For Starters

Objective

An introduction to a philosphy of religions is an important one because many of the personal connection to the subject matter. Also, if students have religous backgroudn, this may be the first time they have learned about religion in a secualar enrinoment. Students will often ask me after class, "Tricia, are you allowed to teach about this stuff in school? I thought that you weren't supposed to talk about God here." Therefore, for starters, I try to introduce the idea of religious studies, a field of study that learns about the practices, rituals, belifs systems of a particular religions, and the interplay between faith, art, politics, and culture.

Procedure and Activity

To begin our unit, I like to start off with a basic question that is bound to have a wide ray of responses:

What is religion?

1. Arrange the chairs in the classroom into a circle. If possible, remove desks and any other large objects that may separate students from seeing one another. Advise students to put away their materials for this activity, as they will not need to write anything down.

2. Write the question, "what is religion?" on the board. In just a word, a phrase or a few sentences, encourage the participation of all students. As words begin to fly, capture as many of their thoughts as you can, and write them on the board.

3. Then ask students about WHY there are religions, and perhaps why there are so many different religions in the world. My purpose here is to link religion to the "essential" questions of life. For example:

 What is the cause of the inequality that exists among mankind?
Does our life have a purpose?
Why is there a large disparity in a human beings physical and mental capacities?
Why should one person be born with saintly characteristics and another with criminal tendencies?
Why do some have a gift for linguistic studies while others are more musically inclined from the cradle?
Why should one person be brought up in the lap of luxury, endowed with fine mental, moral and physical qualities, and another in absolute poverty, steeped in misery?

4. At some point in the past, everyone has asked themselves, "why?". This activity can go in many directions from here--some possibilities are:

~break in to small groups (4 to 5 students), choose one of the essential questions from the list above or make up their own question, and discuss their ideas for a limited period of time
~develop more "why" questions and compile them on the markerboard

OR

~my suggestion would be to conduct a survey one of these life questions. Read on!

Survey Project

While students may find philsohical questions are weighty and alightly overwhelming, they might some comfort in being the position of listener rather than claify8ing their own thoughts. This activity also might serve as a wonderful link to the study of karma, because in essence, they will have been exposed to the definition of essential questioning and how a parjticlar religon circumnavigates through the mysteries of life.

Assignment

Have students conduct a survey on one of the questions listed above.  After they've made their choice, brainstorm and then refine five possible answers to the question.  The hypothetical answers should reflect realistic possibilities of how a person might answer the question, while also providing an array of viewpoints (some rooted in religion, some not) for the person being questioned. 

After the data is collected, arrange the information in to a line or circle graph.  Have students present their information to the class.

This is a wonderful way for students to be in the recieving end of a conversation, to help them take in an idea without feeling the need to respond.  It is a way to help them a)collect and organize information and b) become exposed to a variety of thought and opinion on a philosphical question and c)become familar with philosophical questions.