Just the other day I told my sister that my ideal sermon would be "more of a lecture about the history and context of religion" and/or "hosted by John Green" so I have to think this series is some sort of answer to my prayers
I like how they added a second camera and defined it as the joke camera just to make ABSOLUTELY CLEAR when jokes are being told so no one misunderstands and gets offended. Religion is a touchy issue so it makes sense they're walking on eggshells. Great episode, though, and I can't wait for more.
As an agnostic teenager this is extremely helpful for learning about my options in an unbiased, enjoyable, engaging and informative way! Thanks crash course!
I believe Comparative Religion is the most important course I took in college which I should have been taught in primary school. Thanks for making this, it should be required curriculum for everybody.
As a Hindu, Yoga is and isn't a religious practice, it depends. Theologically speaking, Yoga is a part of the orthodox group of Hindu schools(Astika), although even this classification depends, though most people divide it based on whether the school accepts the Vedas or not. The yoga that is practiced today is more modern than most people think. Ultimately it depends on the person if it's just an exercise or something more spiritual. Yoga got its start in the US from a more spiritual audience, and as it has been introduced to the mainstream, it has been "secularized", so that it is more exercise than faith. If it's got "Hindu" names for poses and it adherents believe in its spirituality, then it could be perceived as spiritual practice. If it has western names and it's practitioners believe it's just exercise, then it's just exercise. Ultimately, the political and financial motives are more important in defining if yoga is religious or not, rather than the practice itself.
Thanks for a shout out to non-credal religions! It is always a challenge to explain to people who define their religion based on a creed that it is possible to unite with others on the basis of action and practice rather than a single holy book, leader, or statement. This first episode is so respectful of the diversity of beliefs. I look forward to the next episode.
As someone who is struggling to find meaning and purpose in life, I’m really looking forward to this series. I’m not religious, but perhaps I’ll find something to hold onto here, some stepping stone on the journey of meaning.
as someone whos not religious or spiritual on any level at all. pure atheist. i look forward to get knowledge on this truly gigantic and complicated subject from a truly great (and an as unbiased as can be) presenter with an amazing team behind him. you can do this John and team!!!
As a teacher in religious studies, I love that you finally made a specific Crash Course for the subject ❤❤❤ Just wish there was swedish subtitles so I could use it with my students~
I feel like peace is my ultimate concern. I try to have peace in my life and work towards less violence in our world. It’s not so much my “purpose” but a greatest wish. Reading that it sounds like a beauty pageant answer! But I came to this wish through a lot of soul searching. It’s a focal point that influences my decisions like a north star.
Yay!! "What even IS religion?" is basically what the first two weeks of my online community college Intro to World Religions class talked about. Just trying to define religion is difficult.
As a person who has gone from being an atheist, to agnostic, to dipping my toe into deism, then recently* fully jumping in pool of Islamic Sufism, this is fascinating and super interesting. A younger version of myself might have simply ignored this series all together. The capacity for people to change is amazing. *Edit: changed the word "finally" to "recently" because as I just wrote, the capacity for people to change is amazing.
Answering this question has proven so difficult within academia that there is a growing number of scholars who question and even dismiss the notion that religion is a distinct phenomenon. Instead, they argue that what we think of as religion or religious, is really just various aspects of normal society that can't really be separated out from everything else. It's an interesting position, and it is one I'm finding myself increasingly in agreement with.
Aaaaaahhhh I'm so happy to have John back in a CrashCourse video! CrashCourse World History was my entryway into the Nerdfighter/Complexly universe, and I've always enjoyed John's CrashCourse style. This first episode was fantastic and I'm excited for the rest of the series! (Mahalo piha for the Hawai‘i shoutout in the very first ep!)
As a person raised as an Evangelical Literalist Christian who now identifies as an agnostic humanist, thank you for taking this project on. The access to information is healing.
The difficulty of defining a word is a key issue that Ludwig Wittgenstein addressed in his Philosophical Investigations, particularly in his analysis of the term "game." He observed that there is no rigid, clear-cut definition for the word "game" because any definition one proposes either excludes something we would ordinarily consider a game or includes something we would not. In the end, Wittgenstein concluded that members of a category (like games) are not related by one common feature but by overlapping similarities, which he called "family resemblances." These resemblances form a network where certain games share traits with others, though not all games share the same traits. This insight, therefore, suggests that terms like "religion" can be understood in a similar way, where they resist a single definition and are better grasped through these kinds of flexible, overlapping connections. What do you think? Do you agree?
I can't give enough Thumbs Up to this video to properly encapsulate how much I appreciate its presence in my life. The line about your uncle and Thanksgiving dinner followed by "...also not a joke" was the highlight of my week...and it's only Wednesday.
I really appreciate that "pagan" religions like Wicca are being included in this Crash Course. My fianceé and I are both pagans and I often see pagan religions overlooked and not taken seriously as religion. Seeing part of our faith represented in one of our favourite UA-cam channels really means a lot to me. 🤟
This is really exciting! I'm enjoying the two-camera approach, since it makes it very clear what's humorous and what isn't. Good way to handle a touchy subject.
I loved it! Thank you for including a family scene for Judaism, not just the Orthodox (who I love) praying. I hope you touch a bit on how religion affects family dynamics and how that has changed over time. Anyway, great job!
Thank you for tackling this subject, knowing that it can become a heated topic. I think it's precisely because it has such a profound emotional response that we should all learn more about religions. Then you can see how deeply other people's religion is a part of their sense of self.
I would definitely define religion as the belief in higher powers, because even buddhists, who don't believe in spiritual beings, believe that they have or can achieve higher powers themselves. After all, such brilliance that we can observe in nature cannot exist by coincidence. So religion is the belief who created us and our world.
Idk why but for some reason about a month back I remembered Crash Course. I've been rewatching the OG Crash Course World History and US History series since then, and now seeing a new John Green hosted series to binge makes me soooo happy
I took one religion class in college (mostly because it was the only elective that fit in my schedule) but it ended up being one of my favorite classes, in part because I had a great professor. I'm super pumped to be learning more through this series though!
So stoked for this series! Thanks for tackling this topic. I have been wanting a broader understanding of religion for a while now, and I trust Crash Course (unlike a lot of sources) to handle the subject matter truthfully and fairly.
Excited for this series! Crash Course and John's thoughtful explorations and questions back in World History made me fall in love with this channel. I know they'll do this topic more than justice, and I will emerge with whole new perspectives. Also loved the Ghibli/Mononoke style Kodama in the intro sequence!
I hadn’t thought about my ultimate concern… I’m glad that for the next few days I have a mental prompt. Great first episode, I’m so excited for the rest of them to come out!
I think the most important thing in defining what is or isn't religion is not just making sure to capture what is a religion but especially to exclude anything that is *not* a religion. When I express my thoughts on how to define religion religious people usually push back that they don't meet that definition - even though when I press them for details on what they believe, their answers fit within the criteria as I mean them - and instead propose a definition that is so broad that basically everyone would count as religious, including myself who is avidly not just irreligious but *anti*-religious. The one criterion I put forth that doesn't seem to generate much contention is that religion is a kind of social institution. This therefore excludes positions that you just happen to agree with yourself, even if you got them from somewhere else, so e.g. believing in Plato's Theory of Forms or living according to Kant's Categorical Imperative isn't necessarily religious, if that's just a view or practice that you agree with and not something being pushed by a social institution of some kind that you have to be on board with with to be part of that. To the extent that, in the modern west, religion is reckoned as separate from state -- which I concede in most of the past, and in many places still, it is not, but we can just explicitly state that their religion and state are one, and treat the concepts separately -- I would then add the criterion that religion is not a governmental institution, meaning its business is not essentially deontic, concerned with justice and the distribution of goods. Some, even many religions *do* engage in such matters, but those are not what *make* them religions, otherwise every government -- being social institutions concerned with justice and the distribution of goods -- would count as a religion, which does not track with modern usage of the word, where there are many secular governments that are not religions. Rather, religion in this sense is epistemic, concerned with knowledge and the distribution of truths, which makes it a kind of *educational* institution instead. But we also clearly don't want to count every educational institution as a religion either. Some very religious people will try to argue that secular education is just a different religion counter to their own, but they're wrong, and the reason why gives us our last criterion: irreligious education at least nominally aims (to debatable success in different instances) to teach everything in a rational qua critical or anti-dogmatic manner, where nothing is ever (supposed to be) said to be the case **merely because anyone said so**, but always because, in principle, anyone could go look and see for themselves, empirically. It is the negation of that, the teaching about things transcending phenomenal experience, which therefore can only be believed in dogmatically because there is no way even in principle to check for yourself whether they are true or not, that constitutes the third criterion for religion. These criteria therefore position religion as the epistemic analogue of the state's deontic role, where both are dogmatic social institutions, just in those two separate domains. It may sound odd to call the state "dogmatic", but the defining characteristic of the state, as distinguished from stateless governance or anarchy, is that the state rules by fiat, laws being held binding **merely because it says so**, which is the defining quality of dogmatism. So just as a state is any dogmatic governmental institution, a religion is any dogmatic educational institution. And this may exclude many non-western social institutions from the category of religion, but if so, that is fine by me, because that categorization was foisted upon them by religious westerners who probably couldn't conscience the idea that there were irreligious peoples out there, rather than just "differently-religious".
Off to a fantastic, and very very John Green, start here! I look forward to seeing how you tackle this field. Or rather, this entire mountainside covered in inch long thorns.
My ultimate concern is the well being of other and the world. I put time into the loving God part of my Christianity but I am ultimately concerned with how I can love and support others. This concern is closely followed and tied to my concern for our planet and taking care of it. Ao excited to learn more about all religions in this series!
An exceptionally considerate and insightful analysis on the framework of religion, John. I greatly anticipate the forthcoming episodes in this series. 😊
So excited for this series, I have always been fascinated by religion, and while I don't belong to any particular religion or really truly believe any in a spiritual sense, I thoroughly enjoy learning about them all and engaging with religious people whenever the opportunity arises. Religion is so intertwined with history and the human experience, I think it's a shame that more people do not educate themselves on the matter.
I love that the answer is so complicated and that you drew our eyes to noticing who asks the question and potential reasons for why. Excited for the next episode!
I think the point about how any definition of religion necessarily relates to a particular interested party. A viewpoint that is often overlooked is Secularism, which is admittedly also a difficult to define ‘ideology’ that most of us in Western countries live and breath (and therefore have a difficult time seeing its contours). When we ask, “what is religion?” much of the time we are doing from a Secular point of view, and the answers that we find are necessarily going to be tailored towards Secular interests. I don’t even have an example of how this works in practice, nor am I saying this as a non-Secular, or even particularly ‘religious’ person. I just think it’s worth being self-aware of the fact that studying “religion” as 21st century Secular people, the answers we find will often conform to what we expect religion to be in the first place from this outlook
Thank you Crash Course and John! I have read and thought about religion for decades, and still, you come up with new angles and thoughts. Looking forward to the next episode!
I teared up a bit at the concept of the ultimate concern and how my behaviors are structured to tend to it. I consider myself an atheist, but I definitely have such concerns, though none of them are gods. This is something I'll have to chew on for a while. Thank you, John Green, for asking mean important question that I should contemplate. Don't forget to be awesome!
im so excited for this series. and its really fun because my Philosophy of Religion professor in college really focused on yoga a LOT in our course and it annoyed me how he was always trying to tie each unit back to only yoga but none of the other ones
So excited for this series! On a personal note, I’ve been having a sort of spiritual upheaval lately, and I look forward to having some of my questions and concerns explored over the coming weeks!
The most important thing about religion is that they are templates of beliefs, that are filled out differently depending on the denomination or personal factors related to it. Religion is more or less a major social construct that is interconnected to culture, so much so that it is really difficult to find out which came first chicken-or-egg style. People can still have partake in and have some sense of pride in a culture even if they aren't religious. Thus, in my opinion, culture came first, and people develop religion as a response to it as they develop new beliefs about the world, then religion becomes deeply ingrained into culture as it in turn influences it.
This is the class I wanted in college!!! As a long time practicing Wiccan I gotta say I love we got a mention. Especially now when I'm dealing with close minded neighbors that refuse to even speak to me because they don't like it.
Profesor Sapolsky's lecture on "the biological underpinnings of religiosity" is great if you want a more neurological explanation for religion. He mentions that Martin Luther had OCD.
Are there any old Nerdfighters who remember John talking about "ultimate concern" way back when he was on paternity leave with Henry? I love that there are some ideas that keep bouncing around our heads for a lifetime, but they take different forms depending on our current perspective.
Yes finally! Crash Course American History is one of the most valuable and well-presented pieces of education I know and helped me tremendously (speaking as a foreign ESL teacher in training). John Green is so enthusiastic about teaching and learning and also so knowledgable, I am so happy to be able to see another of its kind, judging by the first episode. Plus, I now feel really compelled to think about whether I have an ultimate concern...
It would be really interesting to see a CrashCourse Language Learning playlist. I can imagine having a fluent speaker of such languages like Spanish or Mandarin who could breakdown the fundamentals of the language and give a better layout overall of what can be expected when learning them.
I’m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and I’m SOOO excited for this course! I believe that there is something beautiful and interesting to be found in every religion (and therefore friends to be made!) and am super hyped to learn more- this is one class I always wanted to take in college but never had the time unfortunately
LOVE this new series! Looking forward to more. Can you provide a "table of contents" for what you will cover in this series? Thanks (college religion professor here)
I was raised atheist in a country with no RE in state schools, so I know approximately zero about any religion. Thanks Crash Course because I sorely needed this!
I think Tillich's reference to "ultimate concern" may be too broad. Sure, for people who are religious, religion IS their ultimate concern. But is every "ultimate concern" religious in nature? For many people their "ultimate concern" might be their family, or their career, or sex or getting their next drug fix.
I love that this was the first topic. Many in the west talk about "religion" whilst having a very loose grasp over the concept. I think many fail to realise that "religion" really begins to not correlate to anything in reality as soon as you step outside the modern west.
Baptismal hot tubs! That was interesting because when I was pastoring a church plant, we got an inflatable hot tub to use for baptisms because it was cheaper than a regular baptismal tub. Plus, we didn’t really have a permanent building set up for baptisms, so this also allowed us to perform them outside, and grill burgers and hot dogs for them. I would have just used a lake, but it was cold most of the year in Iowa.
I work as a college admissions recruiter for the state school and at one point, I pulled out my sociology of religion textbook to get insight on recruitment. Says something about our how broad it can be.
This is getting out of hand, now there are 2 cameras
Just the other day I told my sister that my ideal sermon would be "more of a lecture about the history and context of religion" and/or "hosted by John Green" so I have to think this series is some sort of answer to my prayers
I am not religious but John Green hosting a Crash Course again makes me want to believe in a higher power
I like how they added a second camera and defined it as the joke camera just to make ABSOLUTELY CLEAR when jokes are being told so no one misunderstands and gets offended. Religion is a touchy issue so it makes sense they're walking on eggshells. Great episode, though, and I can't wait for more.
Not me, a religious person, taking an early lunch to find out what religion is
As an agnostic teenager this is extremely helpful for learning about my options in an unbiased, enjoyable, engaging and informative way! Thanks crash course!
I'm an atheist, but I find religion really interesting. It's cool to see how beliefs shape cultures and people's lives.
I believe Comparative Religion is the most important course I took in college which I should have been taught in primary school. Thanks for making this, it should be required curriculum for everybody.
As a Hindu, Yoga is and isn't a religious practice, it depends.
Theologically speaking, Yoga is a part of the orthodox group of Hindu schools(Astika), although even this classification depends, though most people divide it based on whether the school accepts the Vedas or not.
The yoga that is practiced today is more modern than most people think. Ultimately it depends on the person if it's just an exercise or something more spiritual.
Yoga got its start in the US from a more spiritual audience, and as it has been introduced to the mainstream, it has been "secularized", so that it is more exercise than faith.
If it's got "Hindu" names for poses and it adherents believe in its spirituality, then it could be perceived as spiritual practice. If it has western names and it's practitioners believe it's just exercise, then it's just exercise.
Ultimately, the political and financial motives are more important in defining if yoga is religious or not, rather than the practice itself.
John is doing a CC the internet is truly healing 😅😅
Thanks for a shout out to non-credal religions! It is always a challenge to explain to people who define their religion based on a creed that it is possible to unite with others on the basis of action and practice rather than a single holy book, leader, or statement. This first episode is so respectful of the diversity of beliefs. I look forward to the next episode.
Well, that made me surprisingly nostalgic. No annoying younger version of John saying "Mr Green, Mr Green", secret compartment, open letter, etc?
As someone who is struggling to find meaning and purpose in life, I’m really looking forward to this series. I’m not religious, but perhaps I’ll find something to hold onto here, some stepping stone on the journey of meaning.
“The state of being grasped by an ultimate concern.” YES.
as someone whos not religious or spiritual on any level at all. pure atheist. i look forward to get knowledge on this truly gigantic and complicated subject from a truly great (and an as unbiased as can be) presenter with an amazing team behind him.
you can do this John and team!!!
As a teacher in religious studies, I love that you finally made a specific Crash Course for the subject ❤❤❤
Just wish there was swedish subtitles so I could use it with my students~
I feel like peace is my ultimate concern. I try to have peace in my life and work towards less violence in our world. It’s not so much my “purpose” but a greatest wish. Reading that it sounds like a beauty pageant answer! But I came to this wish through a lot of soul searching. It’s a focal point that influences my decisions like a north star.
John looks so much more confident here than I have ever seen him look in a video.
Yay!! "What even IS religion?" is basically what the first two weeks of my online community college Intro to World Religions class talked about. Just trying to define religion is difficult.
As a person who has gone from being an atheist, to agnostic, to dipping my toe into deism, then recently* fully jumping in pool of Islamic Sufism, this is fascinating and super interesting. A younger version of myself might have simply ignored this series all together. The capacity for people to change is amazing.
*Edit: changed the word "finally" to "recently" because as I just wrote, the capacity for people to change is amazing.
I appreciate the lighthearted approach to what can be a very heavy and touchy subject
Answering this question has proven so difficult within academia that there is a growing number of scholars who question and even dismiss the notion that religion is a distinct phenomenon. Instead, they argue that what we think of as religion or religious, is really just various aspects of normal society that can't really be separated out from everything else. It's an interesting position, and it is one I'm finding myself increasingly in agreement with.
I liked Douglas E. Cowan's take in "Sacred Space" where he defines religion as "the human quest for transcendence."
I’m going to look straight ahead while I say this… I love the silly cam! Such a clever addition to a complex discussion.
Aaaaaahhhh I'm so happy to have John back in a CrashCourse video! CrashCourse World History was my entryway into the Nerdfighter/Complexly universe, and I've always enjoyed John's CrashCourse style. This first episode was fantastic and I'm excited for the rest of the series! (Mahalo piha for the Hawai‘i shoutout in the very first ep!)
As a person raised as an Evangelical Literalist Christian who now identifies as an agnostic humanist, thank you for taking this project on. The access to information is healing.
The difficulty of defining a word is a key issue that Ludwig Wittgenstein addressed in his Philosophical Investigations, particularly in his analysis of the term "game." He observed that there is no rigid, clear-cut definition for the word "game" because any definition one proposes either excludes something we would ordinarily consider a game or includes something we would not. In the end, Wittgenstein concluded that members of a category (like games) are not related by one common feature but by overlapping similarities, which he called "family resemblances." These resemblances form a network where certain games share traits with others, though not all games share the same traits. This insight, therefore, suggests that terms like "religion" can be understood in a similar way, where they resist a single definition and are better grasped through these kinds of flexible, overlapping connections. What do you think? Do you agree?
I can't give enough Thumbs Up to this video to properly encapsulate how much I appreciate its presence in my life. The line about your uncle and Thanksgiving dinner followed by "...also not a joke" was the highlight of my week...and it's only Wednesday.
I really appreciate that "pagan" religions like Wicca are being included in this Crash Course. My fianceé and I are both pagans and I often see pagan religions overlooked and not taken seriously as religion. Seeing part of our faith represented in one of our favourite UA-cam channels really means a lot to me. 🤟
This is really exciting! I'm enjoying the two-camera approach, since it makes it very clear what's humorous and what isn't. Good way to handle a touchy subject.
I loved it! Thank you for including a family scene for Judaism, not just the Orthodox (who I love) praying. I hope you touch a bit on how religion affects family dynamics and how that has changed over time. Anyway, great job!
I feel like this is the kind of education we really need. I hope it leads us all to respect and understand each other better.
Thank you for tackling this subject, knowing that it can become a heated topic. I think it's precisely because it has such a profound emotional response that we should all learn more about religions. Then you can see how deeply other people's religion is a part of their sense of self.
John, I know from your streams how worried about this series you've been, and let me say, this has been fantastic. Thank you.
I would definitely define religion as the belief in higher powers, because even buddhists, who don't believe in spiritual beings, believe that they have or can achieve higher powers themselves.
After all, such brilliance that we can observe in nature cannot exist by coincidence. So religion is the belief who created us and our world.
Idk why but for some reason about a month back I remembered Crash Course. I've been rewatching the OG Crash Course World History and US History series since then, and now seeing a new John Green hosted series to binge makes me soooo happy
I took one religion class in college (mostly because it was the only elective that fit in my schedule) but it ended up being one of my favorite classes, in part because I had a great professor. I'm super pumped to be learning more through this series though!
So stoked for this series! Thanks for tackling this topic. I have been wanting a broader understanding of religion for a while now, and I trust Crash Course (unlike a lot of sources) to handle the subject matter truthfully and fairly.
the second camera - a simple but necessary addition 🙏😌
Excited for this series! Crash Course and John's thoughtful explorations and questions back in World History made me fall in love with this channel. I know they'll do this topic more than justice, and I will emerge with whole new perspectives. Also loved the Ghibli/Mononoke style Kodama in the intro sequence!
I hadn’t thought about my ultimate concern… I’m glad that for the next few days I have a mental prompt. Great first episode, I’m so excited for the rest of them to come out!
I think the most important thing in defining what is or isn't religion is not just making sure to capture what is a religion but especially to exclude anything that is *not* a religion. When I express my thoughts on how to define religion religious people usually push back that they don't meet that definition - even though when I press them for details on what they believe, their answers fit within the criteria as I mean them - and instead propose a definition that is so broad that basically everyone would count as religious, including myself who is avidly not just irreligious but *anti*-religious.
The one criterion I put forth that doesn't seem to generate much contention is that religion is a kind of social institution. This therefore excludes positions that you just happen to agree with yourself, even if you got them from somewhere else, so e.g. believing in Plato's Theory of Forms or living according to Kant's Categorical Imperative isn't necessarily religious, if that's just a view or practice that you agree with and not something being pushed by a social institution of some kind that you have to be on board with with to be part of that.
To the extent that, in the modern west, religion is reckoned as separate from state -- which I concede in most of the past, and in many places still, it is not, but we can just explicitly state that their religion and state are one, and treat the concepts separately -- I would then add the criterion that religion is not a governmental institution, meaning its business is not essentially deontic, concerned with justice and the distribution of goods. Some, even many religions *do* engage in such matters, but those are not what *make* them religions, otherwise every government -- being social institutions concerned with justice and the distribution of goods -- would count as a religion, which does not track with modern usage of the word, where there are many secular governments that are not religions.
Rather, religion in this sense is epistemic, concerned with knowledge and the distribution of truths, which makes it a kind of *educational* institution instead.
But we also clearly don't want to count every educational institution as a religion either. Some very religious people will try to argue that secular education is just a different religion counter to their own, but they're wrong, and the reason why gives us our last criterion: irreligious education at least nominally aims (to debatable success in different instances) to teach everything in a rational qua critical or anti-dogmatic manner, where nothing is ever (supposed to be) said to be the case **merely because anyone said so**, but always because, in principle, anyone could go look and see for themselves, empirically. It is the negation of that, the teaching about things transcending phenomenal experience, which therefore can only be believed in dogmatically because there is no way even in principle to check for yourself whether they are true or not, that constitutes the third criterion for religion.
These criteria therefore position religion as the epistemic analogue of the state's deontic role, where both are dogmatic social institutions, just in those two separate domains. It may sound odd to call the state "dogmatic", but the defining characteristic of the state, as distinguished from stateless governance or anarchy, is that the state rules by fiat, laws being held binding **merely because it says so**, which is the defining quality of dogmatism.
So just as a state is any dogmatic governmental institution, a religion is any dogmatic educational institution.
And this may exclude many non-western social institutions from the category of religion, but if so, that is fine by me, because that categorization was foisted upon them by religious westerners who probably couldn't conscience the idea that there were irreligious peoples out there, rather than just "differently-religious".
Off to a fantastic, and very very John Green, start here! I look forward to seeing how you tackle this field. Or rather, this entire mountainside covered in inch long thorns.
I've been one of the ones asking for this series, thank you 😭🙏
My ultimate concern is the well being of other and the world. I put time into the loving God part of my Christianity but I am ultimately concerned with how I can love and support others. This concern is closely followed and tied to my concern for our planet and taking care of it. Ao excited to learn more about all religions in this series!
An exceptionally considerate and insightful analysis on the framework of religion, John. I greatly anticipate the forthcoming episodes in this series. 😊
So excited for this series, I have always been fascinated by religion, and while I don't belong to any particular religion or really truly believe any in a spiritual sense, I thoroughly enjoy learning about them all and engaging with religious people whenever the opportunity arises. Religion is so intertwined with history and the human experience, I think it's a shame that more people do not educate themselves on the matter.
That’s a LOT to consider from just 12 minutes!
Excited for this series!!!
I am Roman Catholic and I am already learning a bit here and there 😊
To be able to watch and simultaneously learn from a Crash Course as it is being made. It truly is a wonderful time.
Thank You.
I love that the answer is so complicated and that you drew our eyes to noticing who asks the question and potential reasons for why. Excited for the next episode!
I think the point about how any definition of religion necessarily relates to a particular interested party. A viewpoint that is often overlooked is Secularism, which is admittedly also a difficult to define ‘ideology’ that most of us in Western countries live and breath (and therefore have a difficult time seeing its contours). When we ask, “what is religion?” much of the time we are doing from a Secular point of view, and the answers that we find are necessarily going to be tailored towards Secular interests. I don’t even have an example of how this works in practice, nor am I saying this as a non-Secular, or even particularly ‘religious’ person. I just think it’s worth being self-aware of the fact that studying “religion” as 21st century Secular people, the answers we find will often conform to what we expect religion to be in the first place from this outlook
Thank you Crash Course and John! I have read and thought about religion for decades, and still, you come up with new angles and thoughts.
Looking forward to the next episode!
I teared up a bit at the concept of the ultimate concern and how my behaviors are structured to tend to it. I consider myself an atheist, but I definitely have such concerns, though none of them are gods. This is something I'll have to chew on for a while.
Thank you, John Green, for asking mean important question that I should contemplate. Don't forget to be awesome!
I am SO EXCITED for this course! Can't wait for the next episode!!
This is exactly what I wanted from this series. I'm so excited!!
Wonderful set design, I love the calm atmosphere!
John is exactly who we trust to make this series. Also love the 2 camera bit lol
So happy to get more John Green Crash Course. Just a few days ago was wishing he would do another one and considering rewatching Crash Course History.
im so excited for this series. and its really fun because my Philosophy of Religion professor in college really focused on yoga a LOT in our course and it annoyed me how he was always trying to tie each unit back to only yoga but none of the other ones
So excited for this series! On a personal note, I’ve been having a sort of spiritual upheaval lately, and I look forward to having some of my questions and concerns explored over the coming weeks!
The most important thing about religion is that they are templates of beliefs, that are filled out differently depending on the denomination or personal factors related to it. Religion is more or less a major social construct that is interconnected to culture, so much so that it is really difficult to find out which came first chicken-or-egg style. People can still have partake in and have some sense of pride in a culture even if they aren't religious. Thus, in my opinion, culture came first, and people develop religion as a response to it as they develop new beliefs about the world, then religion becomes deeply ingrained into culture as it in turn influences it.
This is the class I wanted in college!!! As a long time practicing Wiccan I gotta say I love we got a mention. Especially now when I'm dealing with close minded neighbors that refuse to even speak to me because they don't like it.
Well, this just made my whole week. So excited for this series!
Here we go! I'm sure no controversies will come out of this
Great starting episode CC, really enjoyed it. Thank you and keep up the good work!!
Profesor Sapolsky's lecture on "the biological underpinnings of religiosity" is great if you want a more neurological explanation for religion. He mentions that Martin Luther had OCD.
oh brother this series is gonna be spectral rather than dichotomous isnt it
i love this so much, from the jokes to the background, from the sound of john's voice to his shirt! yay!
Crash Course, I appreciate the effort you put in your accurate subtitles!
Are there any old Nerdfighters who remember John talking about "ultimate concern" way back when he was on paternity leave with Henry? I love that there are some ideas that keep bouncing around our heads for a lifetime, but they take different forms depending on our current perspective.
Yes finally! Crash Course American History is one of the most valuable and well-presented pieces of education I know and helped me tremendously (speaking as a foreign ESL teacher in training). John Green is so enthusiastic about teaching and learning and also so knowledgable, I am so happy to be able to see another of its kind, judging by the first episode. Plus, I now feel really compelled to think about whether I have an ultimate concern...
Me, a woman who has been teaching about religions since 09 eagerly tuning in. ❤
Excellent writing, hilarious and informative.
I know this wasn’t meant to be a sermon, but that last bit about tending to our ultimate concern was really convicting for me (in a good way!)
Damnnnn this was a great start to set the tone to the rest of the series. Great job navigating the topic!
It would be really interesting to see a CrashCourse Language Learning playlist. I can imagine having a fluent speaker of such languages like Spanish or Mandarin who could breakdown the fundamentals of the language and give a better layout overall of what can be expected when learning them.
Love seeing John back! Great first episode!
i was not prepared for the "... like taylor swift, or doctor pepper" lmao
Thanks for this discussion. Looking forward to more understanding.
I’m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and I’m SOOO excited for this course! I believe that there is something beautiful and interesting to be found in every religion (and therefore friends to be made!) and am super hyped to learn more- this is one class I always wanted to take in college but never had the time unfortunately
LOVE this new series! Looking forward to more. Can you provide a "table of contents" for what you will cover in this series? Thanks (college religion professor here)
As an atheist, I'm genuinely interested in learning more about the social structures it create.
10 days ago chat gpt suggest me the world's most epic history course and today I am witnessing another revolution live... God bless
Such good timing. I’m taking Intro to Religious Studies 🙏
It is brave and important to make a series about Religion! May the force be with you!
I was raised atheist in a country with no RE in state schools, so I know approximately zero about any religion. Thanks Crash Course because I sorely needed this!
Thanks
I really missed him and the crash course series. Im so happy he is back 🥹🥹🥹
this is SO exciting< great first episode guys!!
I think Tillich's reference to "ultimate concern" may be too broad. Sure, for people who are religious, religion IS their ultimate concern. But is every "ultimate concern" religious in nature? For many people their "ultimate concern" might be their family, or their career, or sex or getting their next drug fix.
I'm looking forward to discussions regarding the cross overs between religions and cults.
I love that this was the first topic. Many in the west talk about "religion" whilst having a very loose grasp over the concept. I think many fail to realise that "religion" really begins to not correlate to anything in reality as soon as you step outside the modern west.
Thank you CrashCourse for helping us better understand the universe
This dude should meet yogis, sadhus in Himalayas they'll explain what is religion
As a Norse pagan nice to see Thor get some screen time.
Seriously loving this series. 🙌
Baptismal hot tubs! That was interesting because when I was pastoring a church plant, we got an inflatable hot tub to use for baptisms because it was cheaper than a regular baptismal tub. Plus, we didn’t really have a permanent building set up for baptisms, so this also allowed us to perform them outside, and grill burgers and hot dogs for them. I would have just used a lake, but it was cold most of the year in Iowa.
I work as a college admissions recruiter for the state school and at one point, I pulled out my sociology of religion textbook to get insight on recruitment. Says something about our how broad it can be.
You'll hear a lot of Hindus say Hinduism isn't a religion, it's a way of life