If my students in Soc. of Religion and the part of Intro. where we cover religion can only learn one thing, this is it, courtesy of the great Peter Berger:
The basic fault lines today are not between people with different beliefs but between people who hold these beliefs with an element of uncertainty and people who hold these beliefs with a pretense of certitude.
-P. Berger
One half of seventonine is fond of boiling things down to their essence, really getting at the core of a situation and summing up complex information and experiences in as few words as possible. To that end, we’ll be offering an occasional series of quotes or brief summations that we think captures what we try to do or teach on a daily basis. This series will be called “One Thing.”
If I could only teach my students one thing about race and ethnicity it would be the following quote from Thomas Shapiro’s book, “The Hidden Cost of Being African American,”
Advantaged groups not only control important resources and institutions, they attempt to make their advantages appear legitimate in their own eyes, as well as in the eyes of the disadvantaged.
That about sums up what I just spent 3 hours a week over the course of 3 months trying to get my students to understand.
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