Religious studies should include all faiths, traditions

Editor,

Richard Wood's column on July 2 has some disturbing elements. Firstly, the fact that the percentile truth of "more than half of the state's population" being Catholic is built on a history of subversion and erasure of native spiritualities and traditions. Such being the case, would the new chairperson focus on postcolonial approaches to Roman Catholic tradition?

Secondly, whilst efforts are being made for endowment of chairpeople in Abrahamic religions, other less organized religions, and especially those which do not have adequate fundraising capabilities, may fall by the wayside. More importantly, eastern religions and spiritualities that do not have as great a following as Catholicism, but have contributed enormously to Western psychology as well as some denominations within Christianity, may fade out from religious studies. This is already a trend, as is evident from an analysis of courses offered through religious studies or lectures organized by the program in the past few years.

While it is important for academic studies in the University to reflect issues in public life, intellectual life should not be contained, confined or defined by mere quantitative measures of those issues. The very title "university" suggests that intellectual life, while being influenced by contemporary society, must also strive to transcend it and become a beacon of light for the future.

I urge members of the religious studies committee, faculty, scholars and graduate students in the University to take the onus upon themselves to ensure diversity in courses as well as scholarship in the field of religion to bring real dialogue between different disciplines in the University.

Bhavana Upadhyaya

UNM graduate student