How Does The Critical Study Of Religion Impact Believers?

[Neutral Singh]

How were the darker corners of religious history handled (violence, ostracizement, etc)?

How does the critical study of religion impact believers, and how should intstructors manage this: For instance, it is always a dicy issue to raise questions about a faith's own claims about its history when those claims cannot be supported through secular historical methods. This is true not only of Judaism and Christianity but other religions too.
I'd be grateful for any feedback at all on these quesitons!

 

[Eclectic]

I think it should be made before any sort of instruction that the issues should be taken as a historical study. Just as one would study a culture from it's history to how it has become and what it has produced and accomplished.