eager to adopt mixed seating in synagogues? More recently, how have religions responded to and incorporated diverse forms of U.S. popular culture? Such questions will be considered comparatively with respect to such issues in Latin America and Canada.