DAY 18 (Sept 29) Google Presentation on Gandhi

After finishing the film, Gandhi, you are going to do a small project on his life, legacy and his ability to have lived a life that reflects all of the best that Hinduism has to offer.

The handout for the project, Gandhi: His Life and Work in Pictures, indicates that as a class we will create the marking rubric for it.  It will be based on the  descriptions for the categories as interpreted by the Halton District School Board and is based on the Learning Categories of the Ontario Ministry of Education.  This is written into all of your course outlines as follows:

Knowledge & Understanding: Emphasizes the ability to recall factual information, recognize fundamental concepts and the foundational skills of the subject/discipline.

Application:  Emphasizes the application and integration of knowledge, skills, processes and techniques to produce evidence of the student’s understanding.

Thinking: Emphasizes the thinking skills used in thinking processes to demonstrate the student’s understanding of information they have processed.

Communication: Emphasizes the clear, precise and effective use of oral, written and visual language to communicate the student’s understanding of information and ideas.


As a group we came up with the following breakdown for each category:

DAY 9 (Sept 16) The Final World on Truth - Hinduism Introduction

Today you began to work in your Religious Bytes Folders.  These gray folders will be the place in which you answer personal reflection questions and we'll use them most days.

We ended our discussion on the Evolution vs. Evolution article by you going through the answers that I've included at the bottom of the article and by answering some of those questions in your Religious Bytes folders.

We then started an Introduction to Hinduism discussion and presentation.

DAY 8 (Sept 15) Cultural Connections to "the Truth"

We had a read of a New York Times article about the debate in some educational circles about whether to include Creationism and/or The Theory of Evolution in school curricula.

Here's the article: It's a Fact: Faith and Theory Collide Over Evolution.

Much more discussion throughout the class on evidence, types of evidence, Scientific Methods, etc.

DAY 7 (Sept 14) The Truth, the Whole Truth and Nothing But . . .

When thinking about the perspectives of people around the globe we have already touched on reasons WHY people practice a religion, not a particular religion, but a religion.  Today we started the discussion about individual and group perspectives on matters of FACT and TRUTH.

An example of a perception on reality that people held for what was probably all of human history until about 500 years ago was that the Earth was the center of the universe.  The main reason people probably thought that is that we have physical evidence of the Sun revolving around the Earth each and every day (not to mention other celestial objects like the Moon!).  People thought that it was a known fact that everything revolved around us.  It took some clever Mathematical thinking by Copernicus and then the use of some new technology, the telescope, by Galileo to prove the prior notion to be incorrect.  With new evidence the world realized that the Earth actually revolves around the sun (Galileo showed that Jupiter had moons that revolved around it).

Today I asked you all to consider other perspectives on the Truth of things.  I think we all concluded, through our excellent discussion, that there are many types of "Truths" or "Facts" out there.  Examples include:

If two (or more) people agree on a point of fact then for them it is indeed a fact, or the truth.
True Knowledge - irrefutable evidence such as 2 + 2 = 4.
Revealed Truth from sacred scriptures potentially given to people to write down by a god or from a messenger of a god.

DAY 6 (Sept 13) Why is Religion Practiced?

Why do People Practice?

Most people feel that there is a realm beyond their own physical reality.  Something beyond our five senses.  Because we can't verify what that other reality is we have a need to "verify" that other reality through faith.

FEAR - some are concerned that after they die they might end up somewhere not so nice, so through their belief they believe they'll end up in heaven.  Look up "Pascal's Wager."
One of our natural human tendencies (part of our Human Nature) is to maintain deep seated fears that our ancestors held.  We have insecurities about being alone, death, doing the wrong thing, sickness, disease, sadness and hopelessness.  We fear the power of nature and our small position in it.

WONDER - nature remains quite mysterious for most people.  Many things in nature that are not explainable through our current understanding are called "miracles."  This is used as evidence of the "super" natural.  Is it all random or is it carefully designed by a higher being?  For some people what remains poorly explained by science is explained through spirituality.

QUESTIONING - many people will not accept that their existence is limited to their time on earth.  Few of us want to go through life alone and we certainly do not want to face death alone.  Most of us do not accept that chance rules out lives - rather we want to control our destiny through free will and perhaps with the intervention of a God or higher power.

IDENTIFY - is it enough to be identified with a label that's relevant only here on earth?  Labels like,
student
sibling
friend
athlete
worker
rocker
skater
jock
etc.
For most people something more long-lasting and meaningful is necessary and they find that in spirituality.

INTUITION - many of us feel unfulfilled by our material wealth.  Even though we have dominated the earth we still do not feel fulfilled (U2's "Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" for example).  Many religions were founded by inspired leaders who had ideas about a different and improved reality.

BIG QUESTIONS - most people are curious about big questions in life, many of which we have already referred to . . .
Who am I?
What is right and wrong?
Why are we here?
Where did all this come from?
Why is there suffering?  etc.

These Are MY Big Questions:

What should I do?

What kind of life should I lead?

What kind of person should I strive to be?

How can I tell right from wrong?

What obligations do I have to other people?

When am I justified in criticizing others?

When are others justified in criticizing me?

Your job is to write (in your own notes) what five of YOUR big questions are.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

DAY 5 (Sept 12) The Religious Impulse

The Religious Impulse

Throughout human history there has been an impulse, very widespread, to worship something.

Features (what does the impulse look like):

• ·      Belief in the supernatural (“beyond natural”) and spiritual world beyond the material world.
• ·      Belief in the existence of a soul.
• ·      Collection of sacred writings (“scriptures”).
• ·      Strong sense of family and community based on rituals and festivals that celebrate shared beliefs and practices.
• ·      Set of answers to the most pressing human questions (e.g. meaning of life, meaning of suffering, what happens after you die, etc.)
• ·      Rules of Conduct – designed to help followers lead honourable lives and to provide purpose to individual and community life.
• ·      System of ethics guiding morals.
• ·      Significant founders or inspired leaders who introduced or spurred the development of the faith (usually).
• ·      Search for salvation, even perfection.
• ·      A lifestyle of faith and worship.
• ·      Techniques for focusing one’s awareness.
• ·      An enriching impact on the lives of adherents.

DAY 4 (Sept 9) More of What Dreams May Come

We finished the film today and had a brief discussion about many parts of it.  During the viewing of the film we stopped it many times to discuss aspects of it, in particular the film-maker's take on some of the Big Questions.

DAY 3 (Sept 8) What Dreams May Come

In order to get everyone's head really into the course we began watching What Dreams May Come today.  It's a great film that deals with many issues in an enjoyable way.

Some of the issues include:

• The meaning of one's life.
• What happens after you die?
• Is this world full of fate or do we have free will?
• What do you do in troubled times?

DAY 2 (Sept 7) Believers, Non-Believers and Questioners

We separated ourselves into three floor groups: Believers, Non-Believers and Questioners.  The class was more or less equally split.  The discussion that followed was very enjoyable - everyone had the opportunity to ask and answer questions about their own belief systems and many people offered their personal opinions about why they have (or don't have) whatever belief system they have.

We raised, for the first time, some of the "big questions" that most World Religion grapple with, including:

"What happens after you die?"
"Where and how did all this start?"
"What meaning is there to my life?"
"Where do I turn in times of difficulty?"

Marvelous discussion by everyone, well done!

DAY 1 (Sept 6) Stephanie's Ponytail

Welcome to World Religions class!  I love teaching this course for many reasons - primarily you are at an age where you are ready to discuss belief systems, where you probably have a well-established set of beliefs yourself and where you are open to thinking about the way you think about things.

Today we read Stephanie's Ponytail, a children's story by Robert Munsch.  Stephanie's new hairstyles were being copied by her classmates and she didn't like this - in the end she got the last laugh.  This is a story about beliefs, opinions and the right of everyone to have their own.