This little gem came out a couple weeks ago. A fun look at what people ‘on the street’ think about religion and religions.
I do wonder about the the promise ‘to learn about what people really believe.’ But that’s mostly the religious studies scholar in me complaining that not everybody ‘believes’ in the way that westerners usually mean by ‘belief’. And of course I’ll be curious to see what counts as ‘faith’ and ‘religion’.
And here’s Zach Anner’s first episode, on Islam:
Anner’s style is funny and light, and makes for a great video. Of course the trade-off is a lack of depth, and the probably unintentional lumping together of all Muslims as if all Muslims believe and practice in the same way. For example in the bonus ‘have a little more faith’, his interviewee states that wearing the hijab is a matter of personal preference. But in some countries it is mandatory for women to wear the hijab.
Wearing the hijab is mandatory in countries colored in dark green. From Wikimedia Commons.
Of course, there are limits to what you can do in ten minutes on a popular YouTube channel, but it would be nice to show a bit of nuance. I’ll be watching to see where he goes from here.
