University of Houston cites academic freedom to explore complex topics amid controversy over Lived Hindu Religion course

The University of Houston has reaffirmed its commitment to academic freedom following a student’s complaint about a course titled ‘Lived Hindu Religion’, which he alleged of being “Hinduphobic” and “distorting India’s political landscape”.

“The University of Houston values academic freedom, which includes allowing faculty to explore complex and sometimes challenging topics in their teaching. While UH does not typically review individual lectures, the university maintains oversight of the curriculum to ensure it meets established academic and pedagogical standard,” news agency ANI reported, citing an official statement by the university.

Initially, the university said it was “reviewing” the concerns raised by the student.

The university’s dean and the director of religious studies discussed the issues raised by Vasant Bhatt, a political science major and Hindu-American activist, with the instructor.

The statement further said that the course is grounded in the “academic discipline of religious studies, which uses specific terminology — such as ‘fundamentalism’ — as analytical tools to understand religious movements across traditions, including those rooted in Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism”.

“In religious studies, fundamentalism refers to a movement that claims to preserve the ‘true’ or original version of a religion — asserting a strict, ahistorical, literal interpretation of scripture, dogmas or ideologies — often in reaction to modern changes. Studying fundamentalism is not an act of judgment or bias but a way to understand how religions evolve and identify through discourse analysis,” the university explained in the statement.

It added that academic terms such as fundamentalism and others can carry different meanings from how they are used in “public or political discourse, which sometimes leads to misunderstandings”.

The University of Houston explained that the course applies academic frameworks to evaluate how Hinduism has “developed in historical, social and political contexts”.

“Professors are encouraged to connect course content to current events when appropriate, as long as it is done in a balanced way that improves understanding of course content. For example, discussing the political rise of Hindu nationalism in India is part of understanding how religion and religious discourse function in the modern world, but it is not a critique of Hinduism as a whole,” the statement added.

The course is offered to students online, and delivered by Professor Aaron Michael Ullrey weekly.

Vasant Bhatt spoke to India Today Digital earlier, and shared a quote from the syllabus that said the word ‘Hindu’ is recent and “not found in scriptures”. “Hindutva, or ‘Hindu-ness’, is a term that Hindu nationalists, those who believe Hinduism should be the official religion of India, use to designate their religion and denigrate others, namely Islam,” the quote said.

Aaron Michael Ullrey, however, told ANI that the quotes highlighted in the media were taken out of context and fail to reflect the true intent or nature of the course.

“Hinduism…was not an ancient, lived tradition but a colonial construct, a political tool weaponised by Hindu nationalists, and a system of oppression against minorities,” he said, adding, “I did not say anything like this. I never refer to Hinduism as anything essential”.