Terrorist attacks and a looming war have changed the way some Penn State students view religious studies.

"Not only did Sept. 11 provoke a greater interest in Islam, but in religion in general," said William Petersen, director of the religious studies department.

"The hijackers showed the ambiguities of religion. While it is commonly assumed that genuinely religious people do inherently 'good,' the events of 9/11 highlighted that such a claim is questionable," he said.

Petersen said religion must be examined for both its good and its evils. He said the question many people asked themselves after Sept. 11, "How devoted am I to my religion?" has lost much of its appeal.

The hijackers made it clear that a high degree of devotion to religion is not necessarily a good thing, considering the actions that followed their devotion, he said.

Since religion is such an ambiguous institution, morals will always be connected to both good and bad actions, Petersen said.

He compared the science of religion to the dual purpose of bacteria. He said while some bacteria can be good, there are those bacteria that bring about illness that are obviously bad.

"Religion works the same way," he said. "Religions themselves are not good or bad -- they simply are."

Petersen said diversity is the religious studies department's greatest strength.

"We generally have one instructor who is willing to work with a student in each area of religious study," Petersen said. "[They are] ready to bend over backwards in order to teach as accurately and objectively as possible."

He added that the department's weaknesses include a small staff and classes that are sometimes too large to provide individual instruction.

Jessica Ross (freshman-education) said she thinks it is important for students to learn about other religions in order to bridge the gap between religious differences.

"The initial opinions of Islamic culture after 9/11 were probably false because no one can totally grasp a religion that is not their own," Ross said. "Just learning about religion in general, to some degree, helps in understanding all religions."

Andrew Zurick (freshman-division of undergraduate studies) took a course in religious studies last semester. He said he was interested in learning about religion because of recent events.

"I think enrollment went up in Islam classes because people want to know what in the world could justify such actions," Zurick said. "Personally, I don't think religion can justify the ruthless killing that took place on Sept. 11 and I wanted [a professor] to tell me how it could."

Joshua Stulman (sophomore-arts and architecture) said he thinks it is ineffective for professors to simply preach their own beliefs.

"There are so many ways to go about studying religion," Stulman said. "It's important for teachers to present information from the actual religious texts and then leave it to the students to discuss and interpret them."

Stulman said he thinks people may want to learn more about their own backgrounds and traditions because of Sept. 11. To accommodate this, Stulman said he will be teaching an introduction to Hebrew studies class, independent from the university. The class will be aimed at those who have not been exposed to Jewish tradition and seek a religious identity.