Religious studies provides an opportunity for students to explore the ways people have struggled to make sense of the world and their place in it. To study religion is to study responses to some of the great riddles that human beings face, such as the meaning of suffering, the true identity of the self, and the nature of the universe. Religion is a major force in human experience. To understand humanity it is crucial to understand the religious influences that have shaped much of the world's literature, politics, art, and economics. Based on a commitment to the highest standards of intellectual freedom and integrity, religious studies is an arena in which all questions are asked and none are disallowed.
Religious studies is by nature comparative and multi-disciplinary.
It involves the exploration of a wide range of phenomena, including the myths, symbols, values, beliefs, writings, and rituals of individuals and communities in many different times and places. Religious studies brings together perspectives and approaches from anthropology, history, philosophy, art, sociology, and literature to gain a more comprehensive view of religious behavior. As such, it compliments and strengthens many other courses of study in the liberal arts. IU Religious Studies combines the advantages of the expanse and depth of one of the world's premier universities with the close faculty-student relationships normally associated with smaller institutions. Students may pursue a rich, almost endlessly diversified program in concentrated and interdisciplinary studies of the world's religions.