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Religious Studies Programs Offer Many Opportunities

Online graduate religious studies programs focus on the rational study of the history of religion as well as modern religious issues in a way that gives equal consideration to all religious traditions. As a student of religious studies, you will receive the same advantages that students who are earning a liberal arts degree will, which is to say a broad-based foundation of artistic, cultural, and historical background. This will help you to hone your abstract reasoning, direct observation, and research abilities. You will, while earning your degree, learn to exercise original thinking and strong analytical skills and evolve your ability to empathize with a wide variety of religious perspectives.

The curriculum of the religious studies student offers an academic forum for asking the fundamental questions of human existence. This understanding encompasses the realm of great literary and artistic achievements as well as many of our world’s greatest conflicts and social movements.

In today’s global society, good interpreters of information are in demand; the knowledge of other cultures and perspectives on religion is indispensable. Developing a tolerance and understanding of various cultures and their beliefs translates into the workplace well, particularly in jobs that rely on employees to relate and reach out to others, build relationships, and incorporate perspectives.

Religion degree programs are similar in nature to those in history or English; a purely academic track will provide an education similar to one in philosophy, approaching questions with the same critical thinking, well-organized patterns of argument, and methodology of debating. Students will learn to understand, rather than practice in, religion by examining ritual, myth, and symbolism. Knowledge of archaic and/or foreign languages can help a great deal in understanding many of the diverse texts one might come across when studying religions of the world.

Graduates of religious studies often go on to work in positions in the following areas:

• Business / international business - Marketing and management
• Counseling and Social Work
• Marketing and management
• Journalism / publishing
• Non-profit or non-governmental organizations
• The government, foreign service, or the Peace Corps
• Education
• Event planning, hospitality, or the service industry
• Law
• Medicine
• Museums and the arts

For teachers, instructors, and professors, the American Academy of Religion (AAR) is a professional association in which membership has an interest in the ongoing study of religion.