Religion Is Not Done with You: Or, the Hidden Power of Religion on Race, Maps, Bodies, and Law

A smart, irreverent, and accessible guide to thinking more deeply about how religion permeates and shapes the world around us –and why you need to understand the work it's doing

Religion lurks in the floorboards of our daily lives, whether we want it to or not. A departure from more traditional approaches to "Religion 101," Religion Is Not Done with You gives thought-provoking context to the basics of religious studies by challenging readers to consider the origins of their assumptions about religion and broaden their perspectives on what religion is and does.

Religion scholars and Keeping It 101 podcast duo Ilyse Morgenstein-Fuerst and Megan Goodwin offer their straightforward, plainspoken overviews of religious studies theory: that religion is what people do (not just beliefs or individual practices); that people are complicated and messy and constantly changing, which means religion is also complicated and messy and constantly changing; that religion shapes what choices you get to make. Choices like what you can learn in school; how your government works; what kind of options you have (or increasingly don’t have) in caring for your own body.

Sure, you have the choice to participate in religion or not. But how you make that choice builds on your entire personal history, your connection to communities and regions, and the systems that surround you. All of which have been shaped by religion.

Religion is systems and structures and assumptions we didn’t create or choose – and, to be honest, we might not even like or agree with. You can feel however you want to feel about religion, but religion is shaping your world whether you like it or not. And if you don’t like how religion is shaping our world? This book might just be your first step in diagnosing the problems and agitating for positive change. Even if you are done with religion, religion is not done with you.

Megan Goodwin, PhD, is co-director and co-founder of the Bardo Institute for Religion and Public Policy, and media and technology consultant for the Crossroads Project. She is the author of Abusing Religion: Literary Persecution, Sex Scandals, and American Minority Religions. Her research focuses on American religions, race, sexuality, and politics. Goodwin co-hosts Keeping It 101: A Killjoy’s Introduction to Religion Podcast with Dr. Ilyse Morgenstein-Fuerst. Her next project is tentatively entitled Cults Incorporated: The Business of Bad Religion.

Ilyse Morgenstein-Fuerst, PhD, is associate professor of religion and director of the Humanities Center at the University of Vermont. She was a 2022-2023 Fulbright Scholar at the University of Birmingham. Her research centers on Islam and Muslims in South Asia; imperialism; and intersections of religion, race, and belonging. She is author of Indian Muslim Minorities and the 1857 Rebellion: Religion, Rebels, and Jihad and co-editor of Words of Experience: Translating Islam with Carl W. Ernst. Morgenstein-Fuerst is the author of numerous articles about Islam, Islamic studies, and religion in South Asia and is an award-winning teacher. She co-hosts the popular, grant-funded, and award-winning Amplify Podcast Network Keeping it 101: a Killjoy’s Introduction to Religion podcast with Dr. Megan Goodwin. In her downtime, she parents two fiercely funny children with her partner and whom they hope become killjoys when they grow up.

INTRODUCTION
So You Think You’re Done with Religion

CHAPTER 1
Religion Is (Not) Baseball

CHAPTER 2
Religion Is Global

CHAPTER 3
Race Is (Made of) Religion

CHAPTER 4
Religion Is Politics

CONCLUSION
Religion Is a Flight Risk

HOMEWORK
What Do You Do with the Religion That Is Not Done with You?

Acknowledgments
Index