In this episode, we talk about differences in how our communities appear from the inside and outside, and misconceptions that may exist from the external viewpoint. NOTE: the discussion on the historical naming of the Canaan/Israel/Judaea/Palestine/Southern Syria region that occurs in this episode ends on an uncertain note. Subsequently, Isaac and Eriq found that Herodotus, accurately or not, does indeed identify the entire region with Philistia, several hundred years before the Roman Judaea of Jesus, or the renaming of the province to Syria Palaestina a century after his death.

In this episode, we debate the merits of different approaches to religious freedom and governance. We touch on questions of majority and minority religious practice, how the areligious and atheist feel, and the state’s role in threading the needle. NOTE: The Discourse #2 is a text-only discussion that can be found at https://thediscourse2020.medium.com/the-discourse-2-religion-and-politics-6ecd319ffdb7.

Welcome to The Discourse! We are a demographically diverse group of student intellectuals, members of the Wayne State University Civil Discourse Fellowship, committed to having deep, good-faith discussions on complex issues. In this introductory episode, four of us dig into our diverse backgrounds and ideological predispositions.