Of the many interesting classes at NC State, there’s one you might not have heard of: REL 323 Religious Cults, Sects, and Minority Faiths in America. The class is taught by Jason Bivins, a professor of religious studies who has researched the relationship between religion and politics as well as religion and music.
“It’s sort of a subsection of the larger religion in America class that I teach, basically an extended look at religious creativity in the United States,” Bivins said. “I do start the class out by problematizing the word ‘cult’ that’s used in the title and showing students how that term has been misused in a lot of ways to characterize minority religions as being ‘dangerous’ religions.”
The purpose of the class is to challenge misconceptions and provide students with exposure to different viewpoints, even if they don’t necessarily agree with those views, according to Bivins. He said although the class contains the word “cult” in the title, he prefers the term “new religious movements” because it allows students to examine religions from a more neutral perspective.
Hubert Kwame Asamoah Boadu, a fourth-year studying science, technology and society, signed up for the class after he heard a talk by Bivins that piqued his curiosity. After talking further with Bivins, Asamoah Boadu decided to take his class to learn more about cults.
“I’ve been looking at cults and things like that for almost a year or two on my own, watching documentaries and going through podcasts,” Asamoah Boadu said. “I actually looked into a memoir of the wife of a polygamist and a fundamentalist in the Mormon Church. She went through hell.”
According to Bivins, the purpose of the class was not to demonize cults, but to give students a framework for understanding different religions so they could observe religions through a more neutral lens.
“They can come out of the class by saying, ‘Yes, Jonestown was horrible; yes, illegally stockpiling weapons was horrible; yes, sex with underage women is horrible,’” Bivins said. “But I think they’ll also be able to say that the vast majority of minority religions in the U.S. are not harmful.”
Asamoah Boadu said his view of cults drastically changed after taking this class.
“You look at some of these people and say, ‘It’s just misogyny’ or ‘It’s just racism,’ but not everyone’s like that,” Asamoah Boadu said. “So that has been a big shift for me.”
Bivins said the main goal for the class was religious literacy and the ability to tolerate different viewpoints, which is absolutely integral to succeeding in the workforce as well as in everyday life.
“Knowing that whether it’s here in the Triangle or nationally in America, we’re just going toward greater diversity in general, and with that comes religious diversity,” Bivins said. “I think that this goal of punching holes in stereotypes really is intended to make people less suspicious of their neighbors and more tolerant.”
