This is a new course in the Spring 2009 semester. You will be helping me shape the course for the future, as well as learning a great deal about the sociology of relgion. We will make use of videos and fieldwork, as well as texts, as the basis for our exploration of the ways in which sociology can guide our understanding of religious behavior and commitments. If you are a religious person, you can expect that your religious stance will be treated respectfully, and if you are a nonreligious person (or somewhere in the middle), you can expect the same. Besides the texts, each student will be expected, alone or in pairs, to visit a church, mosque, synagogue, meditation center or the like at least three times and to share your observations with us, both in discussion and in writing. (I will have permission in advance, and we will talk in class about the challenges and even hazards of doing fieldwork in an unfamiliar religious organization. )You will also be asked to listen to three radio interviews by Krista Tippet (National Public Radio, "Speaking of Faith"), and to review them and share your reviews with your small group.