Can the word religion be defined? No, there is no definition for religion. The word is used in too many different contradictory ways. There is no point to study religion, but instead critique the very idea of religion as an artificial social construct. No, because people follow so many different kinds of gods and spiritual beings, the scholar of "religion" must be an atheist. Yes, religion is fundamentally about belief systems, sacred texts, communal rituals, and rules handed down from absent authority figures. Yes, religion can be defined in multiple contradictory ways. That's the problem. There is no perfect definition. Therefore, in this class we study how "religious" discourse functions in context, always asking "who stands to benefit?"

“dear sir: it is with great reluctance, i trouble you on a subject, which does not fall within your province; but it is a subject that occasions me more distress, than i have felt, since the commencement of the war; and which loudly demands the most zealous exertions of every person of weight and authority, who is interested in the success of our affairs. i mean the present dreadful situation of the army for want of provisions, and the miserable prospects before us, with respect to futurity. it is more alarming than you will probably conceive, for, to form a just idea, it were necessary to be on the spot. for some days past, there has been little less, than a famine in camp. a part of the army has been a week, without any kind of flesh, and the rest for three or four days. naked and starving as they are, we cannot enough admire the incomparable patience and fidelity of the soldiery, that they have not been ere this excited by their sufferings, to a general mutiny or dispersion. strong symptoms, however, discontent have appeared in particular instances; and nothing but the most acitive efforts every where can long avert so shocking a catastrophe.” what’s the central idea?

11. why do citizens have to register to vote?

New communication technologies, improved transportation, and advanced military weapons made it possible for countries to speed up acquiring territory. rule large amounts of territory. fight off competition from opposing nations. expand their economies, which aided in conguest.