Reply #91: If religious studies is taught like it was at my college

[Nikia]

It is not indoctorination.
It was a relatively small department with the only professor practicing the religion which he or she taught was the Buddism professor. I had a few Christian friends who took Christianity themed courses in that department who even complained that the atheist professor teaching it was trying to discredit Christianity. I know a number of students that took courses in the department who were not religious or at least not of the particuliar religion that they were studying who did so to better understand history, religion, philosophy, or other subjects.
As far as exploring contraversial subjects, many liberal arts colleges embrace studying contraversial subjects. At the liberal arts college that I graduated from, the college catalog and college president repeatedly told us that part of their mission was to teach us how to think critically, to challenge our beliefs.
Students choose to attend a particuliar college. Smart students will be aware of the graduation requirements and will not choose colleges where they disagree with the curriculm. I did that to some extent. I did not attend a college with lots of required courses because I wanted academic freedom. If a student really does not want to take a religious studies course, the student can attend another college without this requirement. By the way, there are already many colleges that do require religious studies classes so this isn't a revial of anything in a larger sense.