About this season
John Green teaches you about Religions!
Episodes (24)
1. What Even IS a Religion?
Aired 10 September 2024 • 11 min
Why is defining what is a religion and what is not, so difficult?
2. How Many Religions Are There?
Aired 17 September 2024 • 12 min
Learn why “world religions” is a category constructed by human choice.
3. What's the Difference Between Cults and Religion?
Aired 24 September 2024 • 10 min
What is a cult? How are cults different from religions?
4. What's the Difference Between Religion and Magic?
Aired 1 October 2024 • 12 min
Is there really a difference between magic and religion?
5. The Infinite Stories of Hinduism
Aired 8 October 2024 • 11 min
What does it mean to be Hindu?
6. Life, the Universe, and the Buddha
Aired 15 October 2024 • 11 min
Let's explore the ways Buddhists try to leave that suffering behind and reach enlightenment.
7. Can a River Be A Person?
Aired 22 October 2024 • 11 min
What does it mean for a river to be a person? An ancestor, even?
8. What Does it Mean to Be Jewish
Aired 29 October 2024 • 13 min
What does it mean to be Jewish?
9. Sacrifice, Redemption, and Miracles: The Story of Christianity
Aired 5 November 2024 • 12 min
Christianity isn’t just about Jesus.
10. The History and Practice of Islam on Earth and Beyond
Aired 12 November 2024 • 11 min
In this episode of Crash Course Religions, we dig into the beliefs, pillars, and spread of Islam.
11. Religions of the African Diaspora
Aired 19 November 2024 • 11 min
African religions include Islam and Christianity, but also hundreds of diverse and complex indigenou
12. Are Confucianism and Daoism philosophies or religions?
Aired 26 November 2024 • 12 min
In this episode of Crash Course Religions, we’ll learn about Confucianism and Daoism!
13. Is Atheism a Religion?
Aired 3 December 2024 • 11 min
We break down the different flavors of atheism and non-belief and ask if atheism is a religion?
14. How Do Religious Texts Work?
Aired 10 December 2024 • 11 min
Sacred texts mean vary amongst religions—sometimes they’re essential to belief and other times not.
15. What Does Ritual Have to Do with Religion?
Aired 17 December 2024 • 12 min
Rituals can mark time and space, create new identities, and connect people to something bigger.
16. Who Speaks for a Religion?
Aired 7 January 2025 • 12 min
Religious leaders play a big role in shaping religions today. But who speaks for a religion?
17. Death and Afterlife Across Religions
Aired 14 January 2025 • 12 min
Everybody dies—and then what?
18. Religion, Spirituality, and the Supernatural
Aired 21 January 2025 • 13 min
What does it mean to be "spiritual but not religious"?
19. Are Science and Religion Compatible?
Aired 28 January 2025 • 12 min
Do religion and science always have to be in conflict?
20. What Do Sex and Gender Have to Do with Religion?
Aired 4 February 2025 • 12 min
What do sex, gender, and sexuality have to do with religion?
21. What Does Race Have to Do with Religion?
Aired 11 February 2025 • 11 min
In this episode, we'll unpack racism’s roots in religious colonialism, and what that means for us.
22. Visions of the End of the World
Aired 18 February 2025 • 12 min
How will the world end? In this episode, we explore end-of-the-world predictions.
23. What Does Religious Freedom Mean?
Aired 25 February 2025 • 12 min
We might agree religious freedom is a good thing—but can we agree on what it really means?
24. Religions and Pop Culture
Aired 4 March 2025 • 12 min
We’ll explore how religion shapes pop culture, and pop culture shapes religion right back.