How does it all end?

I've started trying to shape a syllabus for my Fall first year seminar, "Secularism at the crossroads," and find that it's really hard. In one way or another, the questions around secularism or secularization relate to everything from theories of modernity and religion to less obvious things like discussions of cultural difference and human rights. Of course this is a first year course, so it can't and needn't cover an entire field - better, in fact, if it opens up many different questions which students might pursue in different courses and disciplines in their remaining seven semesters of college. But the tricky thing isn't just what to include (i.e., what to cut), but how to end. I was doing fine until I imagined as a final project asking students to write about the past, present and future of some place (India, France, Turkey, USA) or institution (universities, etc.) - a great idea, I think. But shouldn't I be doing the same, trying out (or letting students try out) several futures? This is an issue you've seen me stumped by before, and I suppose it's a good thing to be forced to move beyond mere stumpification...!