On what side of the flipped classroom do I put my forums?

Class forums are butter of how I teach “introductions to world religions”-type courses. Forums help me keep my students as far as possible away from approaching “world religions” as a mind-numbing memorization marathon of beliefs and practices that distances them from thinking critically about religion. Students can do that in an anatomy and physiology class, should they choose to study medicine. I think it’s far more interesting for me and the students to have the intro course engage in the current theoretical and methodological debates of religious studies. My goal is for students to learn how to critically think and discuss with others. . . .